"Homer's Enemy" was directed by Jim Reardon and written by John Swartzwelder, based on an idea pitched by executive producer Bill Oakley.
Originally scouted to become the SNPP's Executive Vice-President, Grimes is later assigned to Sector 7G after another local news story moves Burns to hire a heroic dog to the EVP position instead.
Meanwhile, after being dragged along to city hall by Marge for the purchase of a personalized license plate, Bart buys an abandoned factory for a dollar at a foreclosure auction.
Homer attempts to follow Marge's suggestion by acting as a model employee to impress Grimes, but his efforts fail as he is just as incompetent as before.
Instead of calming down, Grimes decides to prove Homer's lack of intelligence by tricking him into entering a children's contest to design a nuclear power plant in an attempt to humiliate him in front of everyone.
"Homer's Enemy" was written by John Swartzwelder, directed by Jim Reardon and executive produced by Bill Oakley and Josh Weinstein.
"[4] In the episode, Homer is portrayed as an everyman and the embodiment of the American spirit; however, in some scenes his negative characteristics and silliness are prominently highlighted.
[3][5] By the close of the episode, Grimes, a hard-working and persevering "real American hero,"[5] is relegated to the role of antagonist; the viewer is intended to be pleased that Homer has emerged victorious.
[5] In an interview with Simpsons fan site NoHomers.net, Josh Weinstein said: We wanted to do an episode where the thinking was "What if a real life, normal person had to enter Homer's universe and deal with him?"
He was originally designed as a "burly ex-marine guy with a crew cut",[7] but would later be modeled after Michael Douglas in the movie Falling Down[3] and director Jim Reardon's college roommate.
Among few others, the producers considered asking Nicolas Cage to play Grimes[8] but decided Azaria was more suitable because the role involved a great deal of frustration and required extensive knowledge of the show.
[14] According to Josh Weinstein, when the episode was first broadcast, many fans felt it was too dark, lacked humor and that Homer was portrayed as overly bad-mannered.
[3] Weinstein considers this episode one of the most controversial of the seasons he ran, as it involves sharp observational humor that he thinks many fans "didn't get.
"[3] Weinstein also talks about a "generation gap"—he believes the episode was originally panned by viewers, but has since become a favorite among fans who grew up with the show.
"[15] Many critics have listed "Homer's Enemy" as one of the best episodes of the series, including John Orvted of Vanity Fair,[16] Entertainment.ie,[17] Screen Rant,[18] The Guardian,[19] and Time.
"[30] Noel Murray writes that "There’s an element of nose-thumbing to 'Homer’s Enemy,' which may explain why it rubs some Simpsons fans the wrong way.
In the season fourteen episode "The Great Louse Detective", it is revealed that he fathered a son named Frank Grimes Jr., who tries and fails to kill Homer.
He also appears in season twenty-six, as an angel with a halo in the opening sequence of "My Fare Lady", as Homer is exiting his work place.
In the non-canon season twenty-eight episode "Treehouse of Horror XXVII", the ghost of Frank Grimes joins Sideshow Bob's army of the Simpsons' enemies.
[3] In February 2000, the cast of The Simpsons performed a live reading of the episode script at the US Comedy Arts Festival in Aspen, Colorado.
[34] In an interview with GamesRadar+ in January 2023, Rick and Morty writer Jeff Loveness, who went to write the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) feature film Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania (2023), cited "Homer's Enemy" and the Frank Grimes character for inspiring the film's portrayal of Darren Cross / M.O.D.O.K., portrayed by Corey Stoll.