Release
The episode originally aired on the Fox network in the United States on April 9, 2000. On October 7, 2008, it was released on DVD as part of the box set The Simpsons – The Complete Eleventh Season. Staff members Mike Scully, George Meyer, Ian Maxtone-Graham, Dan Castellaneta, Deb Lacusta and Neil Affleck participated in the DVD audio commentary for the episode. Deleted scenes from the episode were also included on the box set.
While reviewing the eleventh season of The Simpsons, DVD Movie Guide's Colin Jacobson commented that the episode "manages some good bits but not enough to make it a quality program." He also wrote that "If you thought that 'Alone Again, Natura-diddly' would be Season 11’s sole episode that features a big change for a secondary character, you thought wrong. No, Barney’s sobriety isn’t as major an event as Maude’s demise, but it actually has a bigger impact on the series. After all, Maude was a tertiary role; her disappearance affects secondary personality Ned, but she didn’t appear all that much, so she didn’t really go missed. Making Barney sober affects the series on a much more consistent basis – though probably not in a good way. After all, most of Barney’s appeal came from his drunken idiocy, so he loses his natural kick when he goes on the wagon."
Several other writers have commented on Barney becoming sober. IGN staff members commented in 2006 that Barney has "been a dependable source of humor through his many drunken asides, burps included...Occasionally he's sobered up...But let's face it, for comedy's sake, The Simpsons is better off with a drunken Barney mouthing off at Moe's." Author Chris Turner wrote in his book Planet Simpson that "Barney is a good example of what happens when tinker too much. Barney was great as just the town drunk. Making him sober falls into the trap of all the stuff The Simpsons satirizes, all those simple sitcom narratives where everything is wrapped up in half an hour and everyone learns a lesson in the end." In 2001, "Days of Wine and D'oh'ses" received a commendation from the Prism Awards, which honors accurate portrayals of substance abuse, addiction and mental health in entertainment programming.
Read more about this topic: Days Of Wine And D'oh'ses
Famous quotes containing the word release:
“The shallow consider liberty a release from all law, from every constraint. The wise man sees in it, on the contrary, the potent Law of Laws.”
—Walt Whitman (1819–1892)
“We read poetry because the poets, like ourselves, have been haunted by the inescapable tyranny of time and death; have suffered the pain of loss, and the more wearing, continuous pain of frustration and failure; and have had moods of unlooked-for release and peace. They have known and watched in themselves and others.”
—Elizabeth Drew (1887–1965)
“The steel decks rock with the lightning shock, and shake with the
great recoil,
And the sea grows red with the blood of the dead and reaches for his spoil—
But not till the foe has gone below or turns his prow and runs,
Shall the voice of peace bring sweet release to the men behind the
guns!”
—John Jerome Rooney (1866–1934)