Bart Gets an F
Encyclopedia
"Bart Gets an F" is the first episode of The Simpsons
' second season
. It originally aired on the Fox network in the United States on October 11, 1990. In the episode, Bart
fails four consecutive history exams and the school psychiatrist recommends that Bart repeat the fourth grade
. Bart vows that he will start to do better and tries to get the class genius Martin Prince
to help him, but after that fails, Bart prays for help. That night, Springfield
is hit with a massive blizzard and the school is closed, giving Bart one more day to study.
The episode was written by David M. Stern
and directed by David Silverman
. Mayor Quimby
makes his first appearance and the episode was the first to feature a new opening sequence
. "Bart Gets an F" was the third episode produced for the season, but it was chosen to be the premiere of the second season because it prominently featured Bart.
Due to the success of the first season of The Simpsons, the Fox Network decided to switch the show's time slot to Thursday at 8:00 p.m. EST
where it would air opposite of NBC
's The Cosby Show
, the number one show at the time. Through the summer, several news outlets published stories about the supposed "Bill vs. Bart" rivalry and heavily hyped the first episode of the second season. Several critics predicted that "Bart Gets an F" would do considerably worse in the ratings than The Cosby Show. However, the final Nielsen rating
for the episode was 18.4 and a 29% share of the audience, finishing second in its time slot behind The Cosby Show, which had an 18.5 rating and 29% share. It finished eighth in the weekly ratings, but was watched by an estimated 33.6 million viewers, making it the number one show in terms of actual viewers that week. It became the highest rated and most watched program in the history of the Fox Network and remained in that position until January 1, 1995. As of 2011 it is still the highest rated episode in the history of The Simpsons.
The episode has received positive reviews from television critics and was ranked 31st on Entertainment Weekly
' s 1999 list of "The 100 Greatest Moments in Television."
presents a book report at Springfield Elementary School on Treasure Island
. However, it becomes clear to everyone that he has not read the book. Mrs. Krabappel
proves her suspicion when Bart is unable to answer her question about the name of the pirate in the book
. After school, Mrs. Krabappel tells Bart his grades have steadily gotten worse and warns him about an upcoming exam on Colonial America
; Bart does not pay attention. At home, Bart tries to study but, urged on by Homer, procrastinates
instead. The next day at school, Bart collapses in class to get out of taking the test. He is sent to the nurse, who diagnoses him with amoria phlebitis
and sends him home. At home that night, Bart again fails to study, instead calling Milhouse
for the test answers. The next day at school, Bart takes the test but fails; Krabappel tells him his effort is "worse than Milhouse's exam."
Homer
and Marge
are called in to meet with Krabappel and school psychiatrist Dr. J. Loren Pryor. Dr. Pryor says that Bart is an underachiever and recommends that he repeat the fourth grade
. Marge agrees that holding Bart back might not be such a bad idea. However, Bart vows that he will start to do better and will pass. In desperation, he asks Martin Prince
for help. Martin is initially reluctant, but agrees when Bart agrees to show him how to become more popular. The two initially help each other out, but Martin starts to take on some of Bart's bad attitudes. He decides to stop being a book worm and hang out with his new friends and play practical jokes, and abandons Bart. Left with little time to study on his own, Bart prays to God
and asks that something happen to make him miss school the next day so he can have more time to study. That night, Springfield is hit with a massive blizzard, and the schools are closed.
After receiving word of the school closures, Bart excitedly prepares for a fun snow day. However, Lisa
reminds him of his prayer, and he decides to study for the rest of the day while everyone is outside having fun. Bart tries to focus while he is studying, but becomes easily distracted and is forced to literally slap himself continually to continue his studying. The next day, still slapping himself, he finishes the test and asks Mrs. Krabappel to grade it immediately. She does so, and tells him that he gets a 59%, failing by just one point. Crushed at having failed despite having actually made an effort, Bart melts down in tears and compares his failure to George Washington
's surrender of Fort Necessity to the French
in 1754. Mrs. Krabappel, stunned at this obscure historical reference, realizes that Bart does make an honest effort after all. She gives Bart an extra point for demonstrating applied knowledge, pushing his grade up to a D-. Bart is proud of this, and he runs throughout Springfield, yelling to people that he actually passes. Homer proudly displays Bart's new personal best on the refrigerator, and Bart declares that part of the D- "belongs to God."
