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Difference between revisions of "Please Homer, Don't Hammer 'Em"

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{{EpisodePrevNext|Jazzy and the Pussycats|Treehouse of Horror XVII}}
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{{quote|Homer, it's time people knew the truth: I'm doing the work and I want the credit.|[[Marge Simpson]]}}
 
{{episode
 
{{episode
|image=PDVD_002.JPG
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|image = Please Homer, Don't Hammer 'Em.png
|productionCode=HABF20
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|Episode Number = 381
|originalAirdate=September 24, 2006
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|productionCode = HABF20
|blackboardText=
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|originalAirdate = September 24, [[2006]]
|couchGag=We see a vending machine with the family and several other characters inside of it instead of candy. Ralph walks up and orders Homer, bites off his head and leaves.
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|couchGag = We see a vending machine with the family and several other characters inside of it instead of candy. Ralph walks up and orders Homer, bites off his head and leaves.
|specialGuestVoices=
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|Written By = [[Matt Warburton]]
|Written By=[[Matt Warburton]]
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|Directed By = [[Mike B. Anderson]]<br>'''Co-director:''' [[Ralph Sosa]]
|Directed By=[[Mike B. Anderson]] and [[Ralph Sosa]]
 
 
}}
 
}}
  
'''"Please Homer, Don't Hammer 'Em..."''' is the third episode of the eighteenth season of The Simpsons.
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"'''Please Homer, Don't Hammer 'Em'''" is the third episode of [[season 18]]. It originally aired on September 24, [[2006]]. The episode was written by [[Matt Warburton]] and directed by [[Mike B. Anderson]] and [[Ralph Sosa]].
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== Synopsis ==
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{{Desc|[[Marge]] gets a job as carpenter, but every man thinks she is going to ruin everything she fixes because she is a woman, so [[Homer]] pretends to be the carpenter while Marge does all the work, until he starts receiving too much credit for doing nothing.}}
  
