Fans ofThe Simpsonsare in for a treat on Disney+ thanks to July’s brand-new Homer-centric stream. Composed of the 200 biggest and best examples of Homer Simpson as a character from the show’s historic run, the stream will highlight the enduring power of the character, highlighting his comedic chops and emotional vulnerability across decades of television. It’s a fun example of how Disney+ can use the streaming model and their access to the entire run ofThe Simpsonsto their advantage, especially asthe show approaches season 37.
To make sure the collection of episodes perfectly represented what makes Homer so great, the streamer recruited one of the show’s most creatively significant figures to help curate the list. During an interview withScreenRant,The Simpsonsshowrunner Matt Selman discussed the Homer-centric stream coming to Disney+, revealed one of his favorite underrated episodes, teased the upcoming season 37, and explained which other character he thinks marks a core part of the series.
Matt Selman Explains What Makes A Good Homer Episode Of The Simpsons
“You Feel What Homer Is Feeling…”
Disney+ is celebratingThe Simpsonswith a fresh stream of Homer-centric episodes, personally curated by Matt Selman. “There are 200 episodes,” Selman. “The team at Disney+ and I personally curated what we thought were the 200 Homer-iest Homer episodes. I think they’re still being shown in chronological order, season by season.” Looking back at the history of the show and what makes for a good Homer story, Selman surmised that “Homer’s a very flexible character,” which makes him a perfect story engine.
“There are a lot of great Homer episodes where the reason he cares about something is, ‘Marge, it was always my dream to [blank]’, right? That says just enough and is just silly enough to work. I think the best Homer episodes are when he has something that he emotionally cares about that you at home can actually relate to.If we do our job right, even if it’s something silly, it’s something you can connect to. Obviously, caring about his family or his friends? That’s more universal. But there’s more you can make him emotional about.”
Homer will throw everything he has into trying to be a mentor to the one person in the world who actually looks up to him.
To Selman, one of the best examples of this from recent years can be seen in season 31’s “Go Big Or Go Homer.” Directed by Matthew Faughnan and written by John Frink, the episode focuses on Homer’s unexpected mentorship of a Nuclear Power Plant intern, Mike Wegman. Selman described the episode as one “that I love that is not as famous, butI think it’s terrific… Homer cares about the fact that he’s not respected. He’s just not respected at work, andhe realizes everyone thinks he’s a joke.”
“But then there’s one guy… who does respect him. And even though he’s the kind of self-destructive and a really dumb, dumb, dumb person, all it takes is one person for Homer to throw everything he has into trying to be a mentor to the one person in the world who actually looks up to him.” To Selman,the episode effectively functions as a direct contrast to season 8’s “Homer’s Enemy,“which introduced Frank Grimes as one of the only people in Springfield who recognizes Homer’s flaws and faults.
“Frank was the one person who could clearly see [Homer], the one smart person in Springfield who could clearly see Homer and ask why this guy is getting away with it every week? How does he have so much good luck and friends and fortune and doesn’t have to work hard and screws everything up, and yet, he never pays the price? But in “Go Big or Go Homer,” Homer’s intern, Mike Wegman, is the only person who thinks Homer is great.He’s the opposite end of the spectrum of Frank Grimes.”
For Selman, the key to Homer plots relies on the response of the audience. “If a Homer episode is great, viewers at home are feeling what Homer is feeling and caring about what he’s caring about… people relate to Homer, in a really specific way, more than most characters. That’s important. I mean, some people [would say a good Homer episode] gives him a crazy job, or gets the crap beat out of him 100 times… to me, it’s still that most of the basic storytelling function.You feel what Homer is feeling, as crazy a situation as he’s in.”
That core concept extends to Selman’s choice of the 200 episodes included in the Homer-centric stream, which meant some episodes that many would expect to be included were actually left out. For one example, Selman cited season 3’s “Flaming Moe’s” as an example of a Homer-heavy episode that he didn’t feel like belonged on a list of the best Homer episodes. “People might take issue with the curation of the list,” Selman admitted. “It might spark public debate.”
“I thought “Flaming Moe’s” was definitely Homer-centric, but Moe is in the title. It’s sort of Homer’s story, butit was one of the first times The Simpsons had really dedicated so much time to a non-family member… It was one of the first times the show had gone in and been like, ‘Oh, we’re seeing the home life of Moe. We’re seeing the inner world of Moe.’ We’re not just seeing him as the bartender who says, ‘How you doing Homer?’ That’s why I took it off.”