"Bart Gets an F" was the first episode of The Simpsons to be written by David M. Stern
. It was directed by David Silverman
. Over the summer of 1990, Bart's rebellious nature was characterized by some parents and conservatives
as a poor role model
for children while several American public schools banned T-shirts featuring Bart next to captions such as "I'm Bart Simpson. Who the hell are you?" and "Underachiever ('And proud of it, man!')". Several critics thought that the episode was a response to these controversies. However, executive producer James L. Brooks
responded that it was not, but added, "we're mindful of it. I do think it's important for us that Bart does badly in school. There are students like that. Besides, I'm very wary of television where everybody is supposed to be a role model. You don't run across that many role models in real life. Why should television be full of them?" Sam Simon
commented that "there are themes to the shows we did last year, important themes, I think it's a tribute to how well we executed them that nobody realized we had a point. Bart says "Cowabunga" for the first time, which was commonly associated with Bart through its use as a T-shirt slogan. Mayor Quimby
makes his first appearance in this episode, without his trademark sash that says "Mayor". The sash was later added because the writers feared that viewers would not recognize him.
The episode was the first to feature a new opening sequence
, which was shortened by fifteen seconds from its original length of roughly 1 minute, 30 seconds. The opening sequence for the first season showed Bart stealing a "Bus Stop" sign; whilst the new sequence featured him skateboarding past several characters who had been introduced during the previous season. Starting with this season, there were three versions of the opening: a full roughly 1 minute 15 second long version, a 45 second version and a 25 second version. This gave the show's editors more leeway. David Silverman believes that the animators began to "come into their own" as they had gotten used to the characters and were able to achieve more with character acting. During the scene where Bart delivers a speech where he states he is "dumb as a post", Silverman wanted to cut from several angles very quickly to give a sense of anxiety. Martin Prince
's design was changed several times during the episode. There was a different model that had larger eyes and wilder hair designed for the scene where Martin betrays Bart and runs off. Silverman describes the "Snow Day" sequence as one of the hardest things he ever had to animate. It features several long pans which shows many different characters engaging in various activities and was difficult to time correctly. Bart's fantasy where he sees the founding fathers of the United States uses muted colors and variations of red, white and blue. Silverman also had to work hard to make Bart cry without making his design look too off-putting, and this is the reason why he was shown covering his face with a piece of paper.
decided to switch The Simpsons' timeslot in hopes that it would steal ratings from NBC
's "powerhouse" line up, generate more advertising revenue, and result in higher ratings for Beverly Hills, 90210
and Babes
, which would follow the show. The show was moved from its from 8:00 p.m. EST
Sunday night slot to the same time on Thursday, where it would compete with NBC's The Cosby Show
, the number one show at the time. Many of the producers of The Simpsons, including James L. Brooks
, were against the move. The show had been in the top 10 while airing on Sunday and they felt the move would destroy its ratings. He commented that "Suddenly a show that was a hit is fighting for its survival," [...] We're not fighting 'Cosby,' we just want to get healthy ratings. There have been two weeks in my life when a show I was associated with was number one in the ratings, and on Sunday night, we had a chance to be the number one show in the country. I don't think we have a chance on Thursday night."
"Two Cars in Every Garage and Three Eyes on Every Fish
" was the first episode produced for the season, but "Bart Gets an F" aired first because Bart was popular at the time and the producers had wanted to premiere with an episode involving him. It aired opposed the fourth episode of the seventh season of The Cosby Show titled "Period of Adjustment", which saw the addition of Erika Alexander
to the cast. The first 13 episodes of The Simpsons had been rerun several times through the summer, and Fox heavily promoted the first new episode since May, and news outlets published stories about the supposed "Bill vs. Bart" rivalry.
. Greg Dawson of the Orlando Sentinel
wrote that he would "bet dollars to plain-cake doughnuts (a Homer pet peeve) that even a fresh Simpsons won't come within five rating points of Cosby, which could get a 30 share in a power blackout." Fox executive Peter Chernin
said that they were hoping to establish a foothold on Thursday night and that "if we're really lucky and very fortunate, we're going to come in second place."
Early overnight ratings figures for the original broadcast of the episode in 24 cities projected that The Simpsons had a 19.9 Nielsen Rating and 30% share of the audience while The Cosby Show had a 19.3 Nielsen Rating and 29% share. However, the final rating for "Bart Gets an F" was an 18.4 and a 29% share of the audience, finishing second in its time slot behind The Cosby Show, which had an 18.5 rating and 29% share. At the time, NBC had 208 television stations, while Fox only had 133. It finished eighth in the weekly ratings, tied with Who's the Boss?
