{{About|the episode of ''The Simpsons''|the episode of ''Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends''|List of Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends episodes}} {{Use mdy dates|date=September 2023}} {{Use American English|date=October 2020}}{{Good article}} {{Infobox Simpsons episode | image = | caption = | season = 12 | episode = 16 | director = [[Lauren MacMullan]] | writer = * [[John Frink]] * [[Don Payne (writer)|Don Payne]] | production = CABF11 | airdate = {{Start date|2001|03|11}} | guests = * [[Kathy Griffin]] as Francine * [[Jan Hooks]] as [[Manjula Nahasapeemapetilon]] | blackboard = "I will not scare the vice president" | couch_gag = The family enters the living room in [[bumper cars]]. [[Marge Simpson|Marge]] and [[Maggie Simpson|Maggie]] bump [[Homer Simpson|Homer]], then [[Bart Simpson|Bart]] and [[Lisa Simpson|Lisa]] slam Homer repeatedly against the wall. | commentary = [[Mike Scully]]<br>[[Ian Maxtone-Graham]]<br>[[Don Payne (writer)|Don Payne]]<br>[[Matt Selman]]<br>[[Tim Long]]<br>[[Tom Gammill and Max Pross|Tom Gammill]]<br>[[Yeardley Smith]]<br>[[Lauren MacMullan]]<br>[[Steven Dean Moore]] | prev = [[Hungry, Hungry Homer]] | next = [[Simpson Safari]] }} "'''Bye Bye Nerdie'''" is the sixteenth episode of the [[The Simpsons season 12|twelfth season]] of the American animated television series ''[[The Simpsons]]''. It originally aired on the [[Fox Broadcasting Company|Fox network]] in the United States on March 11, 2001. In the episode, after [[Lisa Simpson|Lisa]] becomes the target of a female bully named Francine, she discovers a scientific reason as to why bullies pick on nerds and demonstrates her findings at a science conference. Meanwhile, [[Homer Simpson|Homer]] goes into the [[childproofing]] business, causing baby-injury-related businesses to go in decline.
[[John Frink]] and [[Don Payne (writer)|Don Payne]] wrote "Bye Bye Nerdie" and their original idea for the episode saw Lisa being sent to [[juvenile hall]] after accidentally punching [[Principal Skinner]] when she was attempting to punch Francine. "Bye Bye Nerdie" was the first ''The Simpsons'' episode directed by [[Lauren MacMullan]], who also made the design for Francine. Actress and comedian [[Kathy Griffin]] guest starred in the episode as this new bully character.
"Bye Bye Nerdie" has received generally positive reviews from critics and it was listed among "The Top Ten science moments in ''The Simpsons''" by the editorial staff of ''[[Nature (journal)|Nature]]''. Around 8.8 million American homes tuned in to watch the episode during its original airing, and in 2009 it was released on DVD along with the rest of the episodes of the twelfth season.
==Plot== On an ordinary day at [[Springfield Elementary School|Springfield Elementary]], [[Lisa Simpson|Lisa]] attempts to make friends with a new girl, Francine, but Francine, who is much larger and tougher than Lisa, punches Lisa in the face, giving her a severe [[black eye]]. Even attempting to share an interest in [[List of fictional characters within The Simpsons#Malibu Stacy|Malibu Stacy]] does not work since the doll that Francine has turns out to be Lisa's, which she then ruins. Lisa attempts to hire the school bullies ([[Nelson Muntz|Nelson]] and his friends [[Jimbo Jones|Jimbo]], [[Dolph Starbeam|Dolph]], and [[Kearney Zzyzwicz|Kearney]]) to protect her, but they decline since girls fight dirtier than boys and boys tend to be more vulnerable to falling in love. It is up to Lisa to investigate by herself the reason why Francine is targeting her and the nerds.
Meanwhile, [[Homer Simpson|Homer]] starts to fear that [[Maggie Simpson|Maggie]] could die from touching things unsafe to her when he hears this from a [[childproofing]] saleswoman; and is alarmed when he learns of the cost of childproofing his house. As a result, he starts his own childproofing crusade, selling cheap but safe and effective products and making [[Springfield (The Simpsons)|Springfield]] safe for children. However, this causes the baby-injury-related business in Springfield to go in decline. Homer feels bad for making people such as [[pediatricians]] lose their jobs and urges the children to get themselves hurt in order to save the pediatricians' careers.
After realizing that Francine did not beat her up at the swimming pool because she was wearing a nose blocker, Lisa does scientific research on [[nerd]]s and discovers that the odor of the chemical nerd [[pheromone]] "poindextrose" (a portmanteau of [[wikt:Poindexter|poindexter]] and [[dextrose]]) attracts bullies like Francine, proving that both nerds and bullies are predisposed to be what they are. Lisa then tests the poindextrose extracted from the nerds on famous boxer [[Drederick Tatum]] by putting it on his clothes when he visits the school. This causes Nelson to start punching Tatum uncontrollably and give him a [[wedgie]]. Lisa demonstrates her experiment at [[Professor Frink]]'s science conference, the "12th Annual Big Science Thing", using an antidote on herself and making Francine peaceful and friendly towards her, the antidote being just salad dressing which covers up the smell of the poindextrose. The audience is impressed and Lisa is awarded a gift certificate from [[J. C. Penney]] for her research. However, the salad dressing soon runs out and Francine goes on an unprovoked rampage beating up all the scientists in the room. Francine’s parents suggest just letting Francine tire herself out from the beatings, just before Francine ends the episode by lunging forward, towards the viewer.
