Children of a Lesser Clod

"Children of a Lesser Clod" is the twentieth and penultimate episode of the twelfth season of the American animated television series The Simpsons.

The episode is written by current showrunner Al Jean, and directed by Mike Frank Polcino.

Homer participates in a basketball class, but suffers a torn ACL after a dunk attempt ends with the backboard crashing down on his leg.

The daycare center is wildly successful, and Homer earns a nomination for the "Good Guy Awards", but during a video tribute at the awards ceremony, Bart and Lisa splice in home movie footage of Homer at his worst (passed out drunk next to the tree on Christmas day, losing Maggie to Moe in a poker game, and chasing Bart with a medieval flail while yelling, "I'll mace you good!").

After three mistrials, Homer apologizes to Bart and Lisa for neglecting them and promises to care only for them (and Maggie) instead of the neighborhood kids.

The episode ends with the family eating from the craft services table because the union workers never came to retrieve it.

"Children of a Lesser Clod" was written by Al Jean and directed by Mike Frank Polcino.

When Homer puts his daycare permit in the picture frame Bart and Lisa gave him was based on a real-life experience of former writer Dana Gould in which he gave his parents a newspaper article about him winning a Boston comedy competition and later found out that it was replaced by Larry Bird dunking butterfingers.

[4] A scene where Homer's festering scab wound heals over Ralph's hand in a close-up was negatively received by fans.

[5] Colin Jacobson of DVD Movie Guide gave this episode a mixed review, saying "When Bart and Lisa team up to pursue a goal, the result usually succeeds.