Bart's Dog Gets an F
Encyclopedia
"Bart's Dog Gets an F" is the sixteenth episode of The Simpsons
' second season
. It originally aired on the Fox network in the United States on March 7, 1991. In this episode, the Simpson family
's dog, Santa's Little Helper
, manages to infuriate the entire family by destroying Homer
's new shoes, ruining a family heirloom
, and devouring Homer's cookie. As a result, Bart
is forced to train Santa's Little Helper at an obedience school
so that the family will not have to give him away. At first, the dog is extremely disobedient, but, at the last minute, passes the test.
The episode was written by Jon Vitti
and directed by Jim Reardon
. Tracey Ullman
guest starred as Emily Winthrop, the instructor at the obedience school. The animal noises for the episode were performed by Frank Welker
. "Bart's Dog Gets an F" features cultural references to films such as Predator
, Jaws
, E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial
, and National Lampoon's Animal House
. Since airing, the episode has received mostly positive reviews from television critics. It acquired a Nielsen rating
of 13.8, and was the highest-rated show on the Fox network the week it aired.
has the mumps
and has to spend a few days home from school. While Marge
teaches Lisa sewing
, Homer goes to the mall to buy some magazines for her. There he sees and purchases some $125 shoes known as the Assassins, which he saw his neighbor Ned Flanders
wear earlier. However, Santa's Little Helper
promptly destroys the shoes, angering Homer. Marge shows Lisa a patchwork quilt
, which is a family heirloom. Lisa makes her own contribution to it, but then Santa's Little Helper rips it up. When Homer discovers that Santa's Little Helper has also eaten his cookie, which Homer had bought earlier, he wants to get rid of the dog, but Lisa convinces her parents to keep him and take him to an obedience school first.
Santa's Little Helper does not do well at the obedience school as Bart is unwilling to use a choke chain suggested by the school's instructor Emily Winthrop. The night before the final exam, Bart and Santa's Little Helper play, thinking it will be their last few hours together. This bonding breaks down the communication barrier, allowing Santa's Little Helper to understand Bart's commands, and consequently pass the obedience school. Lisa marks the occasions by starting a new quilt to replace the one destroyed.
The episode was written by Jon Vitti
and directed by Jim Reardon
. Tracey Ullman
guest starred as Emily Winthrop, the instructor at the obedience school. The Simpsons began as a series of one-minute shorts that aired on Ullman's variety show, The Tracey Ullman Show
, for three seasons during 1987–89. Due to the success of the shorts, the characters spun off into their own half-hour prime-time show on the Fox network named The Simpsons. Matt Groening
, the series' creator, wanted Ullman to make a guest appearance in one of the shorts, but was told that she was too busy with the rest of The Tracey Ullman Show. When her show was canceled in 1990, Ullman agreed to do a guest appearance on The Simpsons after being asked by Groening once again. The animal noises for the episode, including those by Santa's Little Helper, were performed by Frank Welker
. It was the first The Simpsons episode Welker worked on and he became a recurring voice actor on the show, before leaving in 2002.
, a program that at the time competed with The Simpsons for the Thursday 8:00 p.m. time slot. The high tech and expensive sneakers Assassins are reference to the Nike
Air Jordan
, an athletic shoe brand which was expensive in the early 1990s, and was expected to sell on the basis of brand loyalty
and celebrity endorsements. When Lisa shows Marge her sewing finger, the music from the film E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial
plays. Lisa touching Marge's finger is reference to the final scene of that film. The second frame in the Bouvier family patchwork quilt depicts a poster for one of Buffalo Bill
's Wild West Shows
. In addition, the photograph The Falling Soldier
by Robert Capa
is the third frame in the quilt. When the scene changes to Santa's Little Helper's point of view, a small explosion sound is heard; this sound is used in the film Predator
, when the camera switches to Predator
's point of view. The dramatic music from the film Jaws
is used just before Santa's Little Helper attacks something. The dog obedience school has different categories named after famous dogs, which are Rin Tin Tin
, Benji
, Toto
and the one in which Santa's Little Helper attends, Cujo
. Winthrop is based on British dog trainer and author Barbara Woodhouse
. One of the dogs seen in the graduation ceremony is named after Lao Tzu, an ancient philosopher of China. At the end of the episode, the eventual fate of the various dogs in the class are captioned
at the bottom of the screen, a reference to the ending of the film National Lampoon's Animal House
.
