Guide's Colin Jacobson said: "I always remembered ["Homer Loves Flanders"] to be a great episode – and I recalled correctly. Sure, the show goes with a less than creative presence[sic]; it’s an easy story to make characters behave in atypical ways. However, the development of the theme is terrific, as we learn the friendship of Homer Simpson is worse than the antagonism of Homer Simpson." DVD Talk gave the episode a 4 out of 5 score. Patrick Bromley of DVD Verdict gave the episode a B− grade, claiming the "rather large dose of sentimentality" and "fewer moments of absurdity" in the episode gave it "the feeling that it belongs in one of the series' earlier seasons". The Orlando Sentinels Gregory Hardy named it the second best episode of the show with a sports theme. A moment in the episode where Homer backs into Ned's hedges became an internet meme in the 2010s. The scene was later referenced in the season 30 episode, "The Girl on the Bus" where Homer texts Lisa a GIF of himself going into the hedge. The scene was later referenced again in the season 32 episode, "Wad Goals", where Bart tells his friends "I've seen my dad do this" immediately before showing them how to back into a hedge. In the season 34 episode "Treehouse of Horror XXXIII", during a Westworld parody segment named Simpsons World, multiple tourists heckle an android Homer to do the "bush meme" by pushing him into a hedge, Bart then removes Homer's inability to intentionally harm humans, causing him to push the tourists into the hedge, killing them and commenting "I'm so sick of that stupid hedge!" Ratings In its original American broadcast, "Homer Loves Flanders" finished 43rd in the ratings for the week of March 14–20, 1994, with a Nielsen rating of 10.9. The episode was the third highest-rated show on the Fox network that week, following Beverly Hills, 90210 and Melrose Place. References External links The Simpsons (season 5) episodes 1994 American television episodes Film and television memes