The Simpsons/Homer: Bad Man

Homer: Bad Man
Season 6, Episode 9
Airdate	November 27, 1994
Production Number	2F06
Written by	Greg Daniels
Directed by	Jeff Lynch
← 6x08 Lisa on Ice	6x10 → Grampa vs. Sexual Inadequacy
The Simpsons — Season Six

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Homer: Bad Man is the ninth episode of the sixth season of The Simpsons, and the one hundred twelfth episode overall.

The episode is a satire on the power of television media and how it is sometimes used to ruin people's reputations. Homer is put in the role of such a person when a feminist college student mistakes his attempt to retrieve a coveted piece of gummy candy from her behind as a sexual advance, and matters are made worse when a tabloid talk show wildly blows the incident out of proportion.

Guest Stars:

Plot Overview

Homer and Marge plan to attend a candy convention, and when Grampa is unavailable, their search for a babysitter – thanks to their past reputation – leaves them with two choices: A hobo, or a young college student named Ashley Grant. Marge decides that Ashley, based on her references, would be a far-better choice.

While at home Ashley wows Lisa with feminist, liberal viewpoints and keeps Bart under her thumb, Homer outfits Marge with a large trench coat so they can steal as much candy as possible. One of Homer's targets is a rare gummy styled like Venus de Milo, which is implied to have an astronomically high price tag. When they are caught, Homer uses an improvised bomb to cause an explosion at the convention center and get away.

Upon arriving home, Homer is unable to find the gummy Venus, and is frustrated more when Marge reminds him to take Ashley back to her dorm. Homer awkwardly tries to make conversation until Ashley has enough and decides to walk the rest of the way. While she is getting out of the car, Homer sees the missing gummy Venus having become stuck on the back of her pants, near her crotch area. Homer then makes the mistake of a lifetime: Rather than let it go or at least tell Ashley that she had something stuck to the back of her pants and she may want to remove it ... he grabs the gummy Venus himself.

Ashley, already irritated by Homer's boorish conversation, sees this act as a deliberate sexual advance and runs off, screaming in terror. Homer, blissfully unrealizing that his actions – despite meaning no harm – might have been construed as inappropriate, gleefully eats the candy.

The next morning, as a bloated Bart and Lisa eat what's left of the huge candy stock their parents stole the night before, a huge crowd suddenly appears on the Simpsons' lawn. Homer fears it may be the authorities coming to take him and Marge to jail for theft.

If only he knew.

Ashley angrily points at Homer and accuses him of sexual harassment, leaving Homer to try to defend himself, and things don't get any better when his bathrobe is blown up in a gust of wind. His family rallies behind him, but that won't help him stop Ashley and her fellow college students from making Homer's life a living hell, even following him to his work, where Mr. Smithers wants to have the protesters arrested (until Homer resignedly says that it was fine, "They're with me").

That night, Homer gets a phone call from Godfrey Jones from the TV magazine show Rock Bottom, inviting him to tell his side of what's quickly becoming a huge scandal in Springield. Homer agrees, but the resulting interview is edited into a completely inaccurate segment making Homer out to be a sexual deviant who not only openly admits to an attempted sexual assault of Ashley but also tries to make a move on Jones as well. Almost a split second later, every media outlet – including Channel 6 – arrive at the Simpsons' house, harassing the family and providing 24-hour coverage of their lives, interpreting everyday activities such as letting the cat outside, cooking a rotisserie chicken and Homer slipping in the shower, as acts of perversion; Kent Brockman, who knows the Simpsons, also is a key ringleader in all of this, hoping that opinion polls will be validated and directly influence public policy. A TV movie (with actor Dennis Franz) depicts Homer as a sexual predator; viewers only see up to the point where he declares he will "grab me some sweet ..." and laughs when Ashley threatens to expose him. Even Homer's closest friends, including Moe, Apu, Dr. Hibbert and Barney, turn on Homer.

