Team Homer

"Team Homer" is the twelfth episode of the seventh season of the American animated television series The Simpsons.

In the subplot, Bart's "Down with Homework" T-shirt incites a school riot, so Principal Skinner implements a uniform dress code.

Homer and his teammates — Moe, Apu and Otto — are unable to afford the $500 fee to join a bowling league.

Homer asks his boss to sponsor the team while he happens to be anesthetized, so Mr. Burns unwittingly signs a check.

After recovering from his ether-induced stupor, Burns discovers he wrote a check to Homer and insists on joining the Pin Pals, replacing Otto.

Homer and the team fear they will lose the championship, since Burns can barely bowl due to his frail physique.

The uniforms restore discipline, but demoralizes the students and they slowly begin to lose their individual mannerisms, even blinking in unison, much to the pleasure and delight of Skinner.

Also appearing with non-speaking roles are Mindy Simmons, Lurleen Lumpkin, and Princess Kashmir, the three women who almost broke up Marge and Homer's marriage.

In American syndication and the season seven DVD, the name was changed to Don Ameche (who had won for Cocoon).

Ngor, who won an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for the 1984 film The Killing Fields, was murdered on February 25, 1996, between the original and the syndicated broadcast.

Mr. Burns' ether-induced hallucinations cause him to perceive Homer as Poppin' Fresh and Hans Moleman as "that delightful TV leprechaun."

[8] The episode was the fourth highest-rated show on the Fox network that week, following The X-Files, Beverly Hills, 90210, and Married... with Children.

They praised how the episode utilized Burns's physical weaknesses for laughs, and Homer's line; "I guess some people never change.

"[9] DVD Movie Guide's Colin Jacobson said that to his surprise, "the dress code plot works the best".

[10] Jennifer Malkowski of DVD Verdict considered the best part of the episode to be when Homer ends a phone conversation with the "highly quotable" line, "I gotta go.