of 13.8, equivalent to approximately thirteen million viewing households. It was the highest-rated show on the Fox network that week. Since airing, the episode has received mostly positive reviews from television critics. The authors of the book I Can't Believe It's a Bigger and Better Updated Unofficial Simpsons Guide, Warren Martyn and Adrian Wood, wrote that it was an "enjoyable episode heightened by both Tracey Ullman's Miss Winthropp and Frank Welker's muted dog noises." DVD Movie Guide's Colin Jacobson said the episode "presented an odd viewpoint, since [Santa's Little Helper] never behaved this badly in prior episodes, but consistency never exactly was the hallmark of the series." He also commented that Tracey Ullman "offered a great performance as obedience school owner Emily Winthrop," and concluded by saying that the episode overall "provided yet another consistently fine show." In a review of the second season, Bryce Wilson of Cinema Blend
said "Bart's Dog Gets an F" felt "a bit flat", but "but even in [its] lowest points, humor is easy to find." Doug Pratt, a DVD reviewer and Rolling Stone
contributor, was also positive about the episode: "The viewer is treated to an inspired dog's prospective of the world, in very grayish tones, with the humans speaking gibberish; another poignant character effort." Jacobson's favorite line of the episode was Homer's ad about Santa's Little Helper: "Free to loving home. World’s most brilliant dog. Says ‘I love you’ on command." Reviewing for The DVD Journal, Dawn Taylor thought the most memorable line was Flanders's description of the Assassins sneakers: "They've got Velcro straps, a water pump in the tongue, a built-in pedometer, reflective sidewalls and little vanity plates."
In promotion of The Simpsons Sing the Blues
, the music video for the album's second single, "Deep, Deep Trouble
" premiered shortly after this episode's first broadcast.
The Simpsons
The Simpsons is an American animated sitcom created by Matt Groening for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series is a satirical parody of a middle class American lifestyle epitomized by its family of the same name, which consists of Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa and Maggie...
The Simpsons (season 2)
The Simpsons second season originally aired between October 11, 1990 and May 9, 1991, and contained 22 episodes, beginning with "Bart Gets an F". Another episode, "Blood Feud" aired during the summer after the official season finale. The show runners for the second production season were Matt...
. It originally aired on the Fox network in the United States on March 7, 1991. In this episode, the Simpson family
Simpson family
The Simpson family is a family of fictional characters featured in the animated television series The Simpsons. The Simpsons are a nuclear family consisting of the married couple Homer and Marge and their three children Bart, Lisa and Maggie. They live at 742 Evergreen Terrace in the fictional town...
's dog, Santa's Little Helper
Santa's Little Helper
Santa's Little Helper is a recurring character in the American animated television series The Simpsons. He is the pet greyhound of the Simpson family. The dog was introduced in the first episode of the show, the 1989 Christmas special "Simpsons Roasting on an Open Fire", in which his owner abandons...
, manages to infuriate the entire family by destroying Homer
Homer Simpson
Homer Jay Simpson is a fictional character in the animated television series The Simpsons and the patriarch of the eponymous family. He is voiced by Dan Castellaneta and first appeared on television, along with the rest of his family, in The Tracey Ullman Show short "Good Night" on April 19, 1987...
's new shoes, ruining a family heirloom
Heirloom
In popular usage, an heirloom is something, perhaps an antique or some kind of jewelry, that has been passed down for generations through family members....
, and devouring Homer's cookie. As a result, Bart
Bart Simpson
Bartholomew JoJo "Bart" Simpson is a fictional main character in the animated television series The Simpsons and part of the Simpson family. He is voiced by actress Nancy Cartwright and first appeared on television in The Tracey Ullman Show short "Good Night" on April 19, 1987...
is forced to train Santa's Little Helper at an obedience school
Obedience school
An obedience school is an institution that trains pets how to behave properly. When puppies are young and in the first stages of training, they are often taken by their owners to obedience schools. Most obedience schools are located in the United States. Training usually takes place in small groups...
so that the family will not have to give him away. At first, the dog is extremely disobedient, but, at the last minute, passes the test.
