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"They don't call me Colonel Homer because I'm some dumb-ass army guy."

―Homer Simpson

"Colonel Homer" is the twentieth episode of Season 3. It aired on March 26, 1992. Matt Groening wrote the episode and Mark Kirkland directed. Beverly D'Angelo guest stars as Lurleen Lumpkin.

Synopsis

After a particularly bad movie experience, Homer drives to a bar where he discovers a singer named Lurleen Lumpkin. Homer becomes her manager (calling himself "Colonel Homer") and helps her launch her musical career. Lurleen's success causes problems in the Simpson household, however, when Homer's manager role causes him to spend large amounts of time away from home and when Marge realizes that Lurleen is attracted to Homer.

Plot

Homer and Marge go see The Stockholm Affair at the Springfield Gogoplex Theatres after finding out that Look Who's Oinking is sold out. Homer keeps talking throughout the film and angers the audience by revealing the end of the movie. Meanwhile, Bart and Lisa go to watch Space Mutants and Lisa gets scared. After coming out of the theater, Homer is angry at the reaction from Marge and the audience and after dropping off the family, Homer goes for a drive to Spittle County.

After a long drive through Spittle County, Homer finds The Beer -N- Brawl redneck bar. He orders a Fudd Beer from here after finding that they do not serve Duff and then listens to Lurleen Lumpkin's song "Your Wife Don't Understand You". After her song, he speaks to her and introduces himself. Lurleen thanks Homer for complimenting her and they both leave. Back home, Homer is happier than ever because of Lurleen's song and is in a great mood.

Homer eventually goes back to see Lurleen in the Royal King Trailer Park. He then takes Lurleen to record her song at Lucky's Records where the employee, Wade, then asks them if they want to take her CD to KUDD Radio for them to play it. They accept and the song is played over Springfield, making everyone stop fighting and be happy, including prisoners. Moe even says that drinks are on the house although no one was in the bar, except Barney, who was in the toilets at the time. After this success, Lurleen asks Homer to be his manager, which he accepts. After getting Homer a new outfit at The Corpulent Cowboy, she starts to record songs at Hicksville U.S.A. Recording Studio. However, Marge isn't happy with all the time Homer is spending with Lurleen.

Homer informs Lurleen that she has gotten a deal to appear on the TV show Ya Hoo! and Lurleen states that she wants to sing new songs on it. She then sings "Bunk with Me Tonight" and tells Homer to listen closely after he is oblivious to the meaning. After he realizes what she is asking, he rejects Lurleen and drives off. Before the showing of 'Ya Hoo!, Lurleen kisses Homer and Homer says that they can't be together because he has a wife and kids. He sells his ownership of Lurleen to another agent for $50 before going off. He then comes home to Marge and apologizes while Lurleen sings on TV.

Production

"Colonel Homer" was written by Matt Groening, the only individual writing credit he has received on the show. "Colonel Homer" was partly based on the 1980 film Coal Miner's Daughter, which tells the story of country music singer Loretta Lynn Groening said he had always wanted to write an episode in which Homer is offered a better life but then chooses his family over glamor at the end. He pitched the idea to the writers of the show, who suggested the parody of Coal Miner's Daughter and also that Homer should become a manager for a country singer.

The episode's director, Mark Kirkland, said he enjoyed directing the episode because the characters' emotions throughout it are "very human and real". He believed many viewers watching the episode would recognize the emotions from experiences in their own lives, and would feel sympathy for the characters.

American singer and actress Beverly D'Angelo guest starred in the episode as Lurleen Lumpkin. D'Angelo wrote two songs for the episode: "Your Wife Don't Understand You" and "Bagged Me a Homer". Unlike most other guest stars on The Simpsons who record their lines and then leave to accommodate their schedule, D'Angelo stayed with the production team all day and pitched several jokes for the episode.

Reception

Wikisimpsons has a collection of images related to "Colonel Homer".

In its original broadcast, "Colonel Homer" finished twenty-second in the ratings for the week of March 23–29, 1992, with a Nielsen rating of 14.8, equivalent to about 16.63 million viewers. It was the highest-rated show on the Fox network that week. The episode has received mainly positive reviews.