, while The Cosby Show finished seventh. The rating is based on the number of household televisions that were tuned into the show, but Nielsen Media Research
estimated that 33.6 million viewers watched the episode, making it the number one show in terms of actual viewers that week (The Cosby Show was watched by 28.5 million, finished seventh). It became the highest rated and most watched program in the history of the Fox Network. It remained in that position until January 1, 1995, when a National Football League
playoff game between the Minnesota Vikings
and Chicago Bears
achieved a Nielsen Rating of 21.0. As of 2011 it is still the highest rated episode in the history of The Simpsons.
novel Treasure Island
for his book report, while Martin reads Ernest Hemingway
's The Old Man and the Sea
. During "Snow Day", the citizens of Springfield sing "Winter Wonderland
". The scene where everyone in Springfield gathers around the town circle, holds hands and begins singing is a reference to How the Grinch Stole Christmas!
. "Hallelujah", the chorus from George Frideric Handel
's Messiah
, can be heard when it starts snowing.
felt that it was "not as wildly funny as last season's best episodes, [but still] well-done, humorous, and, at times, poignant." The episode was praised for its emotional scenes. Tom Shales
wrote that the episode is "not only funny, it's touching" and praised it for its scenes where Bart prays, writing "There are few if any other entertainment shows on television that get into philosophical matters even this deeply. The Simpsons can be as thoughtful as a furrow-browed Bill Moyers
pontification - yet infinitely more amusing." Hal Boedeker of The Miami Herald
felt that it "pulls off a finale that's thoughtful without being preachy, tender without being sappy. Despite the tears, the show keeps its edge. And the way TV usually smears on the schmaltz, that's quite an achievement." Phil Kloer of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
wrote "The episode does a good job of emphasizing the importance of studying without getting gooky. For all the talk about the anarchy of "The Simpsons," the show sometimes has smuggled in an occasional message, as it does again." In his book The Gospel According to the Simpsons, Mark I. Pinsky writes that "Bart Gets an F offers the most detailed portrayal of the dynamic of prayer on The Simpsons." Steve L. Case later included the episode in his book Toons That Teach, a list of 75 cartoons that help teach biblical lessons.
The episode was ranked 31st on Entertainment Weekly
' s list of "The 100 Greatest Moments in Television", writing that it "stands as classic irreverent family TV". In 2007, Larina Adamson, a supervising producer on The Simpsons, named "Bart Gets an F" as her favorite episode of the series. In 2010 BBC named "Bart Gets an F" as one of the ten most memorable episodes of the show, calling it "insightful and poignant."
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 October 11, 1990. In the episode, 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...
fails four consecutive history exams and the school psychiatrist recommends that Bart repeat the fourth grade
Grade retention
Grade retention or grade repetition is the process of having a student repeat an educational course, usually one previously failed. Students who repeat a course are referred as "repeaters"...
. Bart vows that he will start to do better and tries to get the class genius Martin Prince
Martin Prince
Martin Prince, Jr. is a recurring character in the Fox animated series, The Simpsons, and is voiced by Russi Taylor. Martin is Bart Simpson's classmate, and is Lisa Simpson's rival in intelligence, as well as Nelson Muntz's favorite target for bullying...
to help him, but after that fails, Bart prays for help. That night, Springfield
Springfield (The Simpsons)
Springfield is the fictional town in which the American animated sitcom The Simpsons is set. A mid-sized town in an undetermined state of the United States, Springfield acts as a complete universe in which characters can explore the issues faced by modern society. The geography of the town and its...
is hit with a massive blizzard and the school is closed, giving Bart one more day to study.
The episode was written by David M. Stern
David M. Stern
David M. Stern is an American television screenwriter. Among his first work in television was writing episodes of The Wonder Years in the late 1980s. He then proceeded to write several episodes of The Simpsons in the 1990s. In 2010, he developed the animated television series Ugly Americans...
and directed by David Silverman
David Silverman
David Silverman is an animator best known for directing numerous episodes of the animated TV series The Simpsons, as well as The Simpsons Movie...
. Mayor Quimby
Joe Quimby
Mayor Joseph "Joe" Quimby, nicknamed "Diamond Joe," is a recurring character from the animated television series The Simpsons. He is voiced by Dan Castellaneta, and first appeared in the episode "Bart Gets an F". A member of the Democratic Party, Quimby is the mayor of Springfield, and is a...
makes his first appearance and the episode was the first to feature a new opening sequence
The Simpsons opening sequence
The Simpsons opening sequence is an element that begins almost every episode of the American animated television series The Simpsons. Starting with the season 20 episode "Take My Life, Please", the opening sequence was redone to go with the high-definition format of the show, and replaced the...
