Reception
In its original American broadcast on December 6, 1998, "Homer Simpson in: 'Kidney Trouble'" received an 7.2 rating, according to Nielsen Media Research, translating to approximately 7.2 million viewers. The episode finished in 54th place in the ratings for the week of November 22-December 6, 1998. It tied with a new episode of the ABC program Brother's Keeper. On August 7, 2007, the episode was released as part of The Simpsons - The Complete Tenth Season DVD box set. Matt Groening, Mike Scully, George Meyer, Ian Maxtone-Graham, Ron Hauge and Mike B. Anderson participated in the DVD's audio commentary of the episode.
Following its home video release, "Homer Simpson in: 'Kidney Trouble'" received mostly mixed reviews from critics. Warren Martyn and Adrian Wood of I Can't Believe It's a Bigger and Better Updated Unofficial Simpsons Guide called it "An odd episode that goes on a bit too long and could probably have done with an entertaining B story." They added that "Homer's running away is funny the first time, but by the second, it's lost its impact." They concluded by writing that "The biggest joke comes from Grampa's need to go to the lavatory on the way back from the ghost town. Which isn't that funny at all, really." DVD Movie Guide's Colin Jacobson described the episode as a "snag." He wrote: "'Kidney' offers all the components that should make it good, but it never quite achieves a level higher than average." He added that "Despite a few funny moments, this one largely leaves me cold." Digital Entertainment News' Jake MacNeill wrote that the episode "runs out of steam" after its first act, and considered it to be one of the season's worst episodes. On the other hand, giving the episode a positive review, Peter Brown of If described "Homer Simpson in: 'Kidney Trouble'" as one of the season's best episodes. The episode's reference to North By Northwest was named the 24th greatest film reference in the history of the show by Total Film's Nathan Ditum.
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