The episode was written by Jon Vitti
Jon Vitti
Jon Vitti is an American writer best known for his work on the television series The Simpsons. He has also written for the King of the Hill and The Critic series, and has served as a consultant for several animated movies, including Ice Age and Robots...
and directed by Jim Reardon
Jim Reardon
Jim Reardon is an animation director and storyboard consultant, best known for his work on the animated TV series The Simpsons. He has directed over 30 episodes of the series, and was credited as a supervising director for seasons 9 through 15...
. Tracey Ullman
Tracey Ullman
Tracey Ullman is a British stage and television actress, comedienne, singer, dancer, screenwriter and author ....
guest starred as Emily Winthrop, the instructor at the obedience school. The animal noises for the episode were performed by Frank Welker
Frank Welker
Franklin Wendell "Frank" Welker is an American actor who specializes in voice acting and has contributed character voices and other vocal effects to American television and motion pictures.-Acting career:...
. "Bart's Dog Gets an F" features cultural references to films such as Predator
Predator (film)
Predator is a 1987 American science fiction action film directed by John McTiernan, starring Arnold Schwarzenegger, Carl Weathers, Jesse Ventura, and Kevin Peter Hall. It was distributed by 20th Century Fox....
, Jaws
Jaws (film)
Jaws is a 1975 American horror-thriller film directed by Steven Spielberg and based on Peter Benchley's novel of the same name. In the story, the police chief of Amity Island, a fictional summer resort town, tries to protect beachgoers from a giant man-eating great white shark by closing the beach,...
, E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial
E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial
E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial is a 1982 American science fiction film co-produced and directed by Steven Spielberg, written by Melissa Mathison and starring Henry Thomas, Dee Wallace, Robert MacNaughton, Drew Barrymore, and Peter Coyote...
, and National Lampoon's Animal House
National Lampoon's Animal House
National Lampoon's Animal House is a 1978 American comedy film directed by John Landis. The film was a direct spin-off of National Lampoon magazine...
. Since airing, the episode has received mostly positive reviews from television critics. It acquired a Nielsen rating
Nielsen Ratings
Nielsen ratings are the audience measurement systems developed by Nielsen Media Research, in an effort to determine the audience size and composition of television programming in the United States...
of 13.8, and was the highest-rated show on the Fox network the week it aired.
Plot
LisaLisa Simpson
Lisa Marie Simpson is a fictional main character in the animated television series The Simpsons. She is the middle child of the Simpson family. Voiced by Yeardley Smith, Lisa first appeared on television in The Tracey Ullman Show short "Good Night" on April 19, 1987. Cartoonist Matt Groening...
has the mumps
Mumps
Mumps is a viral disease of the human species, caused by the mumps virus. Before the development of vaccination and the introduction of a vaccine, it was a common childhood disease worldwide...
and has to spend a few days home from school. While Marge
Marge Simpson
Marjorie "Marge" Simpson is a fictional main character in the animated television series The Simpsons and part of the eponymous family. She is voiced by actress Julie Kavner and first appeared on television in The Tracey Ullman Show short "Good Night" on April 19, 1987...
teaches Lisa sewing
Sewing
Sewing is the craft of fastening or attaching objects using stitches made with a needle and thread. Sewing is one of the oldest of the textile arts, arising in the Paleolithic era...