. "Bart Gets an F" was the third episode produced for the season, but it was chosen to be the premiere of the second season because it prominently featured Bart.
Due to the success of the first season of The Simpsons, the Fox Network decided to switch the show's time slot to Thursday at 8:00 p.m. EST
Eastern Time Zone
The Eastern Time Zone of the United States and Canada is a time zone that falls mostly along the east coast of North America. Its UTC time offset is −5 hrs during standard time and −4 hrs during daylight saving time...
where it would air opposite of NBC
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...
's The Cosby Show
The 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...
, the number one show at the time. Through the summer, several news outlets published stories about the supposed "Bill vs. Bart" rivalry and heavily hyped the first episode of the second season. Several critics predicted that "Bart Gets an F" would do considerably worse in the ratings than The Cosby Show. However, the final 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...
for the episode was 18.4 and a 29% share of the audience, finishing second in its time slot behind The Cosby Show, which had an 18.5 rating and 29% share. It finished eighth in the weekly ratings, but was watched by an estimated 33.6 million viewers, making it the number one show in terms of actual viewers that week. It became the highest rated and most watched program in the history of the Fox Network and remained in that position until January 1, 1995. As of 2011 it is still the highest rated episode in the history of The Simpsons.
The episode has received positive reviews from television critics and was ranked 31st on Entertainment Weekly
Entertainment Weekly
Entertainment Weekly is an American magazine, published by the Time division of Time Warner, that covers film, television, music, broadway theatre, books and popular culture...
Plot
BartBart 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...
presents a book report at Springfield Elementary School on Treasure Island
Treasure Island
Treasure Island is an adventure novel by Scottish author Robert Louis Stevenson, narrating a tale of "pirates and buried gold". First published as a book on May 23, 1883, it was originally serialized in the children's magazine Young Folks between 1881–82 under the title Treasure Island; or, the...
. However, it becomes clear to everyone that he has not read the book. Mrs. Krabappel
Edna Krabappel
Edna Krabappel is a fictional character from the animated TV series The Simpsons, voiced by Marcia Wallace. She is a 4th grade teacher at Springfield Elementary School. Krabappel is the only character Wallace voices on a regular basis.- Profile :...
proves her suspicion when Bart is unable to answer her question about the name of the pirate in the book
Long John Silver
Long John Silver is a fictional character and the primary antagonist of the novel Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson. Silver is also known by the nicknames "Barbecue" and the "Sea-Cook".- Profile :...
. After school, Mrs. Krabappel tells Bart his grades have steadily gotten worse and warns him about an upcoming exam on Colonial America
Colonial America
The colonial history of the United States covers the history from the start of European settlement and especially the history of the thirteen colonies of Britain until they declared independence in 1776. In the late 16th century, England, France, Spain and the Netherlands launched major...
; Bart does not pay attention. At home, Bart tries to study but, urged on by Homer, procrastinates
Procrastination
In psychology, procrastination refers to the act of replacing high-priority actions with tasks of low-priority, and thus putting off important tasks to a later time...
instead. The next day at school, Bart collapses in class to get out of taking the test. He is sent to the nurse, who diagnoses him with amoria phlebitis
Phlebitis
Phlebitis is an inflammation of a vein, usually in the legs.When phlebitis is associated with the formation of blood clots , usually in the deep veins of the legs, the condition is called thrombophlebitis...
and sends him home. At home that night, Bart again fails to study, instead calling Milhouse
Milhouse Van Houten
Milhouse Mussolini Van Houten is a fictional character featured in the animated television series The Simpsons, voiced by Pamela Hayden. He is Bart Simpson's best friend in Mrs. Krabappel's fourth grade class at Springfield Elementary School....
for the test answers. The next day at school, Bart takes the test but fails; Krabappel tells him his effort is "worse than Milhouse's exam."
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...
and 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...
are called in to meet with Krabappel and school psychiatrist Dr. J. Loren Pryor. Dr. Pryor says that Bart is an underachiever and recommends that he repeat the fourth grade
Grade retention
Grade retention or grade repetition is the process of having a student repeat an educational course, usually one previously failed. Students who repeat a course are referred as "repeaters"...
