Bart Gets a 'Z'
Encyclopedia
"Bart Gets a 'Z'" is the second episode of The Simpsons
' twenty-first season
. It originally aired on the Fox Broadcasting Company
in the United States on October 4, 2009.
In the episode, the fourth grade
students of Springfield Elementary School decide to spike Ms. Krabappel
's coffee in order to teach her a lesson after she takes away their cell phones. She is fired by Principal Skinner
, who hires a new teacher named Zachary Vaughn. Although Vaughn is a hip young teacher who impresses the students, Bart is plagued by guilt and tries to get Ms. Krabappel hired back.
In its original airing, the episode had an estimated 9.32 million viewers and received a Nielsen rating of 5.1/8. The episode was written by Matt Selman
, and directed by Mark Kirkland
.
's positive attitude is crushed when she sees her students distracted from class by their cell phones, so she takes the devices away and puts them on the drawer with the biology frogs. This angers Bart
and the other children, and they decide Mrs. Krabappel needs to "chill out". Bart notices that Homer
is goofy and easy-going once he has had a few beer
s, so the students decide to spike Mrs. Krabappel's coffee with liquor they steal from their parents. The next day, once she has consumed a mug of heavily-spiked coffee (with sly encouragement from the kids), Mrs. Krabappel is quickly intoxicated. After a day of dangerous and drunken acts including singing a loud, off-key, incoherent version of "This Old Man
" with her students, Principal Skinner
is forced to fire her, although reluctantly, even giving her his hankey when she starts crying.
Principal Skinner replaces her with a hip recent graduate of Tufts University
named Zachary Vaughn. The students are immediately impressed with Zack, as he returns their cell phones and instructs them to use their electronic devices for classwork; his first assignment to them is “Twenty minutes of Twitter
ing”. Bart raves to his mother about how much fun it is to have Zack as a teacher, but Marge
worries about Mrs. Krabappel's well-being, and Lisa
doubts Zack's ability to teach. Bart goes to visit Mrs. Krabappel and is stricken with guilt when he sees her moping in front of the television. Bart and Milhouse
meet at a bookstore (where Moe
is revealed to be a fan of Doris Kearns Goodwin
) and decide to get Mrs. Krabappel rehired. They buy a self-help book entitled "The Answer" (a spoof of "The Secret
"), which professes to have all the answers to help someone achieve their dreams. Mrs. Krabappel is initially skeptical, but reveals her dream is to open a muffin shop. Some time in the future, she does open a muffin
shop and becomes very successful, even though Bart handed Ned Flanders
, the shop's first customer, a banana
instead of his cranberry
-bran
muffin order. As Ned leaves, Bart inadvertently confesses that he had the idea to spike her coffee with alcohol and therefore is responsible for getting her fired. Mrs. Krabappel is furious and tells him that her real dream was to be a teacher, and concludes that Bart is the only kid she has ever met who is "bad on the inside."
Bart is deeply troubled by Mrs. Krabappel's statement, and decides to get her old job back by spiking Zack's "Blue Bronco
" energy drink, but instead decides to tell Principal Skinner the truth and face punishment. Principal Skinner is pleased that Bart was honest and agrees to punish him for it, but tells him he cannot just rehire Mrs. Krabappel when Zack is doing a good job in her place. Skinner is about to give Bart a severe punishment for his actions against Mrs. Krabappel, but their conversation is suddenly disrupted by a belligerently drunk Zack — who ironically secretly mixes vodka
in his own drink — who mocks the schoolchildren and tells them they have no future because their education will not help them achieve real things in life. Groundskeeper Willie
drags Zack away with the remark "It's always the good ones who go crazy first," and Mrs. Krabappel is reinstated. Bart hopes that there will be no hard feelings between Mrs. Krabappel and himself. She responds by making every student in the class eat a very stale muffin, as part of her "muffin-based revenge," as the end credits style of text mimics that of The Secret
.
, and directed by Mark Kirkland
, marking the pair's writing and directorial debuts for the season.
