Bart Star

Last updated

"Bart Star"
The Simpsons episode
Episode no.Season 9
Episode 6
Directed by Dominic Polcino
Written by Donick Cary
Production code5F03
Original air dateNovember 9, 1997 (1997-11-09)
Guest appearances
Episode features
Chalkboard gag "I did not invent Irish dancing"
Couch gag Everyone sits on the couch and is crushed into a cuboid block by a compactor. [1]
CommentaryMike Scully
George Meyer
Donick Cary
Nancy Cartwright
Dan Castellaneta
Dominic Polcino
Episode chronology
← Previous
"The Cartridge Family"		Next →
"The Two Mrs. Nahasapeemapetilons"
The Simpsons season 9
List of episodes

"Bart Star" is the sixth episode of the ninth season of the American animated television series The Simpsons . It originally aired on Fox in the United States on November 9, 1997. [2] Written by Donick Cary and directed by Dominic Polcino, the episode guest starred Joe Namath, Roy Firestone, and Mike Judge. [2] In the episode, Homer becomes the coach of a pee-wee football team and makes Bart the quarterback, to the displeasure of the rest of the team and Bart himself.

Contents

The episode was critically well received.

Plot

Following a health convention held in Springfield, the town's children, including Bart, are deemed to be overweight. To help them stay in shape, their parents enroll them in pee-wee football. The coach, Ned Flanders, keeps the team undefeated, but Homer heckles him relentlessly. Ned finally snaps and turns the job over to Homer, who then admits that Flanders was doing a good job.

Homer initially acts tough towards his son, but when he is reminded of how his father Abe was hard on him as a child, he decides to be nicer to Bart. The next day, he cuts many players from the team and replaces star quarterback Nelson with Bart. Bart is unable to play his position well and causes the team's first loss, earning him and Homer their ire. While training at night, Bart meets Joe Namath, who promises to help him but leaves without doing so.

Lisa suggests that Bart pretend he is injured to get out of quarterbacking, which he eagerly does, but Homer claims that without Bart the team must forfeit. This causes Bart to become angry and quit the team. For the next game, Nelson plays as quarterback again and the team wins, but Homer has nobody to celebrate with and becomes lonely. Afterward, Homer finds Bart and persuades him to rejoin the team in his old position. The next day, during the championship game, the score is tied when Chief Wiggum comes to arrest Nelson. Bart pretends he is Nelson and is arrested in his place, letting the team win the championship. [2]

After Bart has taken away, Namath informs the audience to get their cars checked for vapor lock. Namath is then smiling after his advice thinking that the show is ended when he realizes he still on the air, Namath drops his smile and the episode ends proper.

Production

Mike Judge voiced character Hank Hill in a cameo cross-promotion for his animated series King of the Hill. Mike Judge by Gage Skidmore.jpg
Mike Judge voiced character Hank Hill in a cameo cross-promotion for his animated series King of the Hill .

The episode was written by Donick Cary, who was inspired by his experience in high school with a football coach who had a son on the team. [3] Similarly, show runner Mike Scully had been on a soccer team whose coach would give his son special treatment. [4]

George Meyer obtained inspiration for a scene where Rainier Wolfcastle taunts the children from an experience he had with Arnold Schwarzenegger. He was following Schwarzenegger during a hike, and overheard him taunting his children. [5] Schwarzenegger's influence was seen in the same scene, as he was appointed to be the chairman of the President's Council on Physical Fitness and Sports, on which he served from 1990 to 1993. [6]

Throughout the episode, Homer dresses in homage to Dallas Cowboys player Tom Landry. Homer previously bought Landry's hat in "You Only Move Twice". The final scene took a long time to write, as the writing staff found it difficult to come up with a resolution that would end on positive terms for Bart and Homer. [4]

Casting

Joe Namath, Roy Firestone, and Mike Judge guest-starred in the episode. In a July 28, 1997, interview with USA Today , Mike Scully said that Namath's cameo was "an homage to all those '60s sitcoms where an athlete would drop in on the young kid (in this case, Bart) who's having problems and give him some great advice to help him out and say things like, 'Sure, sports is fun but school is great, too.'" [7]

