line, "too exciting", when he sees the lingerie store was written by James L. Brooks. During Marge's phone conversation with Patty and Selma, Maggie can be seen sucking her pacifier repeatedly, a concept dropped in later episodes as it was deemed too much of a distraction from the dialogue. A similar idea for the basic premise of this episode was outlined by Ruth Elliott-Hilsdon, who presented the idea to Matt Groening on an envelope during a layout meeting, a year prior to the episode. The general idea of the story was that Marge felt misunderstood and dismissed by Homer, though bowling was not part of this original idea. First appearances The episode features the first appearance of the bowling alley Barney's Bowlarama. The original backstory for Barney's Bowlarama was that it was owned by Barney Gumble. Over time it changed to Barney just being an employee, as the writers could not imagine Barney owning anything. It was later revealed that Barney's uncle was the owner. The exterior of the Bowlarama was designed by No Doubt member Eric Stefani. The episode also marks the first appearances of Lenny Leonard and Helen Lovejoy. Cultural references Marge's dream resembles a dance number from The Gay Divorcee. The end scene, in which Marge walks into the power plant, and Homer carries her away, is a reference to the film An Officer and a Gentleman, and features an instrumental of the song "Up Where We Belong". The Eagles song "Life in the Fast Lane" inspired the episode title. Reception In its original broadcast, "Life on the Fast Lane" finished 11th in ratings for the week of March 12–19, 1990, with a Nielsen rating of 17.5, equivalent to approximately 16.1 million viewing households. It was the highest-rated show on Fox that week, beating Married... with Children. Since airing, the episode has received mostly positive reviews from television critics. Warren Martyn and Adrian Wood, the authors of the book I Can't Believe It's a Bigger and Better Updated Unofficial Simpsons Guide, called it "a very good, very assured episode that has seen some viewers (particularly female ones) tearing out their hair at the conclusion". Nathan Rabin of The A.V. Club praised the episode, stating: "There would be many funnier and faster episodes of The Simpsons but few can match "Life on the Fast Lane" for emotional depth and characterization." IGN named Albert Brooks' guest performance in this