==Production== [[File:KathyGriffinTIFFSept2011.jpg|thumb|Actress [[Kathy Griffin]] appeared in the episode as the bully Francine.]] The episode was produced as part of the twelfth season of ''The Simpsons'' (2000–01) and was written by writing partners [[John Frink]] and [[Don Payne (writer)|Don Payne]].<ref name=Alberti/> "Bye Bye Nerdie" was the first episode of the show directed by [[Lauren MacMullan]], who joined the staff of ''The Simpsons'' following the cancellation of the short-lived television series ''[[Mission Hill (TV series)|Mission Hill]]'', which was created by former Simpsons writers and executive producers [[Bill Oakley]] and [[Josh Weinstein]] on which she worked as a supervising director and designer.<ref name="MacMullan">MacMullan, Lauren (2009). ''The Simpsons – The Complete Twelfth Season'' DVD commentary for the episode "Bye Bye Nerdie". 20th Century Fox.</ref> American actress and [[stand-up comedian]] [[Kathy Griffin]] guest starred in the episode as the bully Francine. Griffin was a fan of the show and got the role.<ref name=McEntire/> MacMullan designed this new character herself and tried to make her seem like a professional bully by having her carry her lunch box with her all the time like a briefcase.<ref name="MacMullan"/>
"Bye Bye Nerdie" was initially titled "Lisa the Bully" because the original idea for the episode, which the writers first pitched, saw Lisa becoming so fed up with Francine's behavior that she attempted to punch Francine.<ref name="Payne">Payne, Don (2009). ''The Simpsons – The Complete Twelfth Season'' DVD commentary for the episode "Bye Bye Nerdie". 20th Century Fox.</ref> However, she would miss and accidentally punch [[Principal Skinner]] instead, resulting in her being sent to juvenile hall where she would make illegal jeans.<ref name="Scully">Scully, Mike (2009). ''The Simpsons – The Complete Twelfth Season'' DVD commentary for the episode "Bye Bye Nerdie". 20th Century Fox.</ref> The concept of a Simpson going to juvenile hall would later be reworked into [[The Simpsons season 15|Season 15's]] [[The Wandering Juvie]]. According to ''The Simpsons'' show runner [[Mike Scully]], when the staff members worked on the episode they decided to include a lot of observations they had made about how it is like to be the new student in school. Scully has said that the episode shows how in real life the "poor new kid always has kind of two strikes against them just for being the new kid, and the other students are usually looking for anything that they perceive as different or weird about that kid."<ref name="Scully"/>
The subplot of Homer entering the childproofing business was inspired by an instance when a salesman visited Payne and his pregnant wife to see if their home was safe for children.<ref name="Payne"/> In an interview with ''[[Star-News]]'', Payne commented: "You hire this person to come into your home to look for changes you can make. They make you feel like the most horrible person in the world and that your house is the temple of doom."<ref name=Ballard>{{cite news|last=Ballard|first=Allison|title=Wilmington Walk of Fame 'Simpsons ' writer Don Payne – Master of his D'oh-main Don Payne left the Port City years ago for Springfield, but he'll always be a celebrity in his hometown|newspaper=[[Star-News]]|date=2005-08-21}}</ref> "Bye Bye Nerdie" features a scene based specifically on this instance in which a saleswoman (voiced by cast member [[Tress MacNeille]]) selling childproofing items visits Homer and [[Marge Simpson|Marge]] and exaggerates the dangers in their home.<ref name="Payne"/> [[NRBQ]]'s song "Always Safety First" is played during a montage in the episode in which Homer is seen improving the safety of the infants of Springfield.<ref name="Scully"/>
==Release== The episode originally aired on the [[Fox Broadcasting Company|Fox network]] in the United States on March 11, 2001.<ref name=Alberti>{{cite book|last=Alberti|first=John|title=Leaving Springfield: The Simpsons and the Possibility of Oppositional Culture|year=2004|publisher=Wayne State University Press|isbn=978-0-8143-2849-1|page=[https://archive.org/details/leavingspringfie00albe/page/324 324]|url=https://archive.org/details/leavingspringfie00albe|url-access=registration|quote=season 12 (2000.