Reception
In its original American broadcast on May 5, 2002, "The Sweetest Apu" received a 6.7 rating, according to Nielsen Media Research, translating to approximately 7.1 million viewers. The episode finished in 37rd place in the ratings for the week of April 29-May 5, 2002. On August 24, 2010, "The Sweetest Apu" was released as part of The Simpsons: The Complete Thirteenth Season DVD and Blu-ray set. Al Jean, Ian Maxtone-Graham, Matt Selman, Tim Long, Dan Castellaneta, James Lipton and Matt Warburton participated in the audio commentary of the episode.
Following its home video release, "The Sweetest Apu" received mostly negative reviews from critics. DVD Movie Guide's Colin Jacobson wrote "I don’t recall ever being particularly excited by other Manjula episodes, and 'Sweetest' does nothing to alter that perception." He praised Homer's reaction to seeing Apu cheating on Manjula, but maintained that "much of the remaining gags tend to be lackluster." He concluded by writing "This ends up as a pretty flat, forgettable show." Project-Blu's Nate Boss called it "An average episode, by this season's standards," describing it as "a bit too cut and dry for my taste." Writing for Blu-ray.com, Casey Broadwater wrote that "The Sweetest Apu" is "near-laughless," and Ryan Keefer of DVD Talk wrote "The less said about this episode, the better." Both reviewers considered the episode to be one of the season's worst. On the other hand, giving the episode a positive review, Jennifer Malkowski of DVD Verdict gave the episode a B, praising the "Badminton and its many double entendres" as the episode's "highlight."
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