, Homer goes to the mall to buy some magazines for her. There he sees and purchases some $125 shoes known as the Assassins, which he saw his neighbor Ned Flanders
Ned Flanders
Nedward "Ned" Flanders, Jr. is a recurring fictional character in the animated television series The Simpsons. He is voiced by Harry Shearer, and first appeared in the series premiere episode "Simpsons Roasting on an Open Fire". He is the next door neighbor to the Simpson family and is generally...
wear earlier. However, Santa's Little Helper
Santa's Little Helper
Santa's Little Helper is a recurring character in the American animated television series The Simpsons. He is the pet greyhound of the Simpson family. The dog was introduced in the first episode of the show, the 1989 Christmas special "Simpsons Roasting on an Open Fire", in which his owner abandons...
promptly destroys the shoes, angering Homer. Marge shows Lisa a patchwork quilt
Patchwork quilt
A patchwork quilt is a quilt in which the top layer consists of pieces of fabric sewn together to form a design. The quilting design does not necessarily follow the patchwork design, and the design of the quilting may play off the patchwork design....
, which is a family heirloom. Lisa makes her own contribution to it, but then Santa's Little Helper rips it up. When Homer discovers that Santa's Little Helper has also eaten his cookie, which Homer had bought earlier, he wants to get rid of the dog, but Lisa convinces her parents to keep him and take him to an obedience school first.
Santa's Little Helper does not do well at the obedience school as Bart is unwilling to use a choke chain suggested by the school's instructor Emily Winthrop. The night before the final exam, Bart and Santa's Little Helper play, thinking it will be their last few hours together. This bonding breaks down the communication barrier, allowing Santa's Little Helper to understand Bart's commands, and consequently pass the obedience school. Lisa marks the occasions by starting a new quilt to replace the one destroyed.
Production
Jon Vitti
Jon Vitti is an American writer best known for his work on the television series The Simpsons. He has also written for the King of the Hill and The Critic series, and has served as a consultant for several animated movies, including Ice Age and Robots...
and directed by Jim Reardon
Jim Reardon
Jim Reardon is an animation director and storyboard consultant, best known for his work on the animated TV series The Simpsons. He has directed over 30 episodes of the series, and was credited as a supervising director for seasons 9 through 15...
. Tracey Ullman
Tracey Ullman
Tracey Ullman is a British stage and television actress, comedienne, singer, dancer, screenwriter and author ....
guest starred as Emily Winthrop, the instructor at the obedience school. The Simpsons began as a series of one-minute shorts that aired on Ullman's variety show, The Tracey Ullman Show
The Tracey Ullman Show
The Tracey Ullman Show was an American television variety show, hosted by British comedian and onetime pop singer Tracey Ullman. It debuted on April 5, 1987 as the Fox network's second primetime series after Married... with Children, and ran until May 26, 1990. The show blended sketch comedy shorts...
, for three seasons during 1987–89. Due to the success of the shorts, the characters spun off into their own half-hour prime-time show on the Fox network named The Simpsons. Matt Groening
Matt Groening
Matthew Abram "Matt" Groening is an American cartoonist, screenwriter, and producer. He is the creator of the comic strip Life in Hell as well as two successful television series, The Simpsons and Futurama....
, the series' creator, wanted Ullman to make a guest appearance in one of the shorts, but was told that she was too busy with the rest of The Tracey Ullman Show. When her show was canceled in 1990, Ullman agreed to do a guest appearance on The Simpsons after being asked by Groening once again. The animal noises for the episode, including those by Santa's Little Helper, were performed by Frank Welker
Frank Welker
Franklin Wendell "Frank" Welker is an American actor who specializes in voice acting and has contributed character voices and other vocal effects to American television and motion pictures.-Acting career:...
. It was the first The Simpsons episode Welker worked on and he became a recurring voice actor on the show, before leaving in 2002.
Cultural references
Dr. Hibbert's home and family resemble that of the The Cosby ShowThe Cosby Show
The Cosby Show is an American television situation comedy starring Bill Cosby, which aired for eight seasons on NBC from September 20, 1984 until April 30, 1992...
, a program that at the time competed with The Simpsons for the Thursday 8:00 p.m. time slot. The high tech and expensive sneakers Assassins are reference to the Nike
Nike, Inc.
Nike, Inc. is a major publicly traded sportswear and equipment supplier based in the United States. The company is headquartered near Beaverton, Oregon, which is part of the Portland metropolitan area...
Air Jordan
Air Jordan
Air Jordan, also known simply as Jordans, are a brand of shoes and athletic apparel produced by Nike originally designed for and endorsed by NBA Hall of Famer and Six Time NBA Champion Michael Jordan. The Air Jordan line is now sold by the Jordan Brand subsidiary of Nike...