 
== Plot ==
 
== Plot ==
On a trip to a extremely poor mall, Homer happens across the Time Life Carpenter’s Library, and Marge encourages him to buy them. Also seen is 'I, Scoundrel' by Esme Delacroix, a book featured in a previous episode. Homer's interest in carpentry fades, and Marge decides to use them herself to fix up the house, starting with her broken nightstand. She begins to learn more and more about carpentry and Lisa suggests to Marge that she try to earn some money as a handyman, thus opening up 'Simpsons Carpentry'. However, potential clients (Superintendent Chalmers, Krusty the Clown) turn her down, dismissing the idea of a woman carpenter. Commenting on how people expect carpenters to be big fat guys "with their butt cheeks showing", Marge develops a plan. She uses Homer as a front to the customers, while Marge, hiding in an accompanied red tool chest, does the all of the work as Homer rests in the tool box. Starting on Professor Frink, she finds this plan as a success. Meanwhile, a note is sent out from the school, informing parents that someone at the school has a peanut allergy so peanuts will no longer be allowed on school premises. An indignant Bart claims it to be unfair to disclose the identity of the "kid," but he soon discovers the "kid" is actually Principal Skinner. With this newfound knowledge, and with the assistance of a peanut on a yardstick, Bart is able to abuse Skinner by making him do a number of humiliating activities, such as firing tennis balls at him, making him eat garbage in bed and making him read a "cootie" poem over the tannoy to the whole school.
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[[File:Peanut Shrimp.png|thumb|left|Bart and Skinner fight above a vat of [[Peanut Shrimp]].]]
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The [[Simpson family]] make a trip to the [[Springfield Mall]], which is derelict and run down due to [[Mayor Quimby]]'s father being killed there. As they go past several run down stores, they arrive at the remains of a [[JCPenney's]], which has now become a collection of candle kiosks and Persian CD stores. A [[Persian man]] then approaches the family, trying to sell a copy of ''[[Uma Shang Shang: The Flower Song]]'' by [[Nabil]], singing [[Uma Shang Shang|the title song from the album]]. Homer is unconvinced at first buy purchases it after he throws in a free tube of [[Sunni Smile]]. Meanwhile, [[Bart]] went to [[Captain Blip's Zapateria]] where he played ''[[Triangle Wars]]''. After Homer and [[Marge]] popped into a sweet shop where Homer bought old gummy worms, they visit [[Rock Bottom Remainders]], a book shop. Whilst here, Homer buys ''[[The Time Life Carpenter's Library]]'', which excites Marge as she thinks Homer is going to start being handy around the house.
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At home, Marge gets a letter from the [[Springfield Elementary School|school]] telling students not to bring peanut-based food in as someone in school is deathly allergic to peanuts. Marge then goes through Bart's lunchbox and removes all peanut-based food, and a copy of ''[[Good Grief, More Peanuts]]''. In the living room, Homer is watching TV, with his feet up on his new books, claiming that he made a footrest. Marge gets annoyed at Homer not following through on anything and goes upstairs to their bedroom. In the bedroom, Marge stands on a loose floorboard which knocks over the nightstand so Marge uses one of the carpentry books to help repair them both. Upon realizing she was good at this, she started to build other objects from the books. Marge then decides to start a carpentry business, but when every customer realizes that she's a woman, they refuse her services.
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In bed that day, Marge comes up with a plan to have Homer pretend to be the carpenter and Marge does all the work whilst the customers aren't around. The two of them do work for [[Professor Frink]] and [[Kent Brockman]]. After finishing Brockman's gazebo, Homer asks him how he would feel if a woman had done all the work, and Brockman reacted negatively to it. At school, Bart tries to find out who the kid with the peanut allergy is. He then finds from [[Willie]] that it was [[Principal Skinner]] and spies on Skinner and Willie in Skinner's office. Whilst this is happening, Marge is shopping at [[Builders' Barn]] when [[Helen Lovejoy]] and [[Lindsey Naegle]] tease her about helping Homer rather than doing the work, which angers Marge. At home, Marge tells Homer that she is annoyed with how much credit Homer is taking for the work.
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[[File:Homer Marge Zoominator.png|thumb|right|Marge repairs the tracks as Homer rides the [[Zoominator]].]]
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At school, Bart goes bowling with trophies, which angers Skinner. As Skinner gets ready to punish Bart, Bart pulls out a peanut on a stick to torment him with. Bart puts Skinner through humiliating experiences whilst scaring him with the peanut. Meanwhile, Marge was working on making a windmill for [[Lenny]]. As Lenny and [[Carl]] approach, Marge gets back into the toolbox and Lenny and Carl talk badly about women, which angers Marge. After this incident, Marge decides that she's had enough and Homer has to give her credit, which he refuses to do. Homer also mentions that they had been hired to repair [[The Zoominator]], a wooden roller coaster. Marge refuses to help, so Homer tries to hire contractors. Once the contractors he hires find out that he doesn't have money, they leave Homer to fix the roller coaster himself.
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That night, Principal Skinner had a nightmare involving [[Mr. Peanut]]. Later that day, Bart made Skinner go to [[The Android's Dungeon]] to breastfeed [[Bilbo Baggins]] in the shop window. In the store, [[Comic Book Guy]] tells Skinner about [[Superman]]'s {{W|Kryptonite}}, which gives Skinner the idea to find what Bart is allergic to. Skinner breaks into [[Dr. Hibbert]]'s office and finds that Bart is allergic to shrimp, which he uses to stop Bart from forcing him to do stuff. The two of them then have a fight across town, riding on the top of the [[school bus]], until they enter a [[Thai Food Factory]]. The factory had a vat of [[Peanut Shrimp]] which they both fall into, both getting allergic reactions. Meanwhile, Homer unveils the newly repaired Zoominator, which immediately starts to fall apart again. Annoyed at everyone's reactions, Homer decides to get on the roller coaster to prove them all wrong. However, the tracks start to break, which Marge jumps to repairing. As the roller coaster reaches the end, it collapses and falls onto Homer.
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In hospital, Marge forgives Homer for everything that happened between them. She also tells Bart not to risk his own life saving his principal, which Skinner objects to as that wasn't how it happened. Bart and Skinner then start throwing peanuts and shrimp at each other, leaving Marge to go look at the new babies instead of dealing with it.
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== Production ==
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One of the first jokes that was written for the episode involved the decrepit mall.<ref name="Jean">{{Com|Jean, Al|Please Homer, Don't Hammer 'Em|Eighteenth|(2017).}}</ref> The episode was co-directed by [[Ralph Sosa]], who was originally the assistant director. This was because main director [[Mike B. Anderson]] had to work on ''[[The Simpsons Movie]]'' during production of the episode, leaving no assistant director for the episode.<ref name="Anderson">{{Com|Anderson, Mike B.|Please Homer, Don't Hammer 'Em|Eighteenth|(2017).}}</ref> Sosa took over as the director after storyboards were completed and they were moving onto layouts. The episode was Ralph Sosa's first time directing and not having an assistant director was a handicap.<ref name="Sosa">{{Com|Sosa, Ralph|Please Homer, Don't Hammer 'Em|Eighteenth|(2017).}}</ref> Sosa and animation timer [[Robert Ingram]] worked to finish off the show, and were nervous about showing off the final product.<ref name="Anderson"/>
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The name of the [[Rock Bottom Remainders]] book store is a reference to the band {{W|Rock Bottom Remainders}}, which featured [[Matt Groening]].<ref name="Jean"/> The episode is loosely based on ''{{W|Big Eyes}}'', which was about a man taking credit for his wife's paintings.<ref name="Price">{{Com|Price, Michael|Please Homer, Don't Hammer 'Em|Eighteenth|(2017).}}</ref> Before the episode, [[Al Jean]] had to tell people to not feature butt cracks or cleavage so much after the {{W|Super Bowl XXXVIII halftime show controversy}}. So director [[Mike B. Anderson]] had to work to make Homer's butt crack look less like a butt crack. This led to them compromising with a double-cleavage butt crack.<ref name="Anderson"/>
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The producers licensed the song "{{W|Duel of the Fates}}" from ''{{W|Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace}}'' to be used in the episode. "[[We Will Rock You]]" by [[Queen]] was also licensed.<ref name="Jean"/> After the Zoominator collapses on Homer, [[Moe]] shows up. He was supposed to have a line, but it was cut.<ref name="Jean"/>
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== Reception ==
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Dav Iverson of {{W|IGN}} said that the episode was "yet another good episode from the season that critics were all worried about". He praised the main Homer and Marge story, saying that it could have been "preachy and boring" but the show "handled the issue in a silly enough fashion that it didn't feel like you were being hit over the head with the theme". However, Iverson also thought that the Bart and Skinner storyline "wasn't as entertaining".<ref>[https://uk.ign.com/articles/2006/09/25/the-simpsons-please-homer-dont-hammer-em-review IGN - "The Simpsons: "Please Homer Don't Hammer 'Em" Review"]</ref>
  
