{{Use American English|date=January 2025}} {{Good article}} {{Use mdy dates|date=September 2023}} {{Infobox Simpsons episode | image = | alt = | caption = | season = 5 | episode = 16 | director = [[Wes Archer|Wes M. "Bud" Archer]] | writer = [[David Richardson (writer)|David Richardson]] | production = 1F14 | airdate = {{Start date|1994|03|17}} | blackboard = "I am not delightfully saucy"<ref name="book" /> | couch_gag = The family walks in, seeing two couches, and the family split in half, with half of each member choosing a couch.<ref name="BBC" /> | commentary = [[Matt Groening]]<br />[[David Mirkin]]<br />[[David Richardson (writer)|David Richardson]]<br />[[Wes Archer]]<br />[[David Silverman (animator)|David Silverman]] | prev = [[Deep Space Homer]] | next = [[Bart Gets an Elephant]] }} "'''Homer Loves Flanders'''" is the sixteenth episode of the [[The Simpsons season 5|fifth season]] of ''[[The Simpsons]]''. It originally aired on the [[Fox Broadcasting Company|Fox network]] in the United States on March 17, 1994.<ref name="BBC" /> In the episode, [[Ned Flanders]] invites [[Homer Simpson|Homer]] to a [[American football|football]] game and the two become good friends. However, in a reversal of their usual roles, Ned soon grows weary of Homer's overbearing friendship and stupid antics, and actually begins to hate him.
The episode was written by [[David Richardson (writer)|David Richardson]] and directed by [[Wes Archer]]. It was the last episode to be pitched by writer [[Conan O'Brien]] before he left ''The Simpsons''. It is the only episode of ''The Simpsons'' that Richardson wrote. It references films such as ''[[Terminator 2: Judgment Day]]'', ''[[The Deadly Tower]]'', [[Vertigo (film)|''Vertigo'']] and ''[[The Ten Commandments (1956 film)|The Ten Commandments]]'', and songs such as "[[Two Tickets to Paradise]]", "[[Macho Man (song)|Macho Man]]", and "[[Helter Skelter (song)|Helter Skelter]]".
Since airing, the episode has received positive reviews from television critics. It acquired a [[Nielsen rating]] of 10.9, and was the third highest-rated show on the Fox network the week it aired.
==Plot== [[Homer Simpson|Homer]] unsuccessfully tries to get tickets for a [[American football|football]] game, the "Pigskin Classic" between the Springfield Atoms and the Shelbyville Sharks. He misses eight days of work to camp outside the Shelbyville Stadium but the entire allocation of tickets is bought by a [[Scalping (trading)|scalper]], from whom, ironically, Homer can now not afford the tickets due to the eight days of work which he missed. He then misses out on winning a pair of tickets in a radio contest. [[Ned Flanders]] wins the tickets and invites Homer as his guest. Although he dislikes Ned, Homer grudgingly accepts. The Atoms win the game with a last play touchdown and Ned persuades the winning [[quarterback]] to give the game ball to Homer. Overwhelmed by Ned's generosity, Homer befriends Ned and his family.
Homer begins acting overly grateful and annoys Ned and his family to no end by interrupting their family time together. After Ned invites Homer to join him in volunteering at a local homeless shelter, Homer's impatient distribution of food is mistaken for enthusiasm by a ''Springfield Shopper'' reporter, leading him to being falsely celebrated as a local hero. The [[Flanders family]] and the [[Simpson family]] go on a camping trip together but do not get along, with Homer wrecking the Flanders' car and boat in the process. Ned awakens from a nightmare and tells [[Maude Flanders|Maude]] that he has grown to hate Homer.
Homer remains oblivious to Ned's animosity. He arrives at the Flanders' house expecting to play golf, but Ned and his family get in their car and race off. Pulled over by [[Chief Wiggum]] for [[speeding]], Ned takes a sobriety test as disapproving townspeople watch and conclude that he is on "goofballs". At church, people whisper about Ned's imagined indiscretions. As the entire congregation bow their heads in prayer (before a sermon calling out Ned specifically), Homer inhales very loudly through his nose, causing Ned to yell at him. This alarms the congregants, who become even more upset with Ned, but Homer sticks up for Ned, telling the parishioners "If everyone here were more like Ned Flanders, there'd be no need for Heaven, we would already be there."
The next week, everything returns to normal as Homer is again annoyed by Ned. Homer announces he recently inherited his great Uncle Boris's house, allegedly haunted. The Simpsons spend the night there. After turning out the lights, they see something that causes them to scream.
