Simpsons - Flaming Moe's

About "Flaming Moe's"

"Flaming Moe's" is the tenth episode of the third season of the American animated television series The Simpsons. It first aired on the Fox network in the United States on November 21, 1991. In the episode, Homer tells Moe Szyslak about the Flaming Homer, an alcoholic cocktail of cough medicine and fire that he invented. Moe steals Homer's recipe, renames it the Flaming Moe and sells it at his tavern. The drink is wildly successful and boosts Moe's business, but Homer is angry at him for his betrayal and seeks revenge.

The episode was written by Robert Cohen and directed by Rich Moore, with assistance from Alan Smart (who would later work on SpongeBob SquarePants as an animation director). "Flaming Moe's" was the first episode of the show to feature Moe in a prominent role. The main plot of the episode in which Moe's Tavern becomes famous because of a drink is loosely based on the Los Angeles establishment Coconut Teaszer. The episode also parodies the NBC sitcom Cheers, including the theme song and opening sequence "Where Everybody Knows Your Name", and a character named Collette is modeled after Shelley Long's character Diane Chambers. Catherine O'Hara originally recorded dialogue for the part of Colette, but the writers felt her voice did not fit the role and instead used a track recorded by regular Jo Ann Harris.

American rock band Aerosmith (Steven Tyler, Tom Hamilton, Joey Kramer, Joe Perry and Brad Whitford) appears in the episode. They were the first band to make a guest appearance on the show. Their dialogue was recorded in Boston with Hank Azaria, the voice of Moe, who flew over to record his part with them and help them with their lines.

The episode has been well received by critics and has been included in best Simpsons episode lists by IGN, Entertainment Weekly, AskMen.com and AOL. In its original airing during the November sweeps period, the episode had a 14.4 Nielsen rating and finished the week ranked 29th.