Homer the Smithers

High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! Homer the Smithers is the 17th episode of The Simpsons' seventh season. It originally aired on the Fox network in the United States on February 25, 1996. In this episode, Smithers takes a vacation and hires Homer to take over as Mr. Burns' assistant. Homer proves so incompetent that Burns learns to look after himself, rendering Smithers redundant. Feeling guilty, Homer helps Smithers get his job back but their plan backfires, and they engage in a fight within Burns' office. The tussle leads to Burns being thrown out of a window. His resulting injuries leave him dependent on Smithers once again. The episode was written by John Swartzwelder and directed by Steven Dean Moore. The story came from another writer on the show, Mike Scully. The episode features cultural references to the The Little Rascals, a series of comedy short films from the 1930s, and the 1971 film A Clockwork Orange. Since airing, the episode has received mostly positive reviews from fans and television critics. It acquired a Nielsen rating of 8.8, and was the fourth highest-rated show on the Fox network the week it aired.