Reception
In its original American broadcast, "Homer's Barbershop Quartet" finished 30th in the ratings for the week of September 27 to October 3, 1993, with a Nielsen rating of 12.7, translating to 11,963,400 households. Since airing, the episode received generally positive reviews. DVD Verdict gave the episode a Grade A score. DVD Movie Guide's Colin Jacobson felt that the episode "kicks off with a terrific bang". He appreciated the episode's parodies of a mix of subjects, and its ability to bring them together into a coherent story. Noting that the episode focused on spoofing Beatlemania, Jacobson praised George Harrison's cameo as "probably the best" Beatles cameo in the series. Giving the episode a score of 5 out of 5, DVD Talk praised the "four-part harmony of hilarity gets a flawless mop top modeling", complimenting the references to pop culture icons as being "right on the money". TV DVD Reviews commented on how the episode "hit all the right notes", and was pleased with Harrison's cameo. Despite the episode being a "leftover from last season", The Washington Post still applauded the episode's humor, saying, "Who cares? It's funny." The Courier-Mail found "Homer's Barbershop Quartet" an entertaining episode. Asserting that the series hit its peak with season five episodes such as "Homer's Barbershop Quartet", the Sunday Tasmanian called the episode a "first-class offering". Although it appreciated the story and use of the main characters, Current Film was not enthused about the episode, claiming that it was not consistently funny. The Age called "Homer's Barbershop Quartet" an awful episode, with a "weak, unfunny parody of The Beatles", blaming the series change of writers before the episode was written.
IGN ranked The Beatles' appearances on The Simpsons series—in episodes such as "Lisa the Vegetarian", "Brush with Greatness", and "Homer's Barbershop Quartet"—10th on their list of the Top 25 Simpsons Guest Appearances, and the Toronto Star ranked the band fifth on a list of the 11 best cameos on The Simpsons. Andrew Martin of Prefix Mag named George Harrison his fourth favorite musical guest on The Simpsons out of a list of ten.
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