. Marge agrees that holding Bart back might not be such a bad idea. However, Bart vows that he will start to do better and will pass. In desperation, he asks Martin Prince
Martin Prince
Martin Prince, Jr. is a recurring character in the Fox animated series, The Simpsons, and is voiced by Russi Taylor. Martin is Bart Simpson's classmate, and is Lisa Simpson's rival in intelligence, as well as Nelson Muntz's favorite target for bullying...
for help. Martin is initially reluctant, but agrees when Bart agrees to show him how to become more popular. The two initially help each other out, but Martin starts to take on some of Bart's bad attitudes. He decides to stop being a book worm and hang out with his new friends and play practical jokes, and abandons Bart. Left with little time to study on his own, Bart prays to God
God
God is the English name given to a singular being in theistic and deistic religions who is either the sole deity in monotheism, or a single deity in polytheism....
and asks that something happen to make him miss school the next day so he can have more time to study. That night, Springfield is hit with a massive blizzard, and the schools are closed.
After receiving word of the school closures, Bart excitedly prepares for a fun snow day. However, Lisa
Lisa 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...
reminds him of his prayer, and he decides to study for the rest of the day while everyone is outside having fun. Bart tries to focus while he is studying, but becomes easily distracted and is forced to literally slap himself continually to continue his studying. The next day, still slapping himself, he finishes the test and asks Mrs. Krabappel to grade it immediately. She does so, and tells him that he gets a 59%, failing by just one point. Crushed at having failed despite having actually made an effort, Bart melts down in tears and compares his failure to George Washington
George Washington
George Washington was the dominant military and political leader of the new United States of America from 1775 to 1799. He led the American victory over Great Britain in the American Revolutionary War as commander-in-chief of the Continental Army from 1775 to 1783, and presided over the writing of...
's surrender of Fort Necessity to the French
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
in 1754. Mrs. Krabappel, stunned at this obscure historical reference, realizes that Bart does make an honest effort after all. She gives Bart an extra point for demonstrating applied knowledge, pushing his grade up to a D-. Bart is proud of this, and he runs throughout Springfield, yelling to people that he actually passes. Homer proudly displays Bart's new personal best on the refrigerator, and Bart declares that part of the D- "belongs to God."
Production
David M. Stern
David M. Stern is an American television screenwriter. Among his first work in television was writing episodes of The Wonder Years in the late 1980s. He then proceeded to write several episodes of The Simpsons in the 1990s. In 2010, he developed the animated television series Ugly Americans...
. It was directed by David Silverman
David Silverman
David Silverman is an animator best known for directing numerous episodes of the animated TV series The Simpsons, as well as The Simpsons Movie...
. Over the summer of 1990, Bart's rebellious nature was characterized by some parents and conservatives
Conservatism
Conservatism is a political and social philosophy that promotes the maintenance of traditional institutions and supports, at the most, minimal and gradual change in society. Some conservatives seek to preserve things as they are, emphasizing stability and continuity, while others oppose modernism...
as a poor role model
Role model
The term role model generally means any "person who serves as an example, whose behaviour is emulated by others".The term first appeared in Robert K. Merton's socialization research of medical students...
for children while several American public schools banned T-shirts featuring Bart next to captions such as "I'm Bart Simpson. Who the hell are you?" and "Underachiever ('And proud of it, man!')". Several critics thought that the episode was a response to these controversies. However, executive producer James L. Brooks
James L. Brooks
James Lawrence Brooks is an American director, producer and screenwriter. Growing up in North Bergen, New Jersey, Brooks endured a fractured family life and passed the time by reading and writing. After dropping out of New York University, he got a job as an usher at CBS, going on to write for the...
responded that it was not, but added, "we're mindful of it. I do think it's important for us that Bart does badly in school. There are students like that. Besides, I'm very wary of television where everybody is supposed to be a role model. You don't run across that many role models in real life. Why should television be full of them?" Sam Simon
Sam Simon
Samuel "Sam" Simon is an American director, producer, writer, boxing manager and philanthropist. While at Stanford University, Simon worked as a newspaper cartoonist and after graduating became a storyboard artist at Filmation Studios. He submitted a spec script for the sitcom Taxi, which was...
commented that "there are themes to the shows we did last year, important themes, I think it's a tribute to how well we executed them that nobody realized we had a point. Bart says "Cowabunga" for the first time, which was commonly associated with Bart through its use as a T-shirt slogan. Mayor Quimby
Joe Quimby
Mayor Joseph "Joe" Quimby, nicknamed "Diamond Joe," is a recurring character from the animated television series The Simpsons. He is voiced by Dan Castellaneta, and first appeared in the episode "Bart Gets an F". A member of the Democratic Party, Quimby is the mayor of Springfield, and is a...
makes his first appearance in this episode, without his trademark sash that says "Mayor". The sash was later added because the writers feared that viewers would not recognize him.