While business is going great, Marge becomes a bit discouraged by Helen Lovejoy and Lindsay Naegle when she is out buying supplies, who berate her for being Homer's "helper" ("Hey Marge, I think you broke something. Better call Homer!"). That night, Marge tells Homer that he feels he's taking too much credit and wishes she would get some recognition for the work. Homer, however, doesn't want to be humiliated by revealing his wife did everything. After an incident in which Homer mocks Marge's carpentry skills with Lenny and Carl, who then kick the toolbox she is hiding in to the tune of We Will Rock You, Marge becomes enraged and quits, leaving Homer alone to do his biggest commission yet: repairing Springfield’s old wooden roller coaster, "The Zoominator". Homer tries to fake his way through being a foreman in front of his newly hired construction crew, but they eventually abandon him when he reveals he can't pay them via sobbing and screaming in the box. Meanwhile, Skinner eventually realizes he could exploit a weakness of Bart's, and searching through medical records of one Bart Simpson, finds exactly what he's looking for: something Bart's allergic to (the item is hidden on the folder by his finger in the scene). The next day, Skinner counters Bart's peanut stick with his own: a shrimp on a stick. In the style of the final battle in Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith, Bart and Skinner clash with their respective “sticks,” eventually leading them into into a Thai food factory in the "[[Little Bangkok]]" section of town. They battle over a rickety catwalk, until it gives way, plunging them both into a vat of peanut shrimp, setting off both of their sensitive allergies.
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As of February 2020, the episode has a 6.7 rating on {{W|IMDb}}<ref>[https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0858310/ IMDb - "Please Homer, Don't Hammer 'Em"]</ref> and an 8.2 rating on {{W|TV.com}}.<ref>[http://www.tv.com/shows/the-simpsons/please-homer-dont-hammer-em-759606/ TV.com - "Please Homer, Don't Hammer 'Em"]</ref>
  
The big reopening day arrives, and Homer (looking similarly alike to Mr. Monopoly) stands in front of a crowd (many of them roller coaster freaks), gathered to witness the unveiling of the refurbished roller coaster. Marge has a video camera at the ready, so she can catch Homer being exposed as a fraud on tape. When revealed, the crowd is in awe at the seemingly repaired roller coaster, but with a hit from Homer's popped cork from his champagne, the coaster dilapidates, becoming as rundown as it previously was. Still not wanting to admit the truth, Homer proves the coaster is safe by riding it himself, even though there are large gaps in the track. Acting quick, Marge is able to repair each broken piece just before Homer's cart runs over it. While riding, Homer announces to the crowd that Marge did all the handy work. The crowd applauds as the coaster comes to a stop at the beginning, and just as Marge is about to tell Homer that she loves him, the entire roller coaster structure comes crashing down on top of him. At the hospital, Marge visits Homer, who is okay but immobilized in a full body cast. Bart and Skinner rest in their respective hospital beds in the same room as Homer, and the two proceed to throw shrimp and peanuts at each other to set off their respective allergies once more.
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== References ==
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{{Reflist}}
  
