The Old Man and the "C" Student

Infobox Simpsons episode
episode_name = The Old Man and the 'C' Student


image_caption=The senior citizens greet Bart.
episode_no = 223
prod_code = AABF16
airdate = April 25, 1999
show runner = Mike Scully
writer =
Julie Thacker
director =
Mark Kirkland
blackboard = "Loose teeth don't need my help."
couch_gag = The living room becomes a movie theater, with many secondary characters sitting in rows of seats. The Simpsons shuffle their way to the couch, muttering, “Excuse me” and “Pardon me”. When the family is finally seated, Homer steals some popcorn from The Comic Book Guy.
guest_star =
Jack LaLanne as himself
commentary = Matt Groening
Mike Scully
George Meyer
Julie Thacker
Ron Hauge
Nancy Cartwright
Mark Kirkland
season = 10

"The Old Man and the 'C' Student" is the twentieth episode of "The Simpsons"' tenth season. The episode aired on April 25, 1999, and is the first episode written by Julie Thacker (wife of showrunner Mike Scully).

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Plot

When Lisa writes a letter to the International Olympic Committee, they decide that Springfield will be home to the next Olympics. To honor the Olympics, there is a contest for the games' mascot. Homer creates a mascot for the Olympic Games named Springy, the Springfield Spring, which becomes the mascot (much to Patty and Selma's dismay) and everyone in Springfield prepares for the games. When the IOC inspects the town, things go well until Bart does a racist comedy routine that insults foreign nations. Only Principal Skinner, Homer, and the children laugh at Bart's jokes. In response, the IOC decides not to let Springfield have the Olympics (they award it to Shelbyville), and Superintendent Chalmers blames Skinner for putting Bart on stage. Skinner initially keeps his case strong by telling Chalmers that the comedy worked well during rehearsal, but to prevent losing his job, he makes every one of the school's students do 20 hours of community service. Bart is assigned to work at the Springfield Retirement Castle, where Lisa also works.

Meanwhile, Homer gets 1,000 springs he intended to sell as Olympic mascots. He uses various get-rich-quick schemes to sell off the mascots, but fails miserably due to hatred toward Bart for costing the town the Olympics. At the time Lisa leads the seniors in "imagination time", Bart makes the seniors experience the fountain of youth when she comes by. Bart takes the seniors on a trip on the town and on a boat ride, and Lisa is initially shocked to see these things happen, but nevertheless, she is quite impressed by what Bart does for the seniors. The seniors have fun until their boat crashes into Mr. Burns's yacht. The boat begins to sink, until the springs that Homer flushed down the toilet save them. Bart finishes his community service time, and everyone on the boat is saved.

Cultural references

*The way in which the Olympics council woman from Argentina's proposition to host the Olympics in Buenos Aires is ignored is a reference to how Argentina has never been considered to host the Olympics (atlthough it came very close to hosting in 1956, losing by one vote to Melbourne).
*The way Bart drops his microphone at the end of his stand-up comedy act is reminiscent of Chris Rock's stand-up comedy.
*There are many instances which parody the 1975 movie "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest":
**A Native American character, Chief, smashes a window to escape using a heavy object which was part of a water dispenser (even though the door was open).
**Bart takes the members of the old folks home out on a boat trip as a break from their tedious routine.
**The old folks home has a "medication time".
**The primary nurse in the old folks home resembles the character Nurse Ratched from said film.

*This is one of three title puns on "The Old Man and the Sea"; the two other are "The Old Man and the Lisa" and "The Old Man and the Key".

*Aboard the Gone Fission II, Smithers is seen drawing Mr. Burns nude, reclining on a chaise lounge, but Burns is seen dressed. This is a parody of the scene in "Titanic" where Jack Dawson draws Rose DeWitt Bukater nude. The boat also splits apart and sinks in a way similar to the "Titanic".

*Jasper blathers senescently, "You sunk my battleship" while playing Bingo.

*The seniors at the retirement castle watch a seniors-edited (and redubbed) version of "Gone with the Wind". The movie was almost sixty years old when this episode aired. The film's most famous line is also shown edited. It commences "frankly my dear", followed by a voice over saying "I love you, let's remarry."

*The scene where Bart frees the seniors and they "frolic" outside of the home is a parody of The Beatles' movie "A Hard Day's Night". The song playing during this scene is a cover of "Can't Buy Me Love", the original version of which actually appeared in the film (during the scene that was parodied) and its soundtrack album during the closing credits (the album is retitled "A Bart Day's Night" with the four squares featuring headshots of the Simpsons, but Maggie). The following episode's title was a pun on the refrain "money can't buy me love". The commentary reveals this version is covered by NRBQ.

*"The father of fitness" Jack LaLanne, who at the time this episode first aired was 85 years old, attempts to save the day by pulling the boat to safety.

*When Kent Brockman announces the Olympic mascot contest, he says that the winning mascot will join the ranks of such memorable characters as the Atlanta Whatzit and the Montreal vampire. The mascot of the 1996 Olympic Summer Games in Atlanta was called Izzy. It was an amorphous abstract fantasy figure, the first mascot to be designed by computer. It carried the name Izzy, derived from "What is he?" because no one seemed to know exactly what Izzy really was. The mascot for the 1976 Summer Olympics in Montreal was actually Amik the beaver.

*Ciggy, Patty and Selma's mascot made of cigarettes resembles Ciao, the mascot of the 1990 FIFA World Cup in Italy.

External links

*snpp capsule|AABF16
*imdb episode|id=0701251|episode=The Old Man and the "C" Student