The episode was the first to feature a new opening sequence
The Simpsons opening sequence
The Simpsons opening sequence is an element that begins almost every episode of the American animated television series The Simpsons. Starting with the season 20 episode "Take My Life, Please", the opening sequence was redone to go with the high-definition format of the show, and replaced the...
, which was shortened by fifteen seconds from its original length of roughly 1 minute, 30 seconds. The opening sequence for the first season showed Bart stealing a "Bus Stop" sign; whilst the new sequence featured him skateboarding past several characters who had been introduced during the previous season. Starting with this season, there were three versions of the opening: a full roughly 1 minute 15 second long version, a 45 second version and a 25 second version. This gave the show's editors more leeway. David Silverman believes that the animators began to "come into their own" as they had gotten used to the characters and were able to achieve more with character acting. During the scene where Bart delivers a speech where he states he is "dumb as a post", Silverman wanted to cut from several angles very quickly to give a sense of anxiety. Martin Prince
Martin Prince
Martin Prince, Jr. is a recurring character in the Fox animated series, The Simpsons, and is voiced by Russi Taylor. Martin is Bart Simpson's classmate, and is Lisa Simpson's rival in intelligence, as well as Nelson Muntz's favorite target for bullying...
's design was changed several times during the episode. There was a different model that had larger eyes and wilder hair designed for the scene where Martin betrays Bart and runs off. Silverman describes the "Snow Day" sequence as one of the hardest things he ever had to animate. It features several long pans which shows many different characters engaging in various activities and was difficult to time correctly. Bart's fantasy where he sees the founding fathers of the United States uses muted colors and variations of red, white and blue. Silverman also had to work hard to make Bart cry without making his design look too off-putting, and this is the reason why he was shown covering his face with a piece of paper.
Move to Thursday
The first season of The Simpsons had finished as high as 4th in the weekly ratings and was the Fox network's first series to rank among a season's top 30 highest-rated shows and Bart quickly became one of the most popular characters on television in what was termed "Bartmania". Due to the success of the first season of the show, the Fox NetworkFox Broadcasting Company
Fox Broadcasting Company, commonly referred to as Fox Network or simply Fox , is an American commercial broadcasting television network owned by Fox Entertainment Group, part of Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation. Launched on October 9, 1986, Fox was the highest-rated broadcast network in the...
decided to switch The Simpsons
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...
's "powerhouse" line up, generate more advertising revenue, and result in higher ratings for Beverly Hills, 90210
Beverly Hills, 90210
Beverly Hills, 90210 is an American drama series that originally aired from October 4, 1990 to May 17, 2000 on Fox and was produced by Spelling Television in the United States, and subsequently on various networks around the world. It is the first series in the Beverly Hills, 90210 franchise...
and Babes
Babes
Babes is an American situation comedy series that ran for one season on the Fox Television Network from September 13, 1990 to August 10, 1991. It was created by Gail Parent and executive produced by Dolly Parton and Sandy Gallin's Sandollar Productions for Twentieth Century Fox Television...
, which would follow the show. The show was moved from its from 8:00 p.m. EST
Eastern Time Zone
The Eastern Time Zone of the United States and Canada is a time zone that falls mostly along the east coast of North America. Its UTC time offset is −5 hrs during standard time and −4 hrs during daylight saving time...
Sunday night slot to the same time on Thursday, where it would compete with NBC's The Cosby Show
The 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...
, the number one show at the time. Many of the producers of The Simpsons, including James L. Brooks
James L. Brooks
James Lawrence Brooks is an American director, producer and screenwriter. Growing up in North Bergen, New Jersey, Brooks endured a fractured family life and passed the time by reading and writing. After dropping out of New York University, he got a job as an usher at CBS, going on to write for the...
, were against the move. The show had been in the top 10 while airing on Sunday and they felt the move would destroy its ratings. He commented that "Suddenly a show that was a hit is fighting for its survival," [...] We're not fighting 'Cosby,' we just want to get healthy ratings. There have been two weeks in my life when a show I was associated with was number one in the ratings, and on Sunday night, we had a chance to be the number one show in the country. I don't think we have a chance on Thursday night."
"Two Cars in Every Garage and Three Eyes on Every Fish
Two Cars in Every Garage and Three Eyes on Every Fish
"Two Cars in Every Garage and Three Eyes on Every Fish" is the fourth episode of The Simpsons second season. It originally aired on the Fox network in the United States on November 1, 1990. In the episode, Bart catches a three-eyed fish in a river downstream of the Springfield Nuclear Power Plant...