==Production== [[File:Conan O'Brien by Gage Skidmore.jpg|thumb|left|upright=0.75|"Homer Loves Flanders" was the last episode to be pitched by [[Conan O'Brien]] before he left the show.]]"Homer Loves Flanders" was the last episode to be pitched by [[Conan O'Brien]] before he left ''The Simpsons''. [[David Richardson (writer)|David Richardson]] was assigned to write it, and [[Wes Archer]] to direct it.<ref name="book" /> Richardson wrote the episode at a [[Motel 6]] in [[Hemet, California]] while he was dating an actress who was shooting a film there.<ref name="Richardson">{{cite video |people=Richardson, David |date=2004 |title=The Simpsons season 5 DVD commentary for the episode "Homer Loves Flanders" |medium=DVD |publisher=20th Century Fox}}</ref> In this season, the staff wanted to take a deeper look at the relationships of the characters. One thing in particular they wanted to explore was what Homer and Flanders have in common and how they could become friends.<ref name="Mirkin"/> Former [[showrunner]] [[David Mirkin]] enjoyed making Homer and Flanders get along because they normally do not.<ref name="Mirkin"/> This was the only episode of the series that Richardson wrote.
The episode begins with the Simpson family watching a [[news broadcast]] in which the news anchor [[Kent Brockman]] calls the [[United States Army]] a "kill-bot factory". Mirkin said this was a joke the staff "particularly loved to do" because it pointed out how negative and mean-spirited news broadcasts can be, and how they are seemingly "always trying to scare everybody" by creating panic and depression.<ref name="Mirkin">{{cite video |people=Mirkin, David |date=2004 |title=The Simpsons season 5 DVD commentary for the episode "Homer Loves Flanders" |medium=DVD |publisher=20th Century Fox}}</ref> In one scene in the episode, [[Marge Simpson|Marge]] begins [[hallucinating]] after drinking from Springfield's water supply, which has been spiked with [[lysergic acid diethylamide|LSD]] by [[Springfield (The Simpsons)|Springfield]]'s rival town, [[Springfield (The Simpsons)#Shelbyville|Shelbyville]]. The Fox network's censors wanted the scene to be cut from the episode because they did not like the idea of Marge "getting high" on LSD. Mirkin defended the scene, and argued Marge was not "doing it on purpose", so the censors ultimately allowed the scene to remain in the episode.<ref name="Mirkin"/> The censors also hated Ned's response to his wife telling him to drive his car faster ("I can't! It's a [[Geo (automobile)|Geo]]!") fearing they could lose the car company's sponsorship, but Mirkin kept the line in.<ref name="sprcon">{{cite book |last1=Reiss |first1=Mike |last2=Klickstein |first2=Mathew |title=Springfield confidential: jokes, secrets, and outright lies from a lifetime writing for the Simpsons |date=2018 |publisher=Dey Street Books |isbn=978-0062748034 |page=77|location=New York City}}</ref> In another scene, Homer becomes frustrated at God for not getting the tickets to the game, and yells at a waffle stuck to the ceiling that he believes is God. Marge points out that it is just a waffle that [[Bart Simpson|Bart]] threw up there. Homer calls the waffle "Sacrilicious." This scene, inspired by some melted caramel stuck to the ceiling of the ''Simpsons'' writers' room, is one of Mirkin's and Richardson's "all time favorite" jokes.<ref name="Mirkin" />
==Cultural references== [[File:Edward G Robinson in The Ten Commandments film trailer.jpg|thumb|upright=0.75|A reference is made in the episode to [[Edward G. Robinson]]'s character Dathan from the 1956 film ''[[The Ten Commandments (1956 film)|The Ten Commandments]]''.]] When Homer hears the 1978 song "[[Two Tickets to Paradise]]" by [[Eddie Money]] on the radio, he sings along without realizing the song applies to his predicament. As Homer is eating [[nachos]] at the football game, he improvises the song "Nacho Man", a reference to [[Village People]]'s 1978 song "[[Macho Man (song)|Macho Man]]".<ref name="BBC" /> When Rod and Todd are watching television in the Flanders's living room, a print of [[Leonardo da Vinci]]'s painting ''[[The Last Supper (Leonardo)|The Last Supper]]'' can be seen behind them. The homeless shelter that Homer and Flanders visit is called Helter Shelter, a reference to the 1968 song "[[Helter Skelter (song)|Helter Skelter]]" by [[The Beatles]].