Homer Goes to College
"Homer Goes to College" is the third episode of the fifth season of the American animated television series The Simpsons. It originally aired on the Fox network in the United States on October 14, 1993.[1] In the episode, Homer causes a nuclear meltdown during a plant inspection and is required to study nuclear physics at college. When Homer neglects his studies, the college dean has three nerds tutor him. Homer enlists the nerds' help in playing a prank on a rival college, leading to their expulsion. Homer invites them to live with the Simpsons, who soon grow tired of their new housemates.
Not to be confused with Homer College."Homer Goes to College"
Season 5
Episode 3
1F02
October 14, 1993
The family sits on the couch, only to be squashed by The Foot of Cupid from Monty Python's Flying Circus.[1]
The episode was written by Conan O'Brien and directed by Jim Reardon. It was the third and final episode of the show that O'Brien received sole writing credit, having previously written the episodes "New Kid on the Block" and "Marge vs. The Monorail", both from season 4. O'Brien would leave the series halfway through the production of the season to host his own show, Late Night with Conan O'Brien. He had been working on this episode when he was informed that he had received the job and was forced to walk out on his contract.
The episode contains several references to the film Animal House as well as Monty Python and the Holy Grail, Star Trek and the song "Louie Louie" by The Kingsmen, which plays during the end credits. Since airing, the episode has received mostly positive reviews from television critics. It acquired a Nielsen rating of 11.3, and it was tied with Beverly Hills, 90210 as the highest-rated show on the Fox network the week it aired.
Executives at Fox wanted "Homer Goes to College" to be the season premiere, but the writing staff felt that "Homer's Barbershop Quartet" was a better choice because of George Harrison's guest appearance in that episode.
Plot[edit]
During the Nuclear Regulatory Commission's inspection of the Springfield Nuclear Power Plant, Homer is placed in a test module van that simulates a power surge. He has no idea what to do, so he pushes buttons at random and somehow causes a nuclear meltdown, even though the van contains no nuclear material. Mr. Burns attempts to bribe the NRC officials; they refuse the bribe and inform Burns that Homer's job requires college training in nuclear physics. After Homer is rejected by every school he applies to, Mr. Burns helps him enroll at Springfield University, since he is a member of the admissions board there. However, Homer neglects his studies; having seen many teen films about college, Homer believes that at college, academics do not matter, life is full of pranks and partying, and that every college dean is a grouchy old man. Homer continues to hold these beliefs even after meeting the university's Dean Peterson, a friendly, laid-back young man.
Homer is asked to demonstrate how a proton accelerator works and causes a nuclear meltdown in class. Dean Peterson recommends Homer receive tutoring. When his tutors — three nerds named Benjamin, Doug, and Gary — try to help Homer understand physics, he refuses to cooperate. Instead, Homer and Bart convince the nerds to pull a prank on rival college Springfield A&M by kidnapping the rival college's mascot, a pig named Sir Oinkcelot. When the pig falls ill after Homer feeds him malt liquor, the nerds are blamed for the incident and expelled.
Homer invites Benjamin, Doug, and Gary to move in with his family. Their presence quickly disrupts the normal family routine. When Marge orders Homer to evict them, he tries to get them re-admitted to college with an elaborate hoax: he will nearly run down Peterson with his car, but the nerds will push him from harm's way at the last moment, hopefully reinstating them. The plan backfires when Homer's car actually hits the dean, seriously injuring him. At the hospital, Homer asks Dean Peterson to reinstate Benjamin, Doug, and Gary as students. Dean Peterson agrees, and the nerds move back into their old dormitory room. Homer fails his final exam, so the nerds hack into the school's student records and change his grade to an A+. However, Marge finds out and forces Homer to take the course again to set a good example for Bart and Lisa.
Reception[edit]
In its original broadcast, "Homer Goes to College" finished 44th in ratings for the week of October 11 to October 17, 1993, with a Nielsen rating of 11.3, and was viewed in 10.5 million households. It was tied with Beverly Hills, 90210 as the highest-rated show on the Fox network that week.[11]
The episode has received mostly positive reviews from television critics. The authors of the book I Can't Believe It's a Bigger and Better Updated Unofficial Simpsons Guide, Warren Martyn and Adrian Wood, wrote: "Homer at his most excruciatingly stupid in another superb episode — his attitude to the college's 'stuffy old dean' (who was, in fact, bassist for The Pretenders) is a joy."[1] Thomas Rozwadowski of the Green Bay Press-Gazette listed Homer's line "Curly, straight. Curly, straight" whilst he torments the pig as "instantly memorable".[12] In 2019, Consequence ranked it the top episode on its list of top 30 Simpsons episodes.[13]
DVD Movie Guide's Colin Jacobson commented that it did not "quite live up to its two predecessors "Homer's Barbershop Quartet" and "Cape Feare" this year, but it remains a strong show nonetheless. Actually, it starts a little slowly but builds steam along the way. It includes some classic moments of a Homer idiocy — hard to beat him chasing squirrels with a stick — and one of the better visual gags via Burns’ chair. Who can dislike a show in which Richard Nixon threatens Homer due to a drunken pig?"[14] The episode's reference to The Untouchables was named the 13th greatest film reference in the history of the show by Total Film's Nathan Ditum.[10]
In 2014, The Simpsons writers picked "Burning Down the Mouse" from the episode as one of their nine favorite "Itchy & Scratchy" episodes of all time.[15]
Nathan Rabin writes of how the episode toys with expectations: "When it comes out that Homer still needs to pass the big test (he had conveniently forgotten that detail amidst all the pranks and stunts) he cycles his way through the kind of cramming montage that invariably ends with a proud graduate clutching an 'A' paper. However, Homer is denser than most, so even after all that cramming, he still ends up with an 'F.' In a glorious closing scene, Homer crows that at least everyone learned important lessons before his family corrects him and points out that nobody has learned any lessons at all, which is the perfect ending to a classic episode that subverts and lampoons every college movie cliché in existence."[16]