"Homer to the Max" is the thirteenth episode of the tenth season of the American animated television series The Simpsons. It originally aired on Fox 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. 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 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; for this scene, Ned was voiced by recurring cast member Karl Wiedergott instead of his regular voice actor Harry Shearer.
Cultural references
The TV show Police Cops is a parody of the television series Miami Vice. Homer suggests the names Hercules Rockefeller, Rembrandt Q. Einstein, and Handsome B. Wonderful to Judge Snyder for his name change.
Reception
"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 (shades of Mr. Sparkle again?) ran out of steam. Not a bad show, more a sort of 'So what?' show."
Morgan Larrick of About.com noted "Homer to the Max" as "one of the most unforgettable episodes" when reviewing the complete tenth season.