Looking Back At “Estranger Things” And If The Show Will Return To A Marge-Less Future
“The Show Is, As Always, A Beneficiary Of The Fact That The World Is So Dumb”
That flexibility with Homer has been afforded to him (and the show’s massive cast at large)_ thanks to the static setting of Springfield. While the world may change around them,The Simpsonscharacters have not aged or changed too much since their initial appearances. That’s what makes potential futures, such as the one depicted in “Estranger Things,” all the more interesting.The episode established a world where Marge died before Homer, leaving the Simpsons family to splinter apart in her absence.
The episode generated a great deal of controversy weeks after it was released, when some outlets began reporting that the show had killed off Marge (while leaving out the reality of the show’s flexible canon and clear shift from the standard canon). Looking back at the episode, Selman acknowledged that “we didn’t really address Homer’s grief. It’s not really a Homer episode. It’s a bit of a Bart and Lisa episode. We skipped the grief.“When asked if fans can expect a return to this timeline, Selman responded, “No. I think one dead Marge was enough.”
The reaction from some outlets to “Estranger Things” still frustrates Selman, who notes how “it speaks to the fact that Simpsons headlines drive traffic. It means the show does still have strong interest, fan interest, and pop cultural power. If the internet can whip up a fake — well, it’s not fake. I mean, it did happen in the episode. Marge did die in the episode, but it was deliberately misleading. I guess we should be happy that the world is so dumb…The show is, as always, a beneficiary of the fact that the world is so dumb.”
Selman specifically noted his frustrationwith the “let’s say, the distressed condition of journalism. It is shocking to me that anything like a newspaper, a brand like the New York Post, can use as a source for a headline, one anonymous internet fan. I believe there was once a time when to put a fact in a newspaper, you would have three on-the-record sources confirming it. Now, in order for a full headline, of ‘Simpsons fans enraged that Marge is killed,’ the one source was like, Gamer z-z-z said they killed Marge! That’s the source. Oh, well.”
Looking To Season 37 And Which Character Modern Simpsons Has Perfected
“She Wasn’t The Comedy Engine, That’s Homer. But She’s A Great Emotion Engine”
The Simpsonshas been on a historic run for almost four decades, with the show confirmed for at least another four seasons. This will bring up the total seasons to 40, a staggering record for a Prime-Time television show that isn’t likely to be broken anytime soon. That doesn’t mean the show has ever stopped changing or evolving. Selman cited the ways that certain characters have gotten better spotlights in recent years, especially Marge. “I feel like one character we have really been writing well for these days is Marge. I love Marge. I love Julie Kavner.”
“I feel like we’ve done really good, strong stuff for Marge lately. I think in the old days, people used to not want to write for Marge because she wasn’t as funny as Homer and wasn’t as silly, it wasn’t as balls-out crazy, where you could do anything. She wasn’t the comedy engine, that’s Homer. Butshe’s a great emotional engine, and even more so than Homer. If Marge cares about something, I think the audience cares about that same thing. I’m really happy with some of the Marge stuff we’ve done in recent seasons.”
[We’re satirizing] tech billionaire culture and the desire for body hacking, trying to stay alive forever.
Looking ahead to season 37, Selman noted with a laugh that the season premiere — which focuses on Lisa getting sucked into the world of thrifting — is a great way to put"a fresh coat of paint on a ‘Lisa Gets Popular’ episode. I love it. I’m not trying to knock it, we gotta repeat ourselves a little bit sometimes.I love this episode, it’s super funny. The B-story is Homer gets addicted to a Reacher-type Dad TV show, with lots of punching. That’s a Homer-B story, we’d have to include it in a ‘Best Homer B-Story’ stream.”
Selman also teased the next iteration of Treehouse of Horror, the show’s annual Halloween anthology, hinting that fans would find out more about that episode at San Diego Comic-Con. Selman also mentioned that there is “a big two-hander with Bart and Professor Frink… it kind of satirizes tech billionaire culture and the desire for body hacking, trying to stay alive forever.” The future ofThe Simpsonslooks bright, even as longtime members of the show like Matt Selman find fresh ways to celebrate the legacy of the show on Disney+.
The Simpsons' “Homerpalooza” stream begins in on Disney+. Stay tuned for exact details!