Judge's appearance as Hank Hill was a cross-promotion for his animated series King of the Hill , which followed The Simpsons on Fox's 1997 Sunday schedule. Other King of the Hill characters (Hank's niece Luanne, Hank's wife Peggy, Hank's son Bobby, and Dale Gribble, Bill Dauterive, and Jeff Boomhauer) were present, where they watch Springfield's game against Arlen, where Hank exclaims "We drove 2000 miles for this?" after Arlen loses the game. [8] In the USA Today interview, Scully remarked that they only had brief cameos since "I don't want to oversell it, because I don't want Mike Judge to think I'm exploiting him." [7] Scully added in a separate July 1997 interview with the Orlando Sentinel that there was no rivalry between the two shows, stating "we're friends with a lot of people over there. The two shows have helped each other out a lot." [9] Although "Bart Star" portrayed King of the Hill characters existing in the Simpsons' universe, the Simpsons only exist as fictional characters in King of the Hill, according to its producer Greg Daniels (a former Simpsons writer). [7]

Marv Albert was originally going to play Firestone's part as a sports radio host, but was dropped following sexual assault charges against him made around when the episode was in pre-production. [4] Albert would later appear, however, in the season 20 episode "The Burns and the Bees". [10]

Reception

In its original broadcast, "Bart Star" finished 27th in ratings for the week of November 3–9, 1997, with a Nielsen rating of 10.8, equivalent to approximately 10.6 million viewing households. It was the third-highest-rated show on the Fox network that week, following The X-Files and King of the Hill . [11]

Since airing, the episode has received positive reviews from critics. Warren Martyn and Adrian Wood, the authors of the book I Can't Believe It's a Bigger and Better Updated Unofficial Simpsons Guide, called the episode "fun" and said "Homer is just too stupid for words, but that's excusable because we finally see Ned Flanders lose it, big time!" [1] In 2011, Keith Plocek of LA Weekly 's Squid Ink blog named the scene in which Homer tries to purchase beer that has candy floating in it at the Kwik-E-Mart as the fourth best food moment on the show. [12]

The director of "Bart Star", Dominic Polcino, calls it his favorite of the episodes he directed. [13]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ned Flanders</span> Fictional character from The Simpsons franchise

Nedward "Ned" Flanders Jr., commonly referred to by his surname, is a fictional character in the animated television series The Simpsons, voiced by Harry Shearer and first appearing in the series premiere episode "Simpsons Roasting on an Open Fire." He is the good-natured, cheery next-door neighbor to the Simpson family and is generally loathed by Homer Simpson, though there are numerous instances where the two are portrayed as good friends. A scrupulous and devout Evangelical Christian, he is among the friendliest and most compassionate of Springfield's residents and is generally considered a pillar of the Springfield community.

"Lisa's Rival" is the second episode of the sixth season of the American animated television series The Simpsons. It originally aired on Fox in the United States on September 11, 1994. Winona Ryder guest stars as Allison Taylor, a new student at Springfield Elementary School. Lisa Simpson begins to feel threatened by Allison because she is smarter, younger, and a better saxophone player. The episode's subplot sees Homer steal a large pile of sugar from a crashed truck and sell it door-to-door. This episode was originally going to air as part of Season 5 but aired as a season six episode due to 1994 Northridge earthquake.

<i>The Itchy & Scratchy Show</i> Fictional animated series on The Simpsons

The Itchy & Scratchy Show is a fictional animated series featured on The Simpsons. The cartoon depicts a sadistic mouse named Itchy who repeatedly maims or murders a black cat named Scratchy. It is typically presented as 15- to 60-second sketches that are a part of The Krusty the Clown Show. Itchy & Scratchy is filled with graphic violence, unsuitable for children, that almost invariably prompts laughter from The Simpsons characters, especially Bart and Lisa.

"Worst Episode Ever" is the eleventh episode of the twelfth season of the American animated television series The Simpsons. It first aired on the Fox network in the United States on February 4, 2001. In the episode, Bart and Milhouse are banned from The Android's Dungeon after stopping Comic Book Guy from buying a box of priceless Star Wars memorabilia for $5. However, when Comic Book Guy suffers a massive heart attack, he hires Bart and Milhouse as his replacements while he leaves his job to pursue a relationship with Agnes Skinner.

"Marge Be Not Proud" is the eleventh episode of the seventh season of the American animated television series The Simpsons. It originally aired on Fox in the United States on December 17, 1995, exactly six years after the series premiere episode "Simpsons Roasting on an Open Fire". In the episode, Marge refuses to buy Bart the new video game Bonestorm, so he steals it from a local discount store. Bart is estranged from his mother after he gets caught, so he works to regain her love and trust.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Treehouse of Horror IX</span> 4th episode of the 10th season of The Simpsons

"Treehouse of Horror IX" is the fourth episode of the tenth season of the American animated television series The Simpsons. It first aired on Fox in the United States on October 25, 1998. This is the ninth Treehouse of Horror episode, and, like the other "Treehouse of Horror" episodes, contains three self-contained segments: In "Hell Toupée", Homer gets a hair transplant and is possessed by the spirit of an executed criminal; in "Terror of Tiny Toon", Bart and Lisa are trapped in a special, extremely violent episode of The Itchy & Scratchy Show; and in "Starship Poopers", Marge reveals that Maggie is the product of a one-night stand with the alien Kang.

