Team Homer/References

General	References/Trivia	Gags	Appearances	Gallery	Quotes	Credits

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"Team Homer"

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Censorship

• Marge refusing to pay Homer $500 for sex, Homer telling her that it's for his bowling team, and Marge saying it's sick and she doesn't have the money for it was cut on the UK's Sky Showcase channel, but was later reinstated.
• Following the death of Dr. Haing S. Ngor (coincidentally, from being shot during a robbery), the scene of Homer lamenting that he built a trophy case for nothing and the shot of the Oscar Homer has that belonged to Ngor for The Killing Fields was changed in all reruns (both domestically, internationally, and on streaming and home media releases) to belonging to Don Ameche for Cocoon. According to the DVD commentary, the joke was changed because they didn't want viewers to think that Homer killed Dr. Ngor for his Oscar.

Trivia

• This episode is dedicated to Doris Grau, a former Simpsons script supervisor and the voice of Lunchlady Doris (as well as a pale and beaten-up Lurleen Lumpkin when she made her appearance at the monorail's maiden voyage on "Marge vs. the Monorail" and the Phineas Q. Butterfat's waitress who insulted Bart, then gave him a giant sundae when he complimented her on "Lisa the Beauty Queen". Outside of The Simpsons, Doris Grau played Corinne the barmaid on Cheers and was the voice of Doris the make-up lady on The Critic). She passed away on December 30, 1995 at the age of 71. Despite her death, the season nine episode, "Lisa's Sax", also has her as Lunchlady Doris, though this was because "Lisa's Sax" was made as part of the 3G production line (the four episodes that aired during season's eight and nine, which included "The Springfield Files", "Simpsoncalifragilisticexpiala(Annoyed Grunt)cious", "Lisa's Sax," and "Simpson Tide").
• Ironically, soon after this episode which featured Mr. Burns drilling Hans Moleman in the head aired, AC/DC would use a Beavis and Butt-head cartoon to open their 1996 Ballbreaker concerts which involved a cartoon version of Angus Young using a woman who donned a drill to chase off Beavis and Butt-head after they wanted women who entered the band's dressing room.
• This is the first episode to air in 1996.
• Maggie does not appear in this episode.
• Originally, during the sequence where the kids' uniforms turn colorful and they act like their destructive selves again, Superintendent Chalmers asks Skinner why the uniforms aren't color-fast and Skinner telling him he bought the uniforms cheap, then Chalmers' suit shrinks and he yells, "Damn you, Armani!" For whatever reason, it was changed to the now-famous scene of Chalmers asking Skinner why the uniforms aren't color-fast and Skinner telling him he bought the uniforms from the same place he bought his mom's dresses, then freaking out when he realizes his mother is in the park (with Chalmers adding, "Now this, I gotta see.")
• This is the last episode to frequently use the cut and condensed intro.

Bowling Teams Featured

• The Pin-Pals: Homer, Apu, Moe, Otto (later replaced by Mr. Burns)
• The Channel 6 Team: Kent Brockman, Arnie Pie, The Bumblebee Man, and Krusty the Clown
• The DMV Regulation Kings: Patty, Selma, and two unnamed male characters
• The Springfield Police Framers: Chief Wiggum, Lou, Eddie, and Snake Jailbird. The team forfeits when Snake uses his turn to escape.
• The Home-Wreckers: Shauna Tifton (a.k.a Princess Kashmir), Lurleen Lumpkin, Mindy Simmons, and Jacques the bowler
• The Stereotypes: Cletus Spuckler (stereotypical American redneck), Captain McCallister (stereotypical sea captain), Groundskeeper Willie (stereotypical Scotsman), and Luigi Risotto (stereotypical Italian). Apu (a stereotypical Indian) mentions that he was originally supposed to be on that team.
• The Holy Rollers: Reverend Lovejoy, Helen Lovejoy, Ned Flanders, and Maude Flanders.

