The Simpsons: 10 Real Unaired Pitches (And What They Could Have Been About)

7. Homer The Narcoleptic

This idea was originally pitched by David X. Cohen and is one of the ideas that has been discussed by the writers in public. The concept is easy to grasp and you can understand the logic in pitching this idea: Homer is often seen wanting to stay in bed longer or to have a nap in the middle of the day, so why couldn't he develop the disorder where he suddenly falls asleep in the middle of performing activities? This gives potential to many funny moments, seeing Homer falling asleep in the middle of jobs and the effects of this. The first symptom of Narcolepsy is excessive and overwhelming daytime sleepiness, which leads into falling asleep in the middle of tasks, leading to things like causing an incident at the nuclear power plant, crashing the car when driving or falling asleep during "snuggles" with Marge. You suspect that Bart and Lisa would use his disorder to their advantage and their amusement. The disorder can be reduced with less stress and more exercise - both things Homer doesn't do very well - and this could be a nice end to the episode, watching Homer trying to become fitter and more relaxed (and most probably failing.) While The Simpsons, and other TV shows, manipulate real life issues to best fit their stories, Narcolepsy is a disorder with no cure. It would have to be something the show carried on, although it does stay true to character traits - Lisa's vegetarianism and Barney's spell of sobriety from seasons 11 to 14 are good examples. Cohen and Bill Oakley discussed this episode idea at the end of the "Much Apu About Nothing" episode commentary, with them explaining that the title summed up the entire story and they couldn't take it any further, resulting in why the episode was never made.While the idea got shot down as a main episode, it is more of a B-story that would sit alongside a main thread in an episode, with the slapstick nature of the potential scenarios definitely worth seeing.