==Goofs==
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{{Images|ep=yes}}
*In this episode Bart is said to only be allergic to shrimp. In [[Blood Feud]] Marge lists Bart's allergies as butterscotch, imitation butterscotch, and glow-in-the-dark monster make-up. In [[Mommie Beerest]] Bart is clearly seen eating and throwing shrimp. Also, in [[The Frying Game]] Bart says he was in the Green room, and he ate so much shrimp.
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{{season 18}}
  
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[[Category:2006]]
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[[Category:Homer episodes]]
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[[Category:Marge episodes]]
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[[Category:Bart episodes]]
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[[Category:Principal Skinner episodes]]
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[[Category:Episodes written by Matt Warburton]]
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[[Category:Episodes directed by Mike B. Anderson]]
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[[Category:Episodes directed by Ralph Sosa]]
  
{{Season 18}}
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[[sv:Please Homer, Don't Hammer 'Em]]
[[Category:Episodes]]
 
[[category:Season 18]]
 

Revision as of 10:13, May 1, 2020

Season 18 Episode
380 "Jazzy and the Pussycats"
381
"Please Homer, Don't Hammer 'Em"
"Treehouse of Horror XVII" 382
"Homer, it's time people knew the truth: I'm doing the work and I want the credit."
Marge Simpson
"Please Homer, Don't Hammer 'Em"
Please Homer, Don't Hammer 'Em.png
Episode Information


"Please Homer, Don't Hammer 'Em" is the third episode of season 18. It originally aired on September 24, 2006. The episode was written by Matt Warburton and directed by Mike B. Anderson and Ralph Sosa.

Synopsis

"Marge gets a job as carpenter, but every man thinks she is going to ruin everything she fixes because she is a woman, so Homer pretends to be the carpenter while Marge does all the work, until he starts receiving too much credit for doing nothing."


Plot

Bart and Skinner fight above a vat of Peanut Shrimp.

The Simpson family make a trip to the Springfield Mall, which is derelict and run down due to Mayor Quimby's father being killed there. As they go past several run down stores, they arrive at the remains of a JCPenney's, which has now become a collection of candle kiosks and Persian CD stores. A Persian man then approaches the family, trying to sell a copy of Uma Shang Shang: The Flower Song by Nabil, singing the title song from the album. Homer is unconvinced at first buy purchases it after he throws in a free tube of Sunni Smile. Meanwhile, Bart went to Captain Blip's Zapateria where he played Triangle Wars. After Homer and Marge popped into a sweet shop where Homer bought old gummy worms, they visit Rock Bottom Remainders, a book shop. Whilst here, Homer buys The Time Life Carpenter's Library, which excites Marge as she thinks Homer is going to start being handy around the house.

At home, Marge gets a letter from the school telling students not to bring peanut-based food in as someone in school is deathly allergic to peanuts. Marge then goes through Bart's lunchbox and removes all peanut-based food, and a copy of Good Grief, More Peanuts. In the living room, Homer is watching TV, with his feet up on his new books, claiming that he made a footrest. Marge gets annoyed at Homer not following through on anything and goes upstairs to their bedroom. In the bedroom, Marge stands on a loose floorboard which knocks over the nightstand so Marge uses one of the carpentry books to help repair them both. Upon realizing she was good at this, she started to build other objects from the books. Marge then decides to start a carpentry business, but when every customer realizes that she's a woman, they refuse her services.

In bed that day, Marge comes up with a plan to have Homer pretend to be the carpenter and Marge does all the work whilst the customers aren't around. The two of them do work for Professor Frink and Kent Brockman. After finishing Brockman's gazebo, Homer asks him how he would feel if a woman had done all the work, and Brockman reacted negatively to it. At school, Bart tries to find out who the kid with the peanut allergy is. He then finds from Willie that it was Principal Skinner and spies on Skinner and Willie in Skinner's office. Whilst this is happening, Marge is shopping at Builders' Barn when Helen Lovejoy and Lindsey Naegle tease her about helping Homer rather than doing the work, which angers Marge. At home, Marge tells Homer that she is annoyed with how much credit Homer is taking for the work.