, an athletic shoe brand which was expensive in the early 1990s, and was expected to sell on the basis of brand loyalty
Brand loyalty
The American Marketing Association defines brand loyalty as:# The situation in which a consumer generally buys the same manufacturer-originated product or service repeatedly over time rather than buying from multiple suppliers within the category .# The degree to which a consumer consistently...
and celebrity endorsements. When Lisa shows Marge her sewing finger, the music from the film E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial
E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial
E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial is a 1982 American science fiction film co-produced and directed by Steven Spielberg, written by Melissa Mathison and starring Henry Thomas, Dee Wallace, Robert MacNaughton, Drew Barrymore, and Peter Coyote...
plays. Lisa touching Marge's finger is reference to the final scene of that film. The second frame in the Bouvier family patchwork quilt depicts a poster for one of Buffalo Bill
Buffalo Bill
William Frederick "Buffalo Bill" Cody was a United States soldier, bison hunter and showman. He was born in the Iowa Territory , in LeClaire but lived several years in Canada before his family moved to the Kansas Territory. Buffalo Bill received the Medal of Honor in 1872 for service to the US...
's Wild West Shows
Wild West Shows
Wild West Shows were traveling vaudeville performances in the United States and Europe. The first and prototypical wild west show was Buffalo Bill's, formed in 1883 and lasting until 1913...
. In addition, the photograph The Falling Soldier
The Falling Soldier
The Falling Soldier is a famous photograph taken by Robert Capa, understood to have been taken on September 5, 1936 and long thought to depict the death of a Republican, specifically an Iberian Federation of Libertarian Youth soldier during the Spanish Civil War, who was later identified as the...
by Robert Capa
Robert Capa
Robert Capa was a Hungarian combat photographer and photojournalist who covered five different wars: the Spanish Civil War, the Second Sino-Japanese War, World War II across Europe, the 1948 Arab-Israeli War, and the First Indochina War...
is the third frame in the quilt. When the scene changes to Santa's Little Helper's point of view, a small explosion sound is heard; this sound is used in the film Predator
Predator (film)
Predator is a 1987 American science fiction action film directed by John McTiernan, starring Arnold Schwarzenegger, Carl Weathers, Jesse Ventura, and Kevin Peter Hall. It was distributed by 20th Century Fox....
, when the camera switches to Predator
Predator (alien)
The Predator is a fictional extraterrestrial species featured in the Predator science-fiction franchise, characterised by its trophy hunting of other dangerous species for sport, including humans and its fictional counterparts, Aliens....
's point of view. The dramatic music from the film Jaws
Jaws (film)
Jaws is a 1975 American horror-thriller film directed by Steven Spielberg and based on Peter Benchley's novel of the same name. In the story, the police chief of Amity Island, a fictional summer resort town, tries to protect beachgoers from a giant man-eating great white shark by closing the beach,...
is used just before Santa's Little Helper attacks something. The dog obedience school has different categories named after famous dogs, which are Rin Tin Tin
Rin Tin Tin
Rin Tin Tin was the name given to a dog adopted from a WWI battlefield that went on to star in twenty-three Hollywood films. The name was subsequently given to several related German Shepherd dogs featured in fictional stories on film, radio and television.-Origins:The first of the line Rin Tin...
, Benji
Benji
Benji is the name of a fictional dog who has been the focus of several movies from 1974 through the 2000s. It is also the title of the first film in the Benji series....
, Toto
Toto (dog)
Toto is the name of a fictional dog in L. Frank Baum's Oz series of children's books, and works derived from them. The name is pronounced with a long "O", a homonym of "toe toe". The dog was originally a cairn terrier drawn by W.W. Denslow for the first edition of the Wizard of Oz...
and the one in which Santa's Little Helper attends, Cujo
Cujo
Cujo is a psychological horror novel by Stephen King. The novel won the British Fantasy Award in 1982, and was made into a film in 1983....
