The Simpsons/Colonel Homer

Colonel Homer
Season 3, Episode 20
Airdate	March 26, 1992
Production Number	8F19
Written by	Matt Groening
Directed by	Mark Kirkland
← 3x19 Dog of Death	3x21 → Black Widower
The Simpsons — Season Three

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Colonel Homer is the twentieth episode of the third season of The Simpsons, and the fifty-fifth episode overall.

The episode focuses on the marriage of Homer and Marge and Homer nearly being led astray. After the two get into a major fight at the movies, Homer goes on a drive to cool off, and while stopped at a nightclub is entranced by the nightclub's featured singer, Lurleen Lumpkin, who also works as a waitress at the nightclub. Homer discovers Lurleen is trying to become a national recording star and offers to help her get discovered. Lurleen becomes attracted to an unwary Homer, and Marge becomes concerned that Homer is being led astray. What will Homer do to resist temptation and remain faithful to his wife, all while helping Lurleen realize her dreams of stardom?

Guest Stars: Beverly D'Angelo (as Lurleen Lumpkin)

Notes

Title Sequence

• Blackboard: "I will not conduct my own fire drills."
• Couch Gag: The family sits on the couch, not noticing the cushions have been removed; they sink into the couch as a result.

Arc Advancement

Characters

• Lurleen Lumpkin makes several more appearances in the show, with her most extended shot coming in the Season 19 episode "Papa Don't Leech" (where the family helps Lurleen after she is discovered to owe millions in back taxes). She makes cameo appearances in "Marge vs. the Monorail" (where, voiced by Doris Grau, is shown to have become a down-on-her-luck, disheveled drunk) and "Krusty Gets Kancelled" (as a celebrity on "The Springfield Squares"). Also, in "Team Homer," Lurleen is a member of a bowling team "The Home Wreckers," while Season 7's "Bart On the Road" sees Lurleen having gotten a regular gig as an entertainer at an entertainment complex in Branson, Mo.

Trivia

Allusions and References

• Patsy Cline and Tammy Wynette: Lurleen is somewhat modeled after the two legendary country singers. (Beverly D'Angelo played Patsy Cline in Coal Miner's Daughter, the movie based on Loretta Lynn's rise to stardom.) One of Lurleen's songs is "Stand By Your Manager," a takeoff of Wynette's 1968 country and pop smash "Stand By Your Man."
• Deliverance: Homer drives by a house where a teenaged boy is playing "Dueling Banjos," akin to a similar scene in the 1972 Burt Reynolds movie.
• Hee-Haw: Ya-Hoo is an obvious parody. Spoofed are the opening sequence (of a donkey's eyes spinning before saying the show's title), introduction of cast members and jokes with often "groaner" punchlines. Pip Diddler, the show's host, is a hybrid of Hee-Haw hosts Roy Clark and Buck Owens. Cloris Moselle, one of the show's regulars, is a takeoff of Minnie Pearl, who starred on Hee-Haw from 1969-1991. The Ya-Hoo Recovering Alcoholic Band, the show's house band, is a spoof of the Nashville Edition (which served as the house band for Hee-Haw) and the jug music played by various cast members on occasion.
• Movies at the Springfield Googolplex (the Googolplex itself a reference to the growing concept of multi-screen movie theaters, instead of the one- and two-screen facilities of old):
  • Ernest films: "Ernest vs. the Pope," a swipe at the growing number of formulatic, predictable comedy films starring Jim Varney (as Ernest P. Worrell).
  • Honey, I Shrunk the Kids: "Honey, I Hit a School Bus."
  • Look Who's Oinking: "Look Who's Talking."
• Col. Tom Parker: Homer dresses like the legendary manager of Elvis Presley (and prior to that, country music legends including Eddy Arnold and Hank Snow). The episode title is also a reference to Parker.
• Urban Cowboy: The Beer N' Brawl nightclub where Homer sees Lurleen Lumpkin perform is based on Gilley's, which was prominently featured in the 1980 movie starring John Travolta and Debra Winger.

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