Bart Gets an F

"Bart Gets an "F""
The Simpsons episode
The "Snow Day" sequence was one of the most difficult sequences David Silverman had to animate, as it featured multiple panoramic shots and was hard to time coherently.
Episode no.	14
Directed by	David Silverman
Written by	David M. Stern
Showrunner(s)	James L. Brooks Matt Groening Sam Simon
Production code	7F03
Original air date	October 11, 1990
Chalkboard gag	"I will not encourage others to fly".
Couch gag	The couch falls through the floor as Homer says "D'oh!"
Commentary	Matt Groening James L. Brooks Al Jean Mike Reiss David Silverman
Season 2 episodes October 11, 1990 – July 11, 1991 "Bart Gets an "F"" "Simpson and Delilah" "Treehouse of Horror" "Two Cars in Every Garage and Three Eyes on Every Fish" "Dancin' Homer" "Dead Putting Society" "Bart vs. Thanksgiving" "Bart the Daredevil" "Itchy & Scratchy & Marge" "Bart Gets Hit by a Car" "One Fish, Two Fish, Blowfish, Blue Fish" "The Way We Was" "Homer vs. Lisa and the 8th Commandment" "Principal Charming" "Oh Brother, Where Art Thou?" "Bart's Dog Gets an "F"" "Old Money" "Brush with Greatness" "Lisa's Substitute" "The War of the Simpsons" "Three Men and a Comic Book" "Blood Feud"
Seasons
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28

"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 attempts to get the resident class genius Martin Prince to help him, but after that backfires, Bart prays for help. That night, Springfield is hit with a massive blizzard and the school is closed, giving Bart another 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 second season, but it was chosen to be the season premiere because it prominently featured Bart.

Due to the success of the first season of The Simpsons, Fox 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 2017, it is still the highest rated episode in the history of The Simpsons.