The Beer Baron (2 of 2)
S08E18 Homer vs. The Eighteenth Amendment

"Homer vs. the Eighteenth Amendment" is the eighteenth episode of The Simpsons' eighth season. It originally aired on the Fox network in the United States on March 16, 1997. Prohibition is enacted in Springfield and Homer helps fight it by illegally supplying alcohol to the town. It was written by John Swartzwelder, and directed by Bob Anderson. Dave Thomas guest stars as Rex Banner and Joe Mantegna returns as Fat Tony.

The main plot of the episode is based on the Eighteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, in which alcohol was banned in the United States. As The Simpsons has many episodes that have stories and jokes related to alcohol, the writers thought it was strange that they had never done an episode related to Prohibition, and that the idea seemed "perfect." The episode features a vast amount of Irish stereotyping at the St. Patrick's Day celebration. This was a reference to when Conan O'Brien was a writer for the show and was of Irish descent, and his use of Irish stereotypes. Various writers were very concerned about Bart getting drunk. This was why he drank the beer through a horn, to show that it was only accidental. This was a toned down version of what was in John Swartzwelder's original script. Originally Chief Wiggum's first line was "They're either drunk or on the cocaine", but it was deemed too old-fashioned. The discovery of "more lines on the parchment" was a simple deus ex machina to get Homer freed and to end the episode.

When Homer first enters Moe's "Pet Shop" the man that tips his hat to him outside was a background character used in the early seasons. The riot at the beginning of the episode was taken from footage from the end of the season 6 episode "Lisa on Ice" and updated. The line "To alcohol! The cause of... and solution to... all of life's problems," was originally the act break line at the end of act two, but was moved to the very end of the episode.
During the riot, a scene where an Irish mob blow-up a British chip shop named "John Bull's Fish & Chips" was censored on British television and the rest of Europe. The episode first aired while the conflict in Northern Ireland known as The Troubles was ongoing and four years after the Shankill Road bombing in which ten people were killed by a Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) bomb which exploded prematurely in a chip shop.

The shot of the diner, a reference to Edward Hopper's Nighthawks.
The episode parodies the series The Untouchables, with the character of Rex Banner based on Robert Stack's portrayal of Eliot Ness, and the voice of the narrator being based on that of Walter Winchell. Barney leaving flowers outside the Duff brewery is, according to show runner Josh Weinstein, a reference to people leaving flowers at the grave sites of various Hollywood figures, with him specifically citing Rudolph Valentino and Marilyn Monroe as examples of this trend. It may also be a direct reference to the Poe Toaster. The shot of the diner is a reference to Edward Hopper's Nighthawks painting. A sign in Moe's Bar says "No Irish Need Apply" a reference to Anti-Irish sentiment.

In its original broadcast, "Homer vs. the Eighteenth Amendment" finished 39th in ratings for the week of March 10–26, 1997, with a Nielsen rating of 8.9, equivalent to approximately 8.6 million viewing households. It was the second highest-rated show on the Fox network that week, following The X-Files.

The authors of the book I Can't Believe It's a Bigger and Better Updated Unofficial Simpsons Guide, Warren Martyn and Adrian Wood, called it "A nice episode in which Homer actually devises a clever plan to keep the beer flowing." The Toronto Star described the episode as one of Bob Anderson's "classics." The Daily Telegraph also characterized the episode as one of "The 10 Best Simpsons TV Episodes." Robert Canning gave the episode 9.8/10 calling it his favorite episode of the series.

Homer's line "To alcohol! The cause of... and solution to... all of life's problems" was described by Josh Weinstein as "one of the best, most truthful Simpsons statements ever." In 2008, Entertainment Weekly included it in their list of "24 Endlessly Quotable TV Quips" 1pp2p30eccmcv3443

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