TV Character Profile: Poochie the Dog

Name: Poochie the Dog
Show: The Simpsons


Bart and Lisa insist Homer give voice acting a try when they read there will be open auditions. Homer auditions to read for Poochie's voice, and gets the part. He and June Bellamy, his fellow voice actor, make several publicity stops to promote Poochie, where Homer confronts the show's hardcore fans. Homer invites all of his friends and relatives to the screening of the first Itchy & Scratchy & Poochie Show. However, the cartoon is full of clichés and inane antics, and by emphasizing Poochie, contains none of the show's trademark violence. Homer is the only one who liked the cartoon, while everyone else is unimpressed. Meyers is forced to admit that Poochie's debut was a dud, and he decides to retire the character before he does any further “damage”. Homer learns that Poochie will be killed off and is resolved to keep Poochie alive. At his next recording session, rather than reading from the script, he implores the audience, through lines he himself wrote, to give Poochie a fair chance. The writing team is impressed with Homer's statement, and he is led to believe that the comments will be in the next cartoon. Instead, Meyers dubs the correct line—"I have to go now. My planet needs me."—into the dialogue, and the animation cel containing Poochie is yanked out of view. A statement attesting to the dog's demise (he died on the way back to his home planet) is hurriedly edited into the cartoon; the in-studio audience cheers wildly as Krusty promises that Poochie is gone for good. Homer feels betrayed but, after realizing he never got paid for his efforts, chalks things up to the nature of show business.

Throughout the episode, a college-aged man named Roy comes to live with the Simpsons. When Lisa remarks that new characters are just a desperate effort to boost shows with low ratings, Roy appears out of nowhere. He has a few minor lines, calls Homer "Mr. S", and at the episode's end, he declares that he is moving out to live with "two sexy ladies".