King-Size Homer
"King-Size Homer"
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Episode Information
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"King-Size Homer" is the seventh episode of the seventh season of The Simpsons. It originally aired on November 5, 1995. It was written by Dan Greaney and directed by Jim Reardon.
Synopsis
Mr. Burns organizes an exercise program at the power plant. While this program finds some support among the workers, Homer is not among them. After learning that those on disability get to work at home, he tries to injure himself. When he discovers that hyper-obesity counts as a disability, he decides to put on weight until he is 300 pounds. In this way, he can be legally disabled and force Burns to let him telecommute. Despite Marge's protests that this could endanger his health and jeopardize her attraction to him, Homer engages in nearly unprecedented gluttony. After a mass eating spree Bart tells Homer they're out of food. Faced with the prospect of another day at work, Homer eats a Play-Doh donut that Maggie made. This manages to push him over the 300 pound goal, but it is then that Bart notes that Homer's gut is caught on a towel rack. Once Homer lets his guy hang down, the scale readjusts to 315 pounds.
A computer work station is set up in the Simpsons home for Homer's position. Homer enjoys working from home: he realizes that all he has to do is hit "y" (for "yes") on the computer repeatedly. However, he soon tires of the repetitiveness of the situation, and begins to get distracted. One day, Homer leaves a drinking bird hitting the "y" button while he goes out to see a movie. After being refused to be seated due to his size, and heckled by some people outside the theater, Homer returns home, vowing to show that large people can be important. Upon his return, he finds the bird has been knocked aside, and a nuclear meltdown at the power plant imminent. Homer rushes to the plant and bravely tries to take charge. He ultimately saves the day — his enormous gut gets stuck in the release tube and blocks the toxic gas from escaping. As a reward and upon Homer's request Mr. Burns guarantees that he will make Homer thin once more. After Homer fails with his exercise program, Mr. Burns decides to just pay for the liposuction.
Trivia
- The title is a parody of the title "King-Size Canary," which was an MGM cartoon directed by legendary animator Tex Avery. In the cartoon, a growth formula causes several animals to swell to gargantuan proportions.
- The drinking bird Homer has to "cover for him" was a gift from Herb in Brother, Can you Spare Two Dimes? after giving Herb $2,000. Homer settled for it instead of respect from his brother.
- An original plan for the episode that was scrapped was Homer becoming weight-obsessed in the opposite direction and becoming dangerously thin.
- A song by the band Lostprophets called 'Push out the jive, bring in the love' is most probably named after the phrase of the same name used by Burns during exercise
- When Homer hits "TAB" thinking he'd get a drink looking for the Any key (which is a joke on the computer prompt "Press any key to continue") a startup sound from a Macintosh computer produced 1995 is heard. Ironically, this episode aired the same year.