". The song heard with Edna in the morning is a Paul McCartney
song titled "Another Day
". The store Mrs. Krabappel opens is called "Edna's Edibles", a reference to the store that Mrs. Garrett owned on the TV Show The Facts of Life
. The unfunny comedy film Edna is watching when Bart comes by to see how she's doing closely resembles the 1986 Rodney Dangerfield hit Back to School.
Robert Canning of IGN
gave the episode a 6.9/10 and also stated the episode was "...neither hilarious nor incredibly terrible. It's middle of the road, but has just enough going for it that a fan will enjoy the episode." Todd VanDer Werff of The A.V. Club
gave the episode a C- and also stated "So I liked the Krabappel and Bart stuff, but everything else was pretty bad.".
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 21)
The Simpsons twenty-first season aired on Fox from September 27, 2009 to May 23, 2010. It was the first of two seasons that the show was renewed for by Fox, and also the first season of the show to air entirely in high definition....
. It originally aired on the Fox Broadcasting Company
Fox 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...
in the United States on October 4, 2009.
In the episode, the fourth grade
Fourth grade
Fourth grade is a year of education in the United States and many other nations. The fourth grade is the fourth school year after kindergarten. Students are usually 9 or 10 years old, depending on their birthday. It is a part of elementary school. In some parts of the United States, fourth grade...
students of Springfield Elementary School decide to spike Ms. 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 :...
's coffee in order to teach her a lesson after she takes away their cell phones. She is fired by Principal Skinner
Seymour Skinner
Principal W. Seymour Skinner is a fictional character in the American animated sitcom The Simpsons. He is voiced by Harry Shearer. Born in Capitol City, he is the principal of Springfield Elementary School...
, who hires a new teacher named Zachary Vaughn. Although Vaughn is a hip young teacher who impresses the students, Bart is plagued by guilt and tries to get Ms. Krabappel hired back.
In its original airing, the episode had an estimated 9.32 million viewers and received a Nielsen rating of 5.1/8. The episode was written by Matt Selman
Matt Selman
Matthew "Matt" Selman is an American writer and producer. Selman grew up in Massachusetts, attended the University of Pennsylvania and was editor-in-chief of student magazine 34th Street Magazine. After considering a career in journalism, he decided to try and became a television writer...
, and directed by Mark Kirkland
Mark Kirkland
Mark Kirkland is an American director. He has directed 69 episodes, from 1990-present, of The Simpsons, more than any other person.-Career:...
.
Plot
Mrs. KrabappelEdna 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 :...
's positive attitude is crushed when she sees her students distracted from class by their cell phones, so she takes the devices away and puts them on the drawer with the biology frogs. This angers 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...
and the other children, and they decide Mrs. Krabappel needs to "chill out". Bart notices that 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...
is goofy and easy-going once he has had a few beer
Beer
Beer is the world's most widely consumed andprobably oldest alcoholic beverage; it is the third most popular drink overall, after water and tea. It is produced by the brewing and fermentation of sugars, mainly derived from malted cereal grains, most commonly malted barley and malted wheat...
s, so the students decide to spike Mrs. Krabappel's coffee with liquor they steal from their parents. The next day, once she has consumed a mug of heavily-spiked coffee (with sly encouragement from the kids), Mrs. Krabappel is quickly intoxicated. After a day of dangerous and drunken acts including singing a loud, off-key, incoherent version of "This Old Man
This Old Man
"This Old Man" is an English language children's song, counting and nursery rhyme with a Roud Folk Song Index number of 3550.-Origins and history:The origins of this song are obscure...
" with her students, Principal Skinner
Seymour Skinner
Principal W. Seymour Skinner is a fictional character in the American animated sitcom The Simpsons. He is voiced by Harry Shearer. Born in Capitol City, he is the principal of Springfield Elementary School...
is forced to fire her, although reluctantly, even giving her his hankey when she starts crying.