" was the first episode produced for the season, but "Bart Gets an F" aired first because Bart was popular at the time and the producers had wanted to premiere with an episode involving him. It aired opposed the fourth episode of the seventh season of The Cosby Show titled "Period of Adjustment", which saw the addition of Erika Alexander
Erika Alexander
Erika Alexander is an American actress. She is best known for her roles as Pam Tucker on the NBC sitcom The Cosby Show, and as Maxine Shaw on the FOX sitcom Living Single. She has won numerous awards for her work on Living Single, including two NAACP Image Awards for Outstanding Actress in a...
to the cast. The first 13 episodes of The Simpsons had been rerun several times through the summer, and Fox heavily promoted the first new episode since May, and news outlets published stories about the supposed "Bill vs. Bart" rivalry.
Nielsen Rating
Reruns of The Simpsons which aired in the Thursday time slot against new episodes of The Cosby Show were ranked as low as 73rd in the weekly ratings (compared with third place for The Cosby Show). Several critics predicted that "Bart Gets an F" would do considerably worse in the ratings than 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...
. Greg Dawson of the Orlando Sentinel
Orlando Sentinel
The Orlando Sentinel is the primary newspaper of the Orlando, Florida region. It was founded in 1876. The Sentinel is owned by Tribune Company and is overseen by the Chicago Tribune. As of 2005, the Sentinel’s president and publisher was Kathleen Waltz; she announced her resignation in February 2008...
wrote that he would "bet dollars to plain-cake doughnuts (a Homer pet peeve) that even a fresh Simpsons won't come within five rating points of Cosby, which could get a 30 share in a power blackout." Fox executive Peter Chernin
Peter Chernin
Peter Chernin currently owns and runs Chernin Entertainment and The Chernin Group, both of which he founded in 2009. He was formerly President and COO of News Corporation, and Chairman and CEO of Fox Entertainment Group. He is a Corporate Director for American Express and sits on the Board of...
said that they were hoping to establish a foothold on Thursday night and that "if we're really lucky and very fortunate, we're going to come in second place."
Early overnight ratings figures for the original broadcast of the episode in 24 cities projected that The Simpsons had a 19.9 Nielsen Rating and 30% share of the audience while The Cosby Show had a 19.3 Nielsen Rating and 29% share. However, the final rating for "Bart Gets an F" was an 18.4 and a 29% share of the audience, finishing second in its time slot behind The Cosby Show, which had an 18.5 rating and 29% share. At the time, NBC had 208 television stations, while Fox only had 133. It finished eighth in the weekly ratings, tied with Who's the Boss?
Who's the Boss?
Who's the Boss? is an American sitcom created by Martin Cohan and Blake Hunter, which aired on ABC from September 20, 1984 to April 25, 1992...
, while The Cosby Show finished seventh. The rating is based on the number of household televisions that were tuned into the show, but Nielsen Media Research
Nielsen Media Research
Nielsen Media Research is an American firm that measures media audiences, including television, radio, theatre films and newspapers...
estimated that 33.6 million viewers watched the episode, making it the number one show in terms of actual viewers that week (The Cosby Show was watched by 28.5 million, finished seventh). It became the highest rated and most watched program in the history of the Fox Network. It remained in that position until January 1, 1995, when a National Football League
National Football League
The National Football League is the highest level of professional American football in the United States, and is considered the top professional American football league in the world. It was formed by eleven teams in 1920 as the American Professional Football Association, with the league changing...
playoff game between the Minnesota Vikings
Minnesota Vikings
The Minnesota Vikings are a professional American football team based in Minneapolis, Minnesota. The Vikings joined the National Football League as an expansion team in 1960...
and Chicago Bears
Chicago Bears
The Chicago Bears are a professional American football team based in Chicago, Illinois. They are members of the North Division of the National Football Conference in the National Football League...
achieved a Nielsen Rating of 21.0. As of 2011 it is still the highest rated episode in the history of The Simpsons.
Cultural references
Bart chooses to read the Robert Louis StevensonRobert Louis Stevenson
Robert Louis Balfour Stevenson was a Scottish novelist, poet, essayist and travel writer. His best-known books include Treasure Island, Kidnapped, and Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde....
novel Treasure Island
Treasure Island
Treasure Island is an adventure novel by Scottish author Robert Louis Stevenson, narrating a tale of "pirates and buried gold". First published as a book on May 23, 1883, it was originally serialized in the children's magazine Young Folks between 1881–82 under the title Treasure Island; or, the...
for his book report, while Martin reads Ernest Hemingway
Ernest Hemingway
Ernest Miller Hemingway was an American author and journalist. His economic and understated style had a strong influence on 20th-century fiction, while his life of adventure and his public image influenced later generations. Hemingway produced most of his work between the mid-1920s and the...