Marge repairs the tracks as Homer rides the Zoominator.

At school, Bart goes bowling with trophies, which angers Skinner. As Skinner gets ready to punish Bart, Bart pulls out a peanut on a stick to torment him with. Bart puts Skinner through humiliating experiences whilst scaring him with the peanut. Meanwhile, Marge was working on making a windmill for Lenny. As Lenny and Carl approach, Marge gets back into the toolbox and Lenny and Carl talk badly about women, which angers Marge. After this incident, Marge decides that she's had enough and Homer has to give her credit, which he refuses to do. Homer also mentions that they had been hired to repair The Zoominator, a wooden roller coaster. Marge refuses to help, so Homer tries to hire contractors. Once the contractors he hires find out that he doesn't have money, they leave Homer to fix the roller coaster himself.

That night, Principal Skinner had a nightmare involving Mr. Peanut. Later that day, Bart made Skinner go to The Android's Dungeon to breastfeed Bilbo Baggins in the shop window. In the store, Comic Book Guy tells Skinner about Superman's Kryptonite, which gives Skinner the idea to find what Bart is allergic to. Skinner breaks into Dr. Hibbert's office and finds that Bart is allergic to shrimp, which he uses to stop Bart from forcing him to do stuff. The two of them then have a fight across town, riding on the top of the school bus, until they enter a Thai Food Factory. The factory had a vat of Peanut Shrimp which they both fall into, both getting allergic reactions. Meanwhile, Homer unveils the newly repaired Zoominator, which immediately starts to fall apart again. Annoyed at everyone's reactions, Homer decides to get on the roller coaster to prove them all wrong. However, the tracks start to break, which Marge jumps to repairing. As the roller coaster reaches the end, it collapses and falls onto Homer.

In hospital, Marge forgives Homer for everything that happened between them. She also tells Bart not to risk his own life saving his principal, which Skinner objects to as that wasn't how it happened. Bart and Skinner then start throwing peanuts and shrimp at each other, leaving Marge to go look at the new babies instead of dealing with it.

Production

One of the first jokes that was written for the episode involved the decrepit mall.[1] The episode was co-directed by Ralph Sosa, who was originally the assistant director. This was because main director Mike B. Anderson had to work on The Simpsons Movie during production of the episode, leaving no assistant director for the episode.[2] Sosa took over as the director after storyboards were completed and they were moving onto layouts. The episode was Ralph Sosa's first time directing and not having an assistant director was a handicap.[3] Sosa and animation timer Robert Ingram worked to finish off the show, and were nervous about showing off the final product.[2]

The name of the Rock Bottom Remainders book store is a reference to the band Rock Bottom Remainders, which featured Matt Groening.[1] The episode is loosely based on Big Eyes, which was about a man taking credit for his wife's paintings.[4] Before the episode, Al Jean had to tell people to not feature butt cracks or cleavage so much after the Super Bowl XXXVIII halftime show controversy. So director Mike B. Anderson had to work to make Homer's butt crack look less like a butt crack. This led to them compromising with a double-cleavage butt crack.[2]

The producers licensed the song "Duel of the Fates" from Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace to be used in the episode. "We Will Rock You" by Queen was also licensed.[1] After the Zoominator collapses on Homer, Moe shows up. He was supposed to have a line, but it was cut.[1]

Reception

Dav Iverson of IGN said that the episode was "yet another good episode from the season that critics were all worried about". He praised the main Homer and Marge story, saying that it could have been "preachy and boring" but the show "handled the issue in a silly enough fashion that it didn't feel like you were being hit over the head with the theme". However, Iverson also thought that the Bart and Skinner storyline "wasn't as entertaining".[5]

As of February 2020, the episode has a 6.7 rating on IMDb[6] and an 8.2 rating on TV.com.[7]

References


The Saga of Carl - title screen.png Wikisimpsons has a collection of images related to "Please Homer, Don't Hammer 'Em".
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The Mook, the Chef, the Wife and Her Homer Jazzy and the Pussycats Please Homer, Don't Hammer 'Em Treehouse of Horror XVII G.I. (Annoyed Grunt) Moe'N'a Lisa Ice Cream of Margie (with the Light Blue Hair) The Haw-Hawed Couple Kill Gil, Volumes I & II The Wife Aquatic Revenge Is a Dish Best Served Three Times Little Big Girl Springfield Up Yokel Chords Rome-Old and Juli-Eh Homerazzi Marge Gamer The Boys of Bummer Crook and Ladder Stop, or My Dog Will Shoot! 24 Minutes You Kent Always Say What You Want