"Treehouse of Horror X" is the fourth episode of the eleventh season of the American animated television series The Simpsons, and the tenth annual Treehouse of Horror episode, consisting of three self-contained segments. It first aired on the Fox network in the United States on Halloween 1999. In "I Know What You Diddily-Iddily-Did", the Simpsons cover up a murder and are haunted by an unseen witness. In "Desperately Xeeking Xena", Lisa and Bart gain superpowers and must rescue Xena star Lucy Lawless from the Comic Book Guy's alter ego The Collector, and in "Life's a Glitch, Then You Die", Homer causes worldwide destruction thanks to the Y2K bug.

"The Great Money Caper" is the seventh episode of the twelfth season of the American animated television series The Simpsons. It first aired on the Fox network in the United States on December 10, 2000. In the episode, Homer, along with his son Bart, con people out of their money in order to pay for Homer's broken car. However, after having paid for the repairs, the two decide to continue grifting, which leads to some troublesome situations.

"Children of a Lesser Clod" is the twentieth and penultimate episode of the twelfth season of the American animated television series The Simpsons. It first aired on the Fox network in the United States on May 13, 2001. In the episode, after spraining his knee during a basketball game, Homer begins taking care of the neighborhood kids to cure his boredom, prompting jealousy from Bart and Lisa, who feel that Homer is giving the kids the attention they never had.

"Lard of the Dance" is the first episode of the tenth season of the American animated television series The Simpsons. It originally aired on Fox in the United States on August 23, 1998. Homer discovers he can make money by stealing and reselling grease, but eventually stops after negative encounters with Groundskeeper Willie and the Springfield Grease Company. Meanwhile, Lisa becomes jealous that a new student is distracting all her friends by using her fashionable personality. The episode was written by Jane O'Brien and directed by Dominic Polcino.

"Simpsons Bible Stories" is the eighteenth episode of the tenth season of the American animated television series The Simpsons. It first aired on Fox in the United States on Easter Sunday, April 4, 1999. It is the first of The Simpsons' now annual trilogy episodes, and consists of four self-contained segments. In the episode, the Simpson family falls asleep during a sermon in church. Marge dreams that she and Homer are Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, Lisa dreams that she and her fellow Springfield Elementary School students are Hebrew slaves in Ancient Egypt and guides Moses to lead them to freedom, Homer dreams that he is King Solomon called to resolve a dispute between Lenny and Carl over the ownership of a pie, and Bart dreams he is King David, who has to fight Goliath's son, Goliath II.

"Maximum Homerdrive" is the seventeenth episode of the tenth season of the American animated television series The Simpsons. It first aired on Fox in the United States on March 28, 1999.

"Thirty Minutes over Tokyo" is the twenty-third and final episode of the tenth season of the American animated television series The Simpsons. It first aired on Fox in the United States on May 16, 1999. In the episode, after being robbed by Snake Jailbird, the Simpsons visit a money-saving seminar, where they learn ways to limit their expenses. Soon, the family can afford a cheap last-minute flight to another country, the only disadvantage being that they do not know where their plane tickets will bring them, which leads them to spend their vacation in Japan.

"The Mansion Family" is the twelfth episode of the eleventh season of the American animated television series The Simpsons. It originally aired on the Fox network in the United States on January 23, 2000, and was watched in around 11.3 million homes during the broadcast. In the episode, Mr. Burns goes to the Mayo Clinic for a check-up after being declared the oldest man in Springfield at an awards ceremony. He leaves the Simpson family to house-sit his mansion for him. When Homer throws a party on Burns' private yacht in international waters, the party goers are captured by Chinese pirates.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The Cartridge Family</span> 5th episode of the 9th season of The Simpsons

"The Cartridge Family" is the fifth episode of the ninth season of the American animated television series The Simpsons. It originally aired on Fox in the United States on November 2, 1997. It was written by John Swartzwelder and directed by Pete Michels. In the episode, Homer purchases a gun to protect his family, of which Marge disapproves. Homer begins to show extremely careless gun usage, which causes Marge to leave him when she catches Bart using the gun without their permission. The episode was intended to portray guns in an unbiased manner, and faced some problems with censors because of the subject matter. Critical reaction was mostly positive.