Previous Episode References

• "The Otto Show":
  • Homer takes in Otto the bus driver
  • Homer is mistaken for Poppin' Fresh (the Pillsbury Doughboy) by a character regularly voiced by Harry Shearer (Otto the bus driver/Mr. Burns)
• "Homer's Night Out", "Colonel Homer", "The Last Temptation of Homer", and "Life on the Fast Lanes": The Home-Wreckers bowling team consists of the three women and one man who almost ruined Homer and Marge's marriage to each other (Shauna Tifton, the bachelor party belly dancer and resident exotic dancer of Springfield; Lurleen Lumpkin, the country singing bar waitress, who surprisingly looks clean and sober, since "Marge vs. the Monorail" last showed her as a drug-addled wreck whose singing career took a bad turn; Mindy Simmons, the new nuclear plant coworker, who also looks clean and sober, despite Homer telling Marge on "Another Simpsons Clip Show" that Mindy became a drunk and lost her job at the nuclear plant, though there are fan claims that either Homer lied about this, the story was a workplace rumor, or Mindy became a recovering alcoholic and got her job back; and Jacques the bowler).
• "Sweet Seymour Skinner's Baadasssss Song": Bart brings something to school that causes a riot (Santa's Little Helper/the "Down with Homework" T-shirt) on the same day Superintendent Chalmers visits the school for a surprise inspection.
• "Whacking Day": Superintendent Chalmers visits the school and gets run over (by Bart riding Groundskeeper Willie's tractor/by the rioting kids running in the halls).
• "And Maggie Makes Three":
  • Barney's Bowl-A-Rama is seen.
  • Barney's uncle works at Barney's Bowl-A-Rama.
• "Itchy & Scratchy & Marge": Homer builds a crappy shelf (the spice rack for Marge/the trophy shelf for himself)
• "Two Cars in Every Garage and Three Eyes on Every Fish":
  • Mr. Burns is drunk/high
  • Homer walks in on Mr. Burns acting drunk/high
• "Home Sweet Homediddly-Dum-Doodily": Bart wearing a cushion cover after Principal Skinner confiscates his MAD T-shirt is similar to when he wore a burlap sack after his lice-ridden clothes get burned.
• "Bart's Friend Falls in Love" and "I Love Lisa": Principal Skinner has Vietnam War flashbacks while working at Springfield Elementary.
• "The Boy Who Knew Too Much": Mayor Quimby has a lot of male family members who look and sound like him.
• "Bart's Girlfriend": Bart aims his slingshot at a teacher's butt, but can't physically do it (because he's trying to impress Jessica Lovejoy/because the uniforms have sapped his bad boy personality and made him forget).
• "O, Brother, Where Art Thou?" and "Two Dozen and One Greyhounds": Bart gets yelled at for using bad language.
• "Bart the Lover": Homer curses in front of children (Todd Flanders/Bart and Lisa)
• "Bart the Genius" and "Principal Charming": Someone gets called a "wiener" (Bart's graffito drawing of Principal Skinner saying, "I Am a Wiener"/the Skinner graffito drawing now has him saying, "I Am Still a Wiener"/Homer refers to Bart and Lisa as "my damn wiener kids").
• "Marge Gets a Job": Mr. Burns recalls an off-screen event that's too unsettling for him to remember (the time he dug up Al Jolson/the time he forget his monthly boweling).

Cultural References

• The Academy Award that Homer stole, depending on the version (see "Censorship"), either was for Dr. Haing S. Ngor for Best Supporting Actor in The Killing Fields, or Don Ameche in the same category for Cocoon.
• Mr. Burns, while high on ether, mistakes Homer for Poppin' Fresh (The Pillsbury Doughboy) and Hans Moleman for "that delightful TV leprechaun" (Lucky, the mascot for Lucky Charms cereal).
• The Lovejoys' and Flanders' bowling team is called "Holy Rollers", which is a slang term for evangelical Christians.
• The "thin stew" that Principal Skinner reminisces about during one of his Vietnam flashbacks is a real Vietnamese dish called a Thai Tom Kha Goong. The YouTube cooking series, "Binging with Babish", included this during an episode that recreates famous dishes from The Simpsons (including Steamed Hams from "22 Short Films About Springfield" and Ralph's rainbow grilled cheese sandwich from "All's Fair in Oven War").
• The uniforms are supplied by a company named "Mr. Boy of Main Street", which is a play on the men's clothing brand Mr. Guy of Beverly Hills.

Goofs

• Patty and Selma both have different bowling shoes on their feet. Barney's Bowl-O-Rama probably had mismatched pairs for them.
• Ralph was seen in Bart's classroom during the "Down with Homework" riot, even though he's a student with Miss Hoover. Considering his toddler-like behavior, he could have wandered in without anyone knowing, as the class was plunged into chaos from Bart's shirt, but this was most likely a writing/animation mistake.
• When the kids are rioting over Bart's shirt and knock over Mrs. Krabappel's desk, the books on the desk disappear.
• When Principal Skinner is looking out the window and the light reaches his head through the window shade, the light shining on his nose repeatedly appears and disappears.
• Sherri and Terri's skins are yellow when they're laughing at Bart's "Down with homework" T-shirt.