Principal Skinner replaces her with a hip recent graduate of Tufts University
Tufts University
Tufts University is a private research university located in Medford/Somerville, near Boston, Massachusetts. It is organized into ten schools, including two undergraduate programs and eight graduate divisions, on four campuses in Massachusetts and on the eastern border of France...
named Zachary Vaughn. The students are immediately impressed with Zack, as he returns their cell phones and instructs them to use their electronic devices for classwork; his first assignment to them is “Twenty minutes of Twitter
Twitter
Twitter is an online social networking and microblogging service that enables its users to send and read text-based posts of up to 140 characters, informally known as "tweets".Twitter was created in March 2006 by Jack Dorsey and launched that July...
ing”. Bart raves to his mother about how much fun it is to have Zack as a teacher, but 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...
worries about Mrs. Krabappel's well-being, and 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...
doubts Zack's ability to teach. Bart goes to visit Mrs. Krabappel and is stricken with guilt when he sees her moping in front of the television. Bart and 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....
meet at a bookstore (where Moe
Moe Szyslak
Momar / Morris "Moe" Szyslak is a fictional character in the American animated television series, The Simpsons. He is voiced by Hank Azaria and first appeared in the series premiere episode "Simpsons Roasting on an Open Fire"...
is revealed to be a fan of Doris Kearns Goodwin
Doris Kearns Goodwin
Doris Kearns Goodwin is a Pulitzer Prize-winning American biographer and historian, and an oft-seen political commentator. She is the author of biographies of several U.S...
) and decide to get Mrs. Krabappel rehired. They buy a self-help book entitled "The Answer" (a spoof of "The Secret
The Secret (book)
The Secret is a best-selling 2006 self-help book written by Rhonda Byrne. It is based on the earlier film of the same name that was released in DVD format in March 2006...
"), which professes to have all the answers to help someone achieve their dreams. Mrs. Krabappel is initially skeptical, but reveals her dream is to open a muffin shop. Some time in the future, she does open a muffin
Muffin
A muffin is an American English name for a type of quick bread that is baked in small portions. Many forms are somewhat like small cakes or cupcakes in shape, although they usually are not as sweet as cupcakes and generally lack frosting. Savory varieties, such as cornbread muffins, also exist...
shop and becomes very successful, even though Bart handed 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...
, the shop's first customer, a banana
Banana
Banana is the common name for herbaceous plants of the genus Musa and for the fruit they produce. Bananas come in a variety of sizes and colors when ripe, including yellow, purple, and red....
instead of his cranberry
Cranberry
Cranberries are a group of evergreen dwarf shrubs or trailing vines in the subgenus Oxycoccus of the genus Vaccinium. In some methods of classification, Oxycoccus is regarded as a genus in its own right...
-bran
Bran
Bran is the hard outer layer of grain and consists of combined aleurone and pericarp. Along with germ, it is an integral part of whole grains, and is often produced as a by-product of milling in the production of refined grains. When bran is removed from grains, the grains lose a portion of their...
muffin order. As Ned leaves, Bart inadvertently confesses that he had the idea to spike her coffee with alcohol and therefore is responsible for getting her fired. Mrs. Krabappel is furious and tells him that her real dream was to be a teacher, and concludes that Bart is the only kid she has ever met who is "bad on the inside."
Bart is deeply troubled by Mrs. Krabappel's statement, and decides to get her old job back by spiking Zack's "Blue Bronco
Red Bull
Red Bull is an energy drink sold by the Austrian Red Bull GmbH, created in 1987 by the Austrian entrepreneur Dietrich Mateschitz. In terms of market share, Red Bull is the most popular energy drink in the world, with 3 billion cans sold each year. Dietrich Mateschitz was inspired by an already...