"Lisa's Sax" is the third episode of the ninth season of the American animated television series The Simpsons. It originally aired on Fox in the United States on October 19, 1997, to overwhelmingly positive reviews. In the series' sixth flashback episode, it is explained how Lisa got her saxophone. The episode was executive produced by Al Jean and Mike Reiss and was the first episode Jean wrote by himself, as all of his previous writing credits had been shared with Reiss. It was directed by Dominic Polcino and guest starred Fyvush Finkel, who appeared as himself portraying Krusty in a film.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The Canine Mutiny</span> 20th episode of the 8th season of The Simpsons

"The Canine Mutiny" is the twentieth episode of the eighth season of the American animated television series The Simpsons. It originally aired on the Fox network in the United States on April 13, 1997. It was written by Ron Hauge and directed by Dominic Polcino. Bart fraudulently applies for a credit card and uses it to buy an expensive trained dog called Laddie. It guest stars voice actor Frank Welker as Laddie, a parody of Lassie. The episode's title references the novel The Caine Mutiny.

"The Last Temptation of Krust" is the fifteenth episode of the ninth season of the American animated television series The Simpsons. It first aired on Fox in the United States on February 22, 1998. It was written by Donick Cary and directed by Mike B. Anderson. Comedian Jay Leno makes a guest appearance. In the episode, Bart convinces Krusty the Clown to appear at a comedy festival organized by Jay Leno, but Krusty's old material does not go over well with the audience and he receives bad reviews. He briefly retires from comedy but returns with a new, better-received gimmick. He soon returns to his old ways, selling out to a motor-vehicle company.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dumbbell Indemnity</span> 16th episode of the 9th season of The Simpsons

"Dumbbell Indemnity" is the sixteenth episode of the ninth season of the American animated television series The Simpsons. It originally aired on Fox in the United States on March 1, 1998. It was written by Ron Hauge and directed by Dominic Polcino. The episode sees Moe trying to keep his new girlfriend by using a large amount of money, but when it runs out, he decides to commit insurance fraud. Homer helps him, but is caught and sent to jail, and attempts to take revenge on Moe when he does not bail him out. Helen Hunt makes a guest appearance as Moe's girlfriend, Renee. The episode contains several cultural references and was generally well received.

"Team Homer" is the twelfth episode of the seventh season of the American animated television series The Simpsons. It originally aired on Fox in the United States on January 7, 1996. In the episode, Homer starts a bowling team with Moe, Apu, and Otto. When Mr. Burns discovers the team was funded with his money, he insists on joining, but the team fears he will cost them the league championship. In the subplot, Bart's "Down with Homework" T-shirt incites a school riot, so Principal Skinner implements a uniform dress code.

References

  1. 1 2 Martyn, Warren; Wood, Adrian (2000). "Bart Star". BBC . Retrieved November 11, 2007.
  2. 1 2 3 Gimple, Scott (1999). The Simpsons Forever!: A Complete Guide to Our Favorite Family ...Continued . Harper Collins Publishers. p.  17. ISBN   0-06-098763-4.
  3. ↑ Cary, Donick (2006). The Simpsons season 9 DVD commentary for the episode "Bart Star" (DVD). 20th Century Fox.
  4. 1 2 3 Scully, Mike (2006). The Simpsons season 9 DVD commentary for the episode "Bart Star" (DVD). 20th Century Fox.
  5. ↑ Meyer, George (2006). The Simpsons season 9 DVD commentary for the episode "Bart Star" (DVD). 20th Century Fox.
  6. ↑ Castellaneta, Dan (2006). The Simpsons season 9 DVD commentary for the episode "Bart Star" (DVD). 20th Century Fox.
  7. 1 2 3 USA Today , July 28, 1997 .
  8. ↑ Cartwright, Nancy (2006). The Simpsons season 9 DVD commentary for the episode "Bart Star" (DVD). 20th Century Fox.
  9. ↑ The Orlando Sentinel , July 30, 1997 .
  10. ↑ "Sports Figures on The Simpsons". Sports Illustrated . CNN. July 19, 2013. Retrieved January 23, 2022.
  11. ↑ "CBS soars to top on 'angel' wings". Sun-Sentinel. Associated Press. November 13, 1997. p. 4E.
  12. ↑ Plocek, Keith (November 11, 2011). "Top 10 Simpsons Food Episodes: Tomacco Ribwich with a Side of Guatemalan Insanity Peppers + Skittlebrau". Squid Ink. LA Weekly. Archived from the original on November 13, 2011. Retrieved January 23, 2022.
  13. ↑ Polcino, Dominic (2006). The Simpsons season 9 DVD commentary for the episode "Bart Star" (DVD). 20th Century Fox.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.