Wanting to find a way to get people to listen to Homer's side of the story, Lisa suggests making a video tape where he tells what really happened and air it, unedited, on the local public-access TV channel. Homer, with some help from Grampa (the only other one outside his wife and children who believe Homer's innocence), tape the segment.

The resulting segment is seen by a few people, with the first one revealing this being a man upset over Homer disparaging old-time bicyclists. The other was Groundskeeper Willie, who after admitting he enjoys secretly videotaping people engaged in private activities in their vehicles, reveals he secretly taped Homer pulling over his car, Ashley getting out ... and most importantly, Homer making a move for the gummy Venus and not Ashley's crotch, and that his drooling was for the candy.

Willie is able to show the footage to Ashley, who admits she jumped to conclusions and apologizes to Homer for her hasty labeling him as a sexual deviant. Rock Bottom is forced to air a segment where they completely retract its earlier reporting, and all is well ...

... at least until the now-exonerated Homer doesn't change the channel or turn off the TV fast enough, as a teaser for an upcoming segment on Willie, exposing his secretly taping couples and invading their privacy and labeling the segment "Roddy Roddy Peeper." Marge reminds Homer that now Willie will be unfairly cast as a pariah, but Homer cheerfully admits, "I haven't learned a thing" and reconciles with his TV set.

Notes

Title Sequence

• Blackboard: "I will not whittle hall passes out of soap."
• Couch Gag: The couch and back wall suddenly slide down a perspective tunnel just as the family enters; they chase after it.

Trivia

Allusions and References

• Demolition Man: Homer using candy with pressurized carbon-dioxide pocketed inside and soda as a makeshift bomb to ward off security, and the resulting explosion - shown in slow-motion – as Homer and Marge escape the convention, is inspired by a scene from the 1993 movie starring Sylvester Stallone.
• Hard Copy: The sensationalist tabloid show Rock Bottom is stylized after the tabloid show, both using questionable ethics in its reporting – including aggressive reporting, parking news vehicles outside a person's home (and often refusing to leave, even under threat of arrest), and use of editing to inaccurately slant a story to suit their views – to gain ratings and mainstream media attention.
• The Little Mermaid: The 1989 Disney animated version is spoofed here, with Homer singing "Under the Sea" as a carefree way to escape the accusations against him. His family plays musical instruments styled like characters in the movie (Bart some clams a la steel drums, Lisa a pipefish as a saxophone, and Marge a jellyfish like an autoharp), and Homer eats several crustaceans, including a lobster (styled like Sebastian) and a snail.
• Made-for-TV movies: Homer S.: Portrait Of an Ass-Grabber, shown as part of Fox Night At the Movies, wildly distorts the incident, with Dennis Franz's portrayal making Homer out to be a sexual predator that needs to be locked up.
• OJ Simpson coverage: Written and animated just as murder charges were brought against the former USC and Buffalo Bills running back, the vigil outside the Simpson's home is much like the real-life 24-hour coverage of the OJ Simpson standoff outside his home.
• "Rowdy" Roddy Piper: The Rock Bottom story "Rowdy Roddy Peeper" is an obvious pun on the legendary professional wrestler.
• Scooby Doo: A Velma expy tells Homer "That's the oldest excuse in the book" when he tries to explain himself, much like the real-life Velma did in the cartoon when she was skeptical of someone's explanation.
• Talk shows:
  • Gentle Ben: The 1967-1969 TV series about a young boy and his pet black bear was turned into a talk show, the suggestion by the writers being that anyone, regardless of actual interview, media skills and past experience, can host a talk show.
  • "Sally Jessy Raphael": One of the topics was women offended by Homer's actions, despite having absolutely no connection to him, and a Raphael expy commenting that their opinions matter more than the truth.
• Time Bandits: The couch gag – the family chasing after their couch down a moving hallway – is loosely inspired after the 1981 British movie, where a boy is taken down an endless hallway chasing after a map.

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