's The Old Man and the Sea
The Old Man and the Sea
The Old Man and the Sea is a novel written by American author Ernest Hemingway in 1951 in Cuba, and published in 1952. It was the last major work of fiction to be produced by Hemingway and published in his lifetime. One of his most famous works, it centers upon Santiago, an aging fisherman who...
. During "Snow Day", the citizens of Springfield sing "Winter Wonderland
Winter Wonderland
"Winter Wonderland" is a winter song, popularly treated as a Christmastime pop standard, written in 1934 by Felix Bernard and Richard B. Smith . Through the decades it has been recorded by over 150 different artists.-History:...
". The scene where everyone in Springfield gathers around the town circle, holds hands and begins singing is a reference to How the Grinch Stole Christmas!
How the Grinch Stole Christmas!
How the Grinch Stole Christmas! is a children's story by Dr. Seuss written in rhymed verse with illustrations by the author. It was published as a book by Random House in 1957, and at approximately the same time in an issue of Redbook...
. "Hallelujah", the chorus from George Frideric Handel
George Frideric Handel
George Frideric Handel was a German-British Baroque composer, famous for his operas, oratorios, anthems and organ concertos. Handel was born in 1685, in a family indifferent to music...
's Messiah
Messiah (Handel)
Messiah is an English-language oratorio composed in 1741 by George Frideric Handel, with a scriptural text compiled by Charles Jennens from the King James Bible and the Book of Common Prayer. It was first performed in Dublin on 13 April 1742, and received its London premiere nearly a year later...
, can be heard when it starts snowing.
Reception
The episode has received 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, "A cracking opener to the second season - especially memorable for the sequence in which Bart prays for school to be cancelled the following day only to find himself exiled from the ensuing winter wonderland." Virginia Mann of The RecordThe Record (Bergen County)
The Record is a newspaper in northern New Jersey. It has the second largest circulation of New Jersey's daily newspapers, behind The Star-Ledger. Owned by the Borg family since 1930, it is the flagship publication of the North Jersey Media Group. Stephen Borg is the publisher of The Record...
felt that it was "not as wildly funny as last season's best episodes, [but still] well-done, humorous, and, at times, poignant." The episode was praised for its emotional scenes. Tom Shales
Tom Shales
Thomas William "Tom" Shales is an American critic of television programming and operations. He is best known as TV critic for The Washington Post; in 1988, Shales received the Pulitzer Prize...
wrote that the episode is "not only funny, it's touching" and praised it for its scenes where Bart prays, writing "There are few if any other entertainment shows on television that get into philosophical matters even this deeply. The Simpsons can be as thoughtful as a furrow-browed Bill Moyers
Bill Moyers
Bill Moyers is an American journalist and public commentator. He served as White House Press Secretary in the United States President Lyndon B. Johnson Administration from 1965 to 1967. He worked as a news commentator on television for ten years. Moyers has had an extensive involvement with public...
pontification - yet infinitely more amusing." Hal Boedeker of The Miami Herald
The Miami Herald
The Miami Herald is a daily newspaper owned by The McClatchy Company headquartered on Biscayne Bay in the Omni district of Downtown Miami, Florida, United States...
felt that it "pulls off a finale that's thoughtful without being preachy, tender without being sappy. Despite the tears, the show keeps its edge. And the way TV usually smears on the schmaltz, that's quite an achievement." Phil Kloer of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution is the only major daily newspaper in Atlanta, Georgia, United States, and its suburbs. The AJC, as it is called, is the flagship publication of Cox Enterprises. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution is the result of the merger between The Atlanta Journal and The Atlanta...
wrote "The episode does a good job of emphasizing the importance of studying without getting gooky. For all the talk about the anarchy of "The Simpsons," the show sometimes has smuggled in an occasional message, as it does again." In his book The Gospel According to the Simpsons, Mark I. Pinsky writes that "Bart Gets an F offers the most detailed portrayal of the dynamic of prayer on The Simpsons." Steve L. Case later included the episode in his book Toons That Teach, a list of 75 cartoons that help teach biblical lessons.
The episode was ranked 31st on Entertainment Weekly
Entertainment Weekly
Entertainment Weekly is an American magazine, published by the Time division of Time Warner, that covers film, television, music, broadway theatre, books and popular culture...
External links
- "Bart Gets an F" at The Simpsons.com
- "Bart 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...