. Winthrop is based on British dog trainer and author Barbara Woodhouse
Barbara Woodhouse
Barbara Kathleen Vera Woodhouse , was a well known British dog trainer, author and television personality. Her 1980 television series Training Dogs the Woodhouse Way made her into a household name in the UK...
. One of the dogs seen in the graduation ceremony is named after Lao Tzu, an ancient philosopher of China. At the end of the episode, the eventual fate of the various dogs in the class are captioned
Closed captioning
Closed captioning is the process of displaying text on a television, video screen or other visual display to provide additional or interpretive information to individuals who wish to access it...
at the bottom of the screen, a reference to the ending of the film National Lampoon's Animal House
National Lampoon's Animal House
National Lampoon's Animal House is a 1978 American comedy film directed by John Landis. The film was a direct spin-off of National Lampoon magazine...
.
Reception
In its original broadcast, "Bart's Dog Gets an F" finished thirtieth in the ratings for the week of March 4–10, 1991, with a Nielsen ratingNielsen Ratings
Nielsen ratings are the audience measurement systems developed by Nielsen Media Research, in an effort to determine the audience size and composition of television programming in the United States...
of 13.8, equivalent to approximately thirteen million viewing households. It was the highest-rated show on the Fox network that week. Since airing, the episode has received mostly positive reviews from television critics. The authors of the book I Can't Believe It's a Bigger and Better Updated Unofficial Simpsons Guide, Warren Martyn and Adrian Wood, wrote that it was an "enjoyable episode heightened by both Tracey Ullman's Miss Winthropp and Frank Welker's muted dog noises." DVD Movie Guide's Colin Jacobson said the episode "presented an odd viewpoint, since [Santa's Little Helper] never behaved this badly in prior episodes, but consistency never exactly was the hallmark of the series." He also commented that Tracey Ullman "offered a great performance as obedience school owner Emily Winthrop," and concluded by saying that the episode overall "provided yet another consistently fine show." In a review of the second season, Bryce Wilson of Cinema Blend
Cinema Blend
Cinema Blend is a website founded and run by Josh Tyler dedicated to news and reviews of upcoming and currently playing films, movie projects, Television Shows, and a newly founded Music section which covers album reviews, band interviews and daily news from the industry. It combines gossip from...
said "Bart's Dog Gets an F" felt "a bit flat", but "but even in [its] lowest points, humor is easy to find." Doug Pratt, a DVD reviewer and Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone is a US-based magazine devoted to music, liberal politics, and popular culture that is published every two weeks. Rolling Stone was founded in San Francisco in 1967 by Jann Wenner and music critic Ralph J...
contributor, was also positive about the episode: "The viewer is treated to an inspired dog's prospective of the world, in very grayish tones, with the humans speaking gibberish; another poignant character effort." Jacobson's favorite line of the episode was Homer's ad about Santa's Little Helper: "Free to loving home. World’s most brilliant dog. Says ‘I love you’ on command." Reviewing for The DVD Journal, Dawn Taylor thought the most memorable line was Flanders's description of the Assassins sneakers: "They've got Velcro straps, a water pump in the tongue, a built-in pedometer, reflective sidewalls and little vanity plates."
In promotion of The Simpsons Sing the Blues
The Simpsons Sing the Blues
The Simpsons Sing the Blues is the first album released as an offshoot of The Simpsons. The album contains originally recorded music not featured in the series save for the first verse of the track "Moaning Lisa Blues" which was first featured in the episode "Moaning Lisa", aired February 11, 1990...
, the music video for the album's second single, "Deep, Deep Trouble
Deep, Deep Trouble
"Deep, Deep Trouble" is a rap song from the 1990 Simpsons album The Simpsons Sing the Blues. It is sung by the fictional character Bart Simpson and is about his trouble-making antics. The song was written by Matt Groening and DJ Jazzy Jeff...
" premiered shortly after this episode's first broadcast.
External links
- "Bart's Dog Gets an F" at The Simpsons.com
- "Bart's Dog Gets an F " at TV.comTV.comTV.com is a website owned by CBS Interactive. The site covers television and focuses on English-language shows made or broadcast in the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Ireland and Japan...