Homer Simpson in Kidney Trouble

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I was watching this episode on DVD today and was wondering if anyone likes this episode, because through the many times I've watched this episode in the past it's only now strikes me that this episode could be hated. Grampa's kidneys explode because he drinks too much and Homer won't stop the car to let him pee because he wants to get home to watch tv. Homer then offers to donate his kidney but then chickens out and runs away only to gather up the courage to come back and run away again but gets crushed by a car and his kidney is taken out and given to Grampa. You can probably see why I think maybe people may feel mixed about it because Homer is responsible for Grampa losing his kidneys and twice abandons him. Is that out of character? I mean I know Homer is suppose to be cowardly, selfish and careless like in the episode, I mean those are some of the things that make him funny but does that apply to abandoning a family member. Personally I found the episode to be really funny at times, I mean with lines like "this is everybody's fault but me" and "that's the last time I trust the strangest people on earth" and moments like Grampa walking up to the car like a zombie and singing happy birthday whilst Homer is so desperately trying to drive off and Homer almost knocked down by that car carrying truck and the car falling down on him I just couldn't stop laughing. So basically my questions are do you like the episode and was Homer out of character?

My recollection is that Grandpa Simpson wasn't really there for Homer as he grew up, and so I'd say Homer felt no obligation to help an old man who could die at any time.

Think of it....if you were asked to donate a vital organ to someone so old that at best you might give them a few more years, but they are more or less waiting to die, would you be as eager to do it as you might feel inclined for someone in their 20s with their whole life ahead of them?

It was a very funny episode, but at odds with Homer's character at that point in the show, who was basically a good man who made some bad decisions but loved his family and was always redeemed.

Now he's a total idiot with serious anger problems, so it would probably be more acceptable today.

You know... that might one of the very few Simpsons episodes I've missed, because I can't recall it.