" energy drink, but instead decides to tell Principal Skinner the truth and face punishment. Principal Skinner is pleased that Bart was honest and agrees to punish him for it, but tells him he cannot just rehire Mrs. Krabappel when Zack is doing a good job in her place. Skinner is about to give Bart a severe punishment for his actions against Mrs. Krabappel, but their conversation is suddenly disrupted by a belligerently drunk Zack — who ironically secretly mixes vodka
Vodka
Vodka , is a distilled beverage. It is composed primarily of water and ethanol with traces of impurities and flavorings. Vodka is made by the distillation of fermented substances such as grains, potatoes, or sometimes fruits....
in his own drink — who mocks the schoolchildren and tells them they have no future because their education will not help them achieve real things in life. Groundskeeper Willie
Groundskeeper Willie
William McDougal, usually referred to as Groundskeeper Willie, is a recurring character on The Simpsons, voiced by Dan Castellaneta. He is head groundskeeper at Springfield Elementary School. Willie is a Scottish immigrant, almost feral in nature and immensely proud of his homeland...
drags Zack away with the remark "It's always the good ones who go crazy first," and Mrs. Krabappel is reinstated. Bart hopes that there will be no hard feelings between Mrs. Krabappel and himself. She responds by making every student in the class eat a very stale muffin, as part of her "muffin-based revenge," as the end credits style of text mimics that of The Secret
The Secret (book)
The Secret is a best-selling 2006 self-help book written by Rhonda Byrne. It is based on the earlier film of the same name that was released in DVD format in March 2006...
.
Production
The episode was written by Matt SelmanMatt Selman
Matthew "Matt" Selman is an American writer and producer. Selman grew up in Massachusetts, attended the University of Pennsylvania and was editor-in-chief of student magazine 34th Street Magazine. After considering a career in journalism, he decided to try and became a television writer...
, and directed by Mark Kirkland
Mark Kirkland
Mark Kirkland is an American director. He has directed 69 episodes, from 1990-present, of The Simpsons, more than any other person.-Career:...
, marking the pair's writing and directorial debuts for the season.
Cultural references
The novel Bart reads called "The Answer" is a parody of film and book, "The SecretThe Secret (book)
The Secret is a best-selling 2006 self-help book written by Rhonda Byrne. It is based on the earlier film of the same name that was released in DVD format in March 2006...
". The song heard with Edna in the morning is a Paul McCartney
Paul McCartney
Sir James Paul McCartney, MBE, Hon RAM, FRCM is an English musician, singer-songwriter and composer. Formerly of The Beatles and Wings , McCartney is listed in Guinness World Records as the "most successful musician and composer in popular music history", with 60 gold discs and sales of 100...
song titled "Another Day
Another Day (Paul McCartney song)
"Another Day" is a song recorded by Paul McCartney in New York in 1970, during the sessions for his album Ram. Although it was the first single of McCartney's solo career, "Another Day" was actually written and previewed during The Beatles' Let It Be Sessions in 1969. It was officially released on...
". The store Mrs. Krabappel opens is called "Edna's Edibles", a reference to the store that Mrs. Garrett owned on the TV Show The Facts of Life
The Facts of Life (TV series)
The Facts of Life is an American sitcom that originally ran on the NBC television network from August 24, 1979 to May 7, 1988. A spin-off of the sitcom Diff'rent Strokes, the series' premise focused on Edna Garrett as she becomes a housemother at the fictional Eastland School, a prestigious...
. The unfunny comedy film Edna is watching when Bart comes by to see how she's doing closely resembles the 1986 Rodney Dangerfield hit Back to School.
Reception
In its original airing, the episode had an estimated 9.32 million viewers and received a Nielsen rating of 5.1/8, which was an improvement over the last episode, but came fourth in its timeslot.Robert Canning of IGN
IGN
IGN is an entertainment website that focuses on video games, films, music and other media. IGN's main website comprises several specialty sites or "channels", each occupying a subdomain and covering a specific area of entertainment...
gave the episode a 6.9/10 and also stated the episode was "...neither hilarious nor incredibly terrible. It's middle of the road, but has just enough going for it that a fan will enjoy the episode." Todd VanDer Werff of The A.V. Club
The A.V. Club
The A.V. Club is an entertainment newspaper and website published by The Onion. Its features include reviews of new films, music, television, books, games and DVDs, as well as interviews and other regular offerings examining both new and classic media and other elements of pop culture. Unlike its...
gave the episode a C- and also stated "So I liked the Krabappel and Bart stuff, but everything else was pretty bad.".