<ref name="book">{{cite book |last=Groening |first=Matt |authorlink=Matt Groening |editor1-first=Ray |editor1-last=Richmond |editor1-link=Ray Richmond |editor2-first=Antonia |editor2-last=Coffman |title=[[The Simpsons episode guides#The Simpsons: A Complete Guide to Our Favorite Family|The Simpsons: A Complete Guide to Our Favorite Family]] |edition=1st |year=1997 |location=New York |publisher=[[HarperPerennial]] |lccn=98141857 |ol=433519M |oclc=37796735 |isbn=978-0-06-095252-5 |page=[https://archive.org/details/simpsonscomplete00groe/page/138 138] |ref={{harvid|Richmond & Coffman|1997}} }}.</ref> Ned recognizes Moe from reading to sick children at the hospital; in a cutaway, he's shown reading a sick child from ''[[My Friend Flicka]]''. At the homeless shelter, he reads to the homeless from ''[[Little Women]]''. In the scene, Moe reads what purports to be the final line of the book: "They were no longer little girls...they were Little Women". The line makes Moe weep. Many viewers did not realise that this was intended as a joke, as the line does not appear in the original work.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Fletcher |first1=Harry |title=This Simpsons joke is so good people are only just understanding it 30 years later |url=https://www.indy100.com/tv/simpsons-joke-little-women |website=Indy100 |access-date=10 July 2025}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last1=Kelly |first1=Keegan |title=The Throwaway 'Simpsons' Line That Has Ruined 'Little Women' for a Generation |url=https://www.cracked.com/article_37890_the-throwaway-simpsons-line-that-has-ruined-little-women-for-a-generation.html |website=Cracked.com |access-date=10 July 2025}}</ref>
==Reception== In its original American broadcast, "Homer Loves Flanders" finished 43rd in the ratings for the week of March 14–20, 1994, with a [[Nielsen rating]] of 10.9.<ref name=ratings>{{cite news |title=Nielsen Ratings |date=March 24, 1994 |work=[[Long Beach Press-Telegram]] |page=C7}}</ref> The episode was the third highest-rated show on the Fox network that week, following ''[[Beverly Hills, 90210]]'' and ''[[Melrose Place]]''.<ref name=ratings/>
Since airing, the episode has received mostly positive reviews from television critics.
In 2007, Patrick Enright of ''[[Today (American TV program)|Today]]'' called the episode his eighth favorite of the show. He praised the references to ''Terminator 2'' in the episode, as well as [[Lisa Simpson|Lisa]]'s self-referential quote about how, "by next week, we'll be back to where we started from, ready for another wacky adventure."<ref>{{cite news |first= Patrick |last= Enwright |title= D'Oh! The top 10 'Simpsons' episodes ever |publisher= [[Today.com]] |date= 2007-07-31 |url= https://www.today.com/popculture/doh-top-10-simpsons-episodes-ever-1C9430188|access-date= 2022-01-16 }}</ref> The authors ''I Can't Believe It's a Bigger and Better Updated Unofficial Simpsons Guide'', [[Gary Russell]] and [[Gareth Roberts (writer)|Gareth Roberts]],<ref>{{Cite magazine|url=http://doctorwho.org.nz/archive/tsv51/garyrussell.html|title=Gary Russell: From Peladon to Placebos|author=Preddle, Jon|date=June 1997|magazine=Time Space Visualiser|issue=51|access-date=20 August 2020|publisher=The New Zealand Doctor Who Fan Club|quote=I've just done my first non-fiction book, Oh No It's A Completely Unofficial Simpsons Guide for Virgin, co-authored with Gareth Roberts which has, to be frank, been more of a nightmare than it needed to be [the book was published as I Can't Believe It's An Unofficial Simpsons Guide, with Gary and Gareth writing under the pseudonyms Warren Martyn & Adrian Wood].}}</ref> thought the episode had "some great existential musings" from Lisa. They added that it also "contains some nice moments highlighting the differences between the Simpsons and the Flanders."<ref name="BBC">{{cite web |url= http://www.bbc.co.uk/cult/simpsons/episodeguide/season5/page16.shtml |title= Homer Loves Flanders |last1=Martyn |first1=Warren |author-link1=Gary Russell |last2 = Wood |first2=Adrian |author-link2=Gareth Roberts (writer) |year= 2000 |publisher= [[BBC]] |url-status= dead |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20030423191907/http://www.bbc.co.uk/cult/simpsons/episodeguide/season5/page16.shtml |archive-date= 2003-04-23 |access-date= 2018-11-10 }}</ref>
