Homer als Frauenheld

"Homer's Night Out" is the tenth episode of The Simpsons' first season, and originally aired on March 25, 1990. It was written by Jon Vitti and directed by Rich Moore. In the episode, Bart orders a mail-order spy camera, which he uses to secretly take a photograph of Homer dancing with an exotic belly dancer. Marge makes Homer apologize to the exotic dancer to teach Bart that women are not objects. Sam McMurray guest star in the episode as Gulliver Dark, the guy that introduces Homer to the crowd at the burlesque show.

The episode was well received by critics and it was the second highest rated show on the Fox Network the week it aired. This episode, along with three other episodes of the show, is featured on the The Simpsons Gone Wild DVD released in 2004.

Plot

Bart purchases a miniature spy camera from a mail-order catalog and uses it to take candid photos around the house. Later, Homer tells Marge he is going to a bachelor party for a co-worker, Eugene Fisk. While Homer is gone, Marge decides to take the children to the Rusty Barnacle, a seafood restaurant where (unknown to her) the bachelor party is well under way.

The party turns out to be a flop until a sexy belly dancer named Princess Kashmir arrives and invites Homer on stage to dance with her. On the way to the toilet, Bart wanders into the room and eagerly snaps a picture of Homer and Kashmir. At school, Bart joins the camera club. President Martin compliments Bart for the picture of Homer dancing with Princess Kashmir and asks to have a copy. Bart originally refuses, but gives one to Milhouse, who promptly gets requests from other students for a copy of the picture, and it's not long before everyone in Springfield has one. Marge sees a copy of the picture at her aerobics class and furiously rips it from the bulletin board. When Homer gets home that day, Marge immediately shoves the picture in his face and demands an explanation. After scolding Homer, she shoves a hastily half-packed suitcase his way and kicks him out of the house.

The next day Homer goes home to apologize to Marge. To his surprise, he learns that what upset her was not what he did, but that Bart saw it and will one day misconstrue it as a sign that it's okay to treat women like sex objects. She insists that he take Bart to meet Princess Kashmir so that he can see for himself that she's more than just a stripper. Left with no alternative, Homer and Bart scour the strip clubs of Springfield to find Princess Kashmir. Eventually, they track her down at the Sapphire Lounge.

Homer introduces himself and Bart to Kashmir, who is preoccupied with getting on stage for her performance. However, Homer accidentally finds himself on stage for the night's feature attraction: dancing with many scantily clad women. Homer is about to be thrown offstage when the audience applauds that "the guy from the picture" dropped in, and he gets caught up in the fanfare, until he looks at Bart and realizes what he is doing. Homer stops the show and successfully manages to make a plea to the audience to treat women with respect. The men in the audience then get up and leave, telling each other they should go tell the women in their families they are special, and Princess Kashmir wipes a tear from her cheek as she is glad to see a man give a speech extolling the virtues of respecting women. Marge, who is in the audience, accepts Homer's apology and the two make up.

Production

Datei:Homersnightout.jpg

One of the many showgirl costumes.

Barney's apartment, which Homer spends the night in when he is kicked out by Marge, is partly based on an apartment Jim Reardon and Rich Moore and a few other animators of The Simpsons shared in college. One of the strip clubs Homer and Bart visit when they're trying to find Princess Kashmir is based on the Seventh Veil Strip Club in Los Angeles, California. The staff went around Hollywood taking pictures of strip clubs so that they could get inspiration for the interior design of the strip club buildings in Springfield. The character designer designed over fifty different international showgirl costumes for the showgirls in the burlesque show sequence. Carl Carlson, who was voice by Harry Shearer, made his first appearances on The Simpsons in this episode.

Reception

In its original American broadcast, "Homer's Night Out" finished 14th place in the weekly ratings for the week of March 19–March 25, 1990 with a Nielsen rating of 16.9. It was the second highest rated show on the Fox Network that week.

"Homer's Night Out" received generally positive reviews from critics. In a DVD review of the first season, David B. Grelck gave the episode a rating of 4/5 and named it one of his two favorite episodes of the season. He then added that "this episode allows us to see that Homer really does love Marge a lot without having to blatantly stamp sentimentality all over it. The episode is strange, goofy and fun." Colin Jacobson at DVD Movie Guide said in a review that "the concept of Marge’s anger at Homer got old, but this episode managed to offer a reasonably entertaining affair. It was fun to see Homer treated like a party god, and this offered a few nice moments. The overall level of quality remained good throughout the show, but it didn’t rise to any great heights." Judge David Packard at DVD Verdict said in a review of the The Simpsons Gone Wild DVD that "this episode sports some of the awkward animation and voice work that is prevalent in episodes from the first season. That aspect isn't an issue to me; in fact, I quite enjoy season one as it shows the early efforts of the series getting its legs in making the transition from its origin on The Tracey Ullman Show. The problem I have with this episode is that it's not particularly funny. I chuckled a few times, but the episode doesn't have the rollicking gags and sly humor of the two episodes to follow."

External links

Wikiquote: Homer's Night Out – Zitate

• "Homer's Night Out" at The Simpsons.com
• Vorlage:Snpp capsule
• Vorlage:Imdb episode
• "Homer's Night Out" at TV.com