Production
"Homer Goes to College" was the final episode of the show for which Conan O'Brien received sole writing credit; his final writing credit altogether was for the episode "Treehouse of Horror IV", which he co-wrote with five other writers. O'Brien would leave the series halfway through the production of the season to host his own show, Late Night with Conan O'Brien. O'Brien was informed that he had received the job not long before the recording session for this episode began, and he was forced to walk out on his contract. The concept of the episode was that Homer attends college, but bases his entire understanding of what college is on "bad Animal House rip-off movies." The antics of the characters Benjamin, Doug and Gary were based on three "incredible nerds" who lived in the same college dormitory as O'Brien.
The Fox Network executives had wanted the season premiere to be "Homer Goes to College" because it was an Animal House parody. However, the writers felt that "Homer's Barbershop Quartet" would be a better episode because of George Harrison's involvement. During the episode, Homer sings "I am so smart! S-M-R-T... I mean S-M-A-R-T!" while he lights his old diploma on fire. During the recording session, Dan Castellaneta was singing the song and accidentally misspelled "smart". The writers decided that it was much funnier that way, because it seemed like something Homer Simpson would do, so they left the joke in. The song has since become a fan favorite.
Jim Reardon directed the episode and has noted he remembers the episode for several scenes in which the action is viewed through windows, such as when Homer prank calls the dean. The animators were short on time, so for the design of Benjamin they took an earlier drawing of director Rich Moore and made it African-American.
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