DVD Movie Guide's Colin Jacobson said: "I always remembered ["Homer Loves Flanders"] to be a great episode – and I recalled correctly. Sure, the show goes with a less than creative presence[sic]; it’s an easy story to make characters behave in atypical ways. However, the development of the theme is terrific, as we learn the friendship of Homer Simpson is worse than the antagonism of Homer Simpson."<ref>{{cite web |access-date=2009-01-24 |url= http://www.dvdmg.com/simpsonsseasonfive.shtml |title=The Simpsons: The Complete Fifth Season (1993) |publisher=DVD Movie Guide |date=2004-12-21 |last=Jacobson |first=Colin }}</ref> [[DVD Talk]] gave the episode a 4 out of 5 score.<ref>{{cite web |access-date=2009-01-24 |url=http://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/13784/simpsons-the-complete-fifth-season-the/ |title=The Simpsons - The Complete Fifth Season |publisher=[[DVD Talk]] |date=2004-12-21 |last=Gibron |first=Bill }}</ref> Patrick Bromley of [[DVD Verdict]] gave the episode a B− grade, claiming the "rather large dose of sentimentality" and "fewer moments of absurdity" in the episode gave it "the feeling that it belongs in one of the series' earlier seasons".<ref>{{cite web|access-date=2009-01-24 |url= http://www.dvdverdict.com/reviews/simpsonsseason5.php |title=The Simpsons: The Complete Fifth Season |publisher=DVD Verdict |date=2005-02-23 |last=Bromley |first=Patrick |url-status=dead |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20090116115733/http://www.dvdverdict.com/reviews/simpsonsseason5.php |archive-date=2009-01-16 }}</ref> The ''[[Orlando Sentinel]]''{{'}}s Gregory Hardy named it the second best episode of the show with a sports theme.<ref>{{cite news |title=Hitting 300 - For Sporting Comedy, 'The Simpsons' Always Score |last=Hardy |first=Gregory |date=February 16, 2003 |work=[[Orlando Sentinel]] |page=C17}}</ref>
[[Nathan Rabin]] notes the episode's [[self-referential]] humor. Lisa muses that "It seems every week the Simpsons go through a situation like this. My suggestion is to just ride it out, make the occasional smart-aleck quip, and next week, we'll return right to where we were, ready for another wacky adventure. "Aye carumba!" Bart replies. "That's the spirit." Rabin writes "The ending of the episode pays off this speech with a denouement that once again finds Homer enraged at Flanders and the family faced with a premise that plays like a parody of hacky sitcom plots because it is: Homer inheriting a haunted house from his uncle Boris. I’ve long found meta-textual gags on ''The Simpsons'' to be a bit of a crutch, as a way of winking at the hoariness of the sitcom form and its conventions while recycling them, and 'Homer Loves Flanders' is strong enough that it doesn’t need that kind of an out." He praises the character development: "Ned Flanders has the patience of a saint. He is saintly in many other respects as well. In a comedy world where true believers like Ned are generally caricatured as hypocrites, Ned is the real deal, a genuinely decent man whose excessively public faith represents an honest belief in Christ and his teachings and a sincere love for his fellow man. That’s an altogether more subversive, challenging and rewarding take on [[Christian fundamentalism]] than lazily ridiculing bible-thumpers as phonies whose public protestations of holiness clash with their private indiscretions. Ned is such a thoroughly good dude that when, in the climactic moment of 'Homer Loves Flanders', Homer climactically tells Flanders' fellow parishioners that if everyone was like Ned there would be no need for heaven, since there would be heaven on earth, it rings true."<ref>{{cite news| last=Rabin| first=Nathan| title=The Simpsons (Classic): "Homer Loves Flanders"| work=[[The A.V. Club]]| url=https://www.avclub.com/the-simpsons-classic-homer-loves-flanders-1798176230}}</ref>
