Brian Grazer and Jerry Bruckheimer are shown in attendance at the party (Grazer's appearance is identical to his guest-voice appearance as himself from "When You Dish Upon a Star", while Bruckheimer, who has not done a voice cameo for the show, is the thin man with a beard standing next to Grazer and wearing a bright sportcoat over a plain T-shirt). The police attempting to "swab" the protestors is a reference to several incidents in 1997 in which sheriff's deputies of Humboldt County, California, swabbed pepper spray in the eyes of environmental protesters. Reception "Homer to the Max" finished 39th in the weekly ratings for the week of Feb 1–7, 1999, with a Nielsen rating of 8.5. Since airing, this episode has received mixed reviews from television critics. The authors of the book I Can't Believe It's a Bigger and Better Updated Unofficial Simpsons Guide, Warren Martyn and Adrian Wood, wrote that though it was "funny in all the right places, this is an episode of two distinct stories, neither of which mesh together. The whole Ed Begley, Jr. saving the forest bit seems to have been tacked on, as if the stuff about Homer finding his name being abused (shades of Mr. Sparkle again?) ran out of steam. Not a bad show, more a sort of 'So what?' show." Robert Canning of IGN gave the episode a 7.7/10 rating, commenting that "it has a number of really funny scenes and memorable lines", but overall "the storyline didn't really have anywhere to go and the final half of the third act is a complete waste of time." Morgan Larrick of About.com noted "Homer to the Max" as "one of the most unforgettable episodes" when reviewing the complete tenth season. References External links The Simpsons (season 10) episodes 1999 American television episodes Television shows written by John Swartzwelder Television episodes about television