Homer and Apu - Production

Production

The episode was written by Greg Daniels, and directed by Mark Kirkland. It was the first episode of the show that Daniels wrote. The Simpsons writers Al Jean and Mike Reiss, who were show runners during the previous two seasons, came up with the idea for the episode. They left the idea with David Mirkin, who took over the job as show runner during this season. Mirkin said he was "very excited and intrigued" with the idea of the episode. Soon thereafter, he assigned Daniels to write the script because he knew that Daniels would "step up" and "throw himself into it". In an interview with the Chicago Tribune, Mirkin stated that when he took over the show, he wanted to "bring it back" to character and story, unlike the previous season which got "so fast-moving and so full of cutaway gags". Mirkin added: "I explored the characters a little more, took them a little further. I had one of the first episodes where Homer was really tempted by another woman, "The Last Temptation of Homer", and Bart having a girlfriend even nastier than himself, "Bart's Girlfriend", plus more of a focus on side characters. We did the first episode to really feature Apu as a main character. Those were my goals." Kirkland said he was grateful that he got to work with a "wonderful crew" on the episode, including Bob Anderson, who he thought was a "wonderful" director. Kirkland said that Anderson assisted him on the episode and did "fine animation throughout".

When Mirkin took over as show runner, he listed actor James Woods as one of the people he would most like to guest star on the show. Michael Caine was originally supposed to be the actor in the episode who takes over Apu's job at the Kwik-E-Mart, but he rejected the role. The story was therefore rewritten so that Woods received Apu's job instead. Woods was one of animation director David Silverman's favorite guest stars. Mirkin said he provided one of the "most fantastic" performances ever on the show, and commented that he "nailed" all of his lines and was "so funny, right at the top of his head". Mirkin said that when most guest stars come in to record their lines for the show, they are a little nervous because they have never done voice-over before. Mirkin noted, however, that Woods was a "fearless guy" and he was "so excited to do it because he was a huge fan of the show". Silverman noted that in addition to his humorous ad-libbing, Woods's tendency to hesitate while speaking was "great for animation", explaining that it made the character feel more realistic. "Homer and Apu" features the popular Simpsons song "Who Needs The Kwik-E-Mart?", sung by Apu and the Simpson family. The song was written by all of the show's writers in the writer's room, and it was composed by Alf Clausen. The song later appeared on the soundtrack album Songs in the Key of Springfield, which was released on March 18, 1997, and compiled many musical numbers from the show.