===Legacy=== A scene in the episode where Homer backs into Ned's hedges became an [[Internet meme]] referred to as "Homer Simpson Backs Into the Bushes", "Homer Backs Into Bushes", "Homer Simpson Backing Into a Hedge", and other, similar names (also referred to as simply the Homer Simpson bush meme) in the 2010s,<ref name="Vulture2019meme">{{cite news |last1=Sirucek |first1=Stefan |title=The Full-Circle Journey of 'Homer Simpson Backs Into the Bushes' |url=https://www.vulture.com/2019/06/simpsons-homer-backs-into-the-bushes-meme-gif.html |access-date=March 1, 2021 |work=Vulture |date=June 24, 2019 |language=en-us |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190624165801/https://www.vulture.com/2019/06/simpsons-homer-backs-into-the-bushes-meme-gif.html |archive-date=June 24, 2019 |url-status=live}}</ref> and a [[GIF]] of the meme was part of the 2014 installation ''The Reaction GIF: Moving Image as Gesture'' at the [[Museum of the Moving Image]].<ref name="Fortune2019meme">{{cite news |last1=Stampler |first1=Laura |title=''The Simpsons'' Ruptures Space-Time Continuum By Showing Homer Use the 'Homer Backs Into Bushes' Meme |url=http://fortune.com/2019/01/14/homer-simpson-gif-bushes/ |access-date=November 6, 2024 |work=[[Fortune (magazine)|Fortune]] |date=January 14, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190114235749/http://fortune.com/2019/01/14/homer-simpson-gif-bushes/ |archive-date=January 14, 2019 |url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Installation – The Reaction GIF: Moving Image as Gesture |url=http://www.movingimage.us/exhibitions/2014/03/12/detail/the-reaction-gif-moving-image-as-gesture/ |website=[[Museum of the Moving Image]] |access-date=November 6, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181202020313/http://www.movingimage.us/exhibitions/2014/03/12/detail/the-reaction-gif-moving-image-as-gesture/ |archive-date=December 2, 2018 |url-status=dead}}</ref> The scene was later referenced in the season 30 episode, "[[The Girl on the Bus]]" where Homer texts Lisa a GIF of himself going into the hedge.<ref name="Fortune2019meme" /><ref name="Vulture2019meme" /><ref>{{cite news |title=Even Homer Simpson uses the 'Homer Simpson backing into a hedge' gif |url=https://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/entertainment/film-tv/news/even-homer-simpson-uses-the-homer-simpson-backing-into-a-hedge-gif/37708304.html |access-date=November 6, 2024 |work=[[Belfast Telegraph]] |date=January 14, 2019}}</ref><ref name="DailyDot2024meme">{{cite web |last1=Weedston |first1=Lindsey |title=The story behind the ultimate Homer Simpson meme |url=https://www.dailydot.com/memes/homer-simpson-meme/ |website=[[The Daily Dot]] |access-date=November 6, 2024 |date=August 21, 2024}}</ref> The scene was later referenced again in the season 32 episode, "[[Wad Goals]]", where Bart tells his friends "I've seen my dad do this" immediately before showing them how to back into a hedge.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Celestino |first1=Mike |title=TV Recap: "The Simpsons" Season 32, Episode 13 - "Wad Goals" Sees Bart Becoming a Golf Caddy |url=https://www.laughingplace.com/w/articles/2021/02/28/tv-recap-the-simpsons-season-32-episode-13-wad-goals/ |access-date=March 1, 2021 |work=LaughingPlace.com |date=February 28, 2021}}</ref> In the season 34 episode "[[Treehouse of Horror XXXIII]]", during a ''[[Westworld (TV series)|Westworld]]'' parody segment named Simpsons World, multiple tourists heckle an android Homer to do the "bush meme" by pushing him into a hedge, Bart then removes Homer's [[Three Laws of Robotics|inability to intentionally harm humans]], causing him to push the tourists into the hedge, killing them and commenting "I'm so sick of that stupid hedge!".<ref>{{cite web |last1=Kelly |first1=Keegan |title=Homer Simpson Disappearing into the Hedges Is Becoming A Chia Pet |url=https://www.cracked.com/article_44187_homer-simpson-disappearing-into-the-hedges-is-becoming-a-chia-pet.html |website=[[Cracked.com|Cracked]] |access-date=November 6, 2024 |date=October 31, 2024}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last1=Venable |first1=Nick |title=''The Simpsons''{{'}} Matt Selman On 'The End Of The Hedge Meme,' And Why SimpsonsWorld Makes More Sense Than ''Westworld'' |url=https://www.cinemablend.com/interviews/the-simpsons-matt-selman-on-the-end-of-the-hedge-meme-and-why-simpsonsworld-makes-more-sense-than-westworld |website=[[CinemaBlend]] |access-date=November 6, 2024 |date=November 2, 2022}}</ref>
==References== {{Reflist}}
==External links== {{Wikiquote|The_Simpsons/Season_5#Homer_Loves_Flanders|"Homer Loves Flanders"}} {{Portal|The Simpsons}} * {{Snpp capsule|1F14}} * {{IMDb episode|0773646}}
{{The Simpsons episodes|5}}
[[Category:The Simpsons season 5 episodes]] [[Category:1994 American television episodes]] [[Category:Television episodes directed by Wes Archer]]