"I don't think this contest is over yet .... I believe there is still a little something called ‘The Swimsuit Competition'."

Simspsons Top 100 Countdown
#20 Deep Space Homer
Season 5, Episode 15 (Guide from the Simpsons Archive)

Homer has that Rodney Dangerfield feeling, while NASA is looking for an average Joe to send into space so they can improve their television ratings. Watch this episode to see what hilarious hijinks ensue when they seek a mutual solution to their problems. Memorable moments include X-ray machine, union rule 26, Burns’s segue into the Worker of the Week Award, the award winner, reading the writing on the skull, respect of the tv, three musketeers, ratings war, tv shows, Homer’s harassment of government officials and quest for Tang acquisition, cudgel use, Beverly Hillbillies reference, press conference, opposite of shame, emotions, trials, second’s position relative to first, toasting, Barney’s escape, the two sweetest words in the English language, Itchy & Scratchy & placement of parental advisory, touchtone phone operation, cargo sedation, children’s letters to God, use of Mission Control equipment, the dangers of ruffled potato chips (presumably in opposition to the lack of inherent danger posed by the non-ruffled kind), horrible freedom, James Taylor (including revised lyrics), Kent Brockman selling out the human race, gingersnaps, mysterious camera outside the space shuttle, news summary, tv endings, media hero, and the obligatory 2001 reference.