"Homer to the Max" is the thirteenth episode of The Simpsons'tenth season. It originally aired on the Fox network in the United States on February 7, 1999. In the episode, Homer discovers that a new television show, Police Cops, has a hero also named Homer Simpson. He is delighted with the positive attention he receives because of his name, but when the television character is rewritten from a hero to a bumbling idiot, he is mocked and taunted, so he changes his name to "Max Power" to rid himself of the negative attention. Max gains new friends, and is forced into a protest to prevent a forest from being knocked down. In the end, he changes his name back to Homer Simpson. The episode was written by John Swartzwelder and directed by Pete Michels. Since airing, it has received mixed reviews from television critics. Overall, the episode received a Nielsen rating of 8.5.
Plot
The Simpson family watches the pilot episode of Police Cops, which follows a duo of suave and dashing detectives, Homer Simpson and Lance Kaufman. Homer is delighted with the positive attention he receives for sharing the lead character's name, despite the family telling him it is just a coincidence. Following the pilot, however, the Homer Simpson character is rewritten as Lance's overweight and inept comic relief sidekick, resulting in Homer being mocked by the people of Springfield. Humiliated, he appeals to the producers to change the character back, but they refuse. Then, after unsuccessfully attempting to sue the company for improper usage of his old name, Homer legally changes his name to "Max Power". Though the negative attention fades away, Marge is unhappy that Max changed his name without consulting her. While shopping at Costington's, Max meets a successful businessman named Trent Steel. Trent invites Max and the family to a garden party, despite Marge's reservations, where they meet lots of famous people, but Max finds out the party is an excuse to save a redwood forest from destruction. After travelling with the party guests to the forest, Max, Marge, and everyone else chain themselves to the trees to prevent the bulldozers from knocking them down. The Springfield police arrive and Eddie and Lou chase Max around his tree, trying to "swab" him with mace. As Max rounds the tree, the chain cuts into it. The redwood falls and knocks down all other redwoods, angering their newfound friends. Max later changes his name back to "Homer Simpson".
Production
The show's writers had read a story in the newspaper about people with famous names and came up with a way of how Homer's life could be affected if he saw someone on TV with his name. While creating the Homer Simpson television character, the production staff was deciding if the character should be "cool" throughout the episode, or if he should be an idiot from the beginning. The staff decided to use both methods and have him become an idiot after being seen as cool in the first episode of the new program. The hat Homer wears while walking through the mall is a parody of one owned by Woody Allen. Ron Hauge, a The Simpsons show producer, suggested the name Max Power to a friend who wanted to change his name. His friend, however, did not take it. The episode would also inspire Tom Martin's cousin to name his son Max Power. One scene from the episode features Ned Flanders commenting that cartoons are easily able to change voice actors; to enhance the joke for his one line of dialogue, Flanders is voiced by recurring cast memberKarl Wiedergott instead of his regular voice actor Harry Shearer.
"Homer to the Max" finished 39th in the weekly ratings for the week of Feb 1–7, 1999, with a Nielsen rating of 8.5. Since airing, this episode has received mixed reviews from television critics. The authors of the book I Can't Believe It's a Bigger and Better Updated Unofficial Simpsons Guide, Warren Martyn and Adrian Wood, wrote that though it was "funny in all the right places, this is an episode of two distinct stories, neither of which mesh together. The whole Ed Begley, Jr. saving the forest bit seems to have been tacked on, as if the stuff about Homer finding his name being abused ran out of steam. Not a bad show, more a sort of 'So what?' show." Robert Canning of IGN gave the episode a 7.7/10 rating, commenting that "it has a number of really funny scenes and memorable lines", but overall "the storyline didn't really have anywhere to go and the final half of the third act is a complete waste of time." Morgan Larrick of About.com noted "Homer to the Max" as "one of the most unforgettable episodes" when reviewing the complete tenth season.
