Springfield of Dreams: The Legend of Homer Simpson airs October 22nd, 4:30pm on Fox.
This February will mark the 25th anniversary of one of The Simpsons‘ best and most famous episodes, “Homer at Bat”. To celebrate the episode’s legacy, Fox is airing an hour-long mockumentary special coinciding with the network’s 2017 MLB World Series coverage.
The special is intended to be a parody of a Ken Burns project, which works well because Burns actually did a documentary series entitled Baseball. While to a non-Simpsons fanatic it might seem strange to devote an hour of airtime to reminisce about a single episode from 25 years ago, they’ll still have parts to enjoy. Sports fans will love the comedic interviews with eight of the (now retired) baseball players who appeared in the episode and Aaron Judge, plus sportscasters Bob Costas, Joe Buck, Bob Eucker, and Charissa Thompson. Others tuning in will recognize Nick Offerman, Russell Brand, George Will, Tim Gunn, and Dr. Oz. And of course, Homer Simpson himself, along with Chief Wiggum, Apu, and Comic Book Guy, make appearances in all their animated glory.
There are two plausible explanations for the popularity of “Homer at Bat”. The first is simply that it is a hilarious 21 minutes and peak Simpsons humor. The more likely reason is because of the insane amount of Major League Baseball players that lent their voices to the episode. The story begins when Mr. Burns brings on an all-star squad of MLB players to join the company softball team and beat a rival power plant. Guest stars included Roger Clemens, Wade Boggs, Ken Griffey, Jr., José Canseco, Don Mattingly, and Darryl Strawberry as themselves. Ultimately, Homer won the game after getting bonked in the head, and people have been talking about it ever since.
TV and City 