"A Milhouse Divided" is the sixth episode of The Simpsons' eighth season. It originally aired on the Fox network in the United States on December 1, 1996. In the episode, Milhouse's parents Kirk and Luann get a divorce, causing Homer to examine his own marriage. It was directed by Steven Dean Moore and is the only episode for which Steve Tompkins has sole writing credit.
Plot
invites the Flanders, the Lovejoys, the Hibberts and the Van Houtens to a dinner party. While the other guests enjoy themselves, Kirk and Luann Van Houten bicker. They get more quarrelsome as the party continues and Luann demands a divorce. Kirk moves into a singles complex and gets fired from his job at the cracker factory. Luann adjusts to life as a single parent with Milhouse and starts dating Chase, an American Gladiator. At Moe's, Kirk muses that he never saw the divorce coming and regrets being a worse husband. Kirk's cheap girlfriend Starla tosses his demo tape on the street while stealing his car, so Homer tries to console him and boasts that his marriage to Marge is rock-solid. However, Homer soon starts to fear that his marriage may end in divorce because he is a poor husband. Homer enlists Lisa's help to save his marriage, but she is unable to offer any advice beyond observing that he is lucky to have Marge as his wife. He recalls their no-frills wedding, followed by a cheesy wedding cake at a roadside truck stop. To save their marriage, Homer performs selfless gestures for Marge which only annoy her. Deciding that Marge deserves a fresh start, Homer secretly files for a divorce. Marge returns home that night and is surprised to find all of the Simpsons' friends gathered in the living room. Homer declares that he wants to be remarried, with a perfect wedding this time. Reverend Lovejoy reads the rambling wedding vows Homer has written himself, and Marge and Homer are remarried. Kirk tries to reconcile with Luann by singing her a corny love song from his demo tape. Luann rebuffs him and Chase kicks him out of the house.
Production
"A Milhouse Divided" is the only episode for which Steve Tompkins has sole writing credit, although he had been a part of the writing staff for several years. The writers wanted to do an episode that involved a couple getting divorced. The Van Houtens were chosen because the writers felt that they were the most developed couple next to Marge and Homer and the Lovejoys. The scene in the episode "Sideshow Bob's Last Gleaming" where Milhouse is in a jet pretending to fire missiles at his parents is where they got the idea to have his parents' marriage be in trouble. Originally, the episode also focused on the divorce's effects on Milhouse and there was a subplot that involved Bart being jealous of Milhouse and wishing that Marge and Homer would also separate. Several scenes were written and animated for the episode, but ultimately they were cut because the script was very long. A similar idea would go on to be used as a plot point in the season 17 episode "Milhouse of Sand and Fog". The third act of the episode shifts the focus from the Van Houtens to Homer and Marge because the writers felt that tertiary characters could not carry an audience's interest for an entire episode. Bill Oakley has said that he felt the episode would have failed had they stuck with the Van Houtens for the third act and most of the other writers also felt that it was the right move. The idea for the dinner party came from Oakley, who had wanted to have a party similar to the one in "The War of the Simpsons". For the second half of the episode, Luann was redesigned to look more youthful and was given a new outfit. A big name singer was originally sought to sing "Can I Borrow a Feeling?" over the end credits. The writers wanted Sheryl Crow, but she declined and the concept was later dropped.
Reception
In its original broadcast, "A Milhouse Divided" finished tied for 50th in the weekly ratings for the week of November 25 – December 1, 1996, with a Nielsen rating of 8.3 and was viewed in 8 million homes. It was the fourth-highest-rated show on the Fox Network that week. 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 "More drama than comedy, and very honest in its dealings with the Van Houtens' divorce and its effects on Milhouse."