}}</ref><ref name=Jacobson>{{cite web|last=Jacobson|first=Colin|title=The Simpsons: The Complete Twelfth Season (1999)|url=http://www.dvdmg.com/simpsonsseasontwelve.shtml|publisher=DVD Movie Guide|access-date=2011-11-01|date=2009-09-02|archive-date=November 3, 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111103131030/http://www.dvdmg.com/simpsonsseasontwelve.shtml|url-status=live}}</ref> During this broadcast, it was watched in approximately 8.8 million households. It received an 8.7 [[Nielsen ratings#Ratings.2Fshare and total viewers|Nielsen rating]], ranking twenty-sixth in the ratings for the week of March 5–11, 2001. The episode was seen by a fourteen percent [[Nielsen ratings#Ratings.2Fshare and total viewers|share]] of the television audience during the broadcast.<ref name=DeMott>{{cite web|last=DeMott|first=Rick|title=U.S. Primetime TV Ratings For The Week Of March 5–11, 2001|url=https://www.awn.com/news/us-primetime-tv-ratings-week-march-5-11-2001|publisher=[[Animation World Network]]|access-date=2022-01-24|date=2001-03-13}}</ref> On August 18, 2009, "Bye Bye Nerdie" was released on DVD as part of the box set ''The Simpsons – The Complete Twelfth Season''. Staff members Mike Scully, Don Payne, Lauren MacMullan, [[Tim Long]], [[Ian Maxtone-Graham]], [[Matt Selman]], [[Tom Gammill]], [[Yeardley Smith]], and [[Steven Dean Moore]] participated in the DVD [[audio commentary]] for the episode.<ref name="tvshowsondvd">{{cite web|url=http://www.tvshowsondvd.com/news/Simpsons-Season-12/11928|title=The Simpsons – Season 12 Street Date, Detailed Contents & 'Comic Book Guy Head' Box|date=2009-05-20|access-date=2011-11-01|last=Lambert|first=David|publisher=[[TVShowsOnDVD.com]]|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090522020622/http://www.tvshowsondvd.com/news/Simpsons-Season-12/11928|archive-date=2009-05-22}}</ref> Deleted scenes from the episode were also featured on the box set.<ref name=Jacobson/>
Critics have given "Bye Bye Nerdie" generally positive reviews. DVD Movie Guide's Colin Jacobson commented that "While this isn’t saying much, 'Nerdie' provides one of Season 12’s better shows. Both plots work well, though I prefer the childproofing side of things; it peters out at the end, but it has some good bits. The episode keeps us interested and entertained."<ref name=Jacobson/> Mac McEntire of [[DVD Verdict]] cited the scene in which the children imagine what kind of person the new student is as the greatest moment in the episode.<ref name=McEntire>{{cite web|last=McEntire |first=Mac |title=Buy The Simpsons: The Complete Twelfth Season at Amazon The Simpsons: The Complete Twelfth Season |url=http://www.dvdverdict.com/reviews/simpsons12.php |publisher=[[DVD Verdict]] |access-date=2011-11-01 |date=2009-09-09 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111103131117/http://www.dvdverdict.com/reviews/simpsons12.php |archive-date=2011-11-03 }}</ref>
In the July 26, 2007 issue of ''[[Nature (journal)|Nature]]'', the scientific journal's editorial staff listed "Bye Bye Nerdie" among "The Top Ten science moments in ''The Simpsons''", writing: "Lisa isolates the element in nerd sweat that makes them irresistible targets for bullies. She presents her data at a conference with luminaries including former surgeon general [[C. Everett Koop]], a scene in which we find the true purpose of a science pole."<ref name=Nature>{{cite journal|last=Hopkin|first=Michael|title=Science in comedy: Mmm... pi|journal=[[Nature (journal)|Nature]]|date=2007-07-26|volume=448|issue=7152|pages=404–405|doi=10.1038/448404a|pmid=17653163|bibcode=2007Natur.448..404H|s2cid=4393052|doi-access=free}}</ref> At the conference, Professor Frink gets the attention of the audience by shouting "[[Pi]] is exactly three!", making everyone gasp. This scene and the episode as a whole has been used by mathematicians Sarah J. Greenwald of [[Appalachian State University]] and Andrew Nestler of [[Santa Monica College]] in mathematics classes to teach students about the number pi ({{pi}}).<ref>{{cite news|title=Tune into math The Simpsons way|access-date=2012-06-02|newspaper=Curriculum Review|date=2003-12-01|url=https://www.questia.com/read/1G1-112083699}}{{Dead link|date=August 2024 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}{{subscription required}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|last1= Greenwald|first1=Sarah J.|first2=Andrew|last2=Nestler|title=Engaging students with significant mathematical content from the Simpsons|journal=[[PRIMUS (journal)|PRIMUS]]|volume=14|issue=1|pages=29–39|doi=10.1080/10511970408984074 |publisher=[[Taylor & Francis]]|location=London, England|year=2004|s2cid=120667283}}</ref>
==References== {{Reflist|30em}}
==External links== {{Wikiquote|The_Simpsons/Season_12#Bye_Bye_Nerdie|"Bye Bye Nerdie"}} {{Portal|The Simpsons}} * {{Snpp capsule|CABF11}} * {{IMDb episode|id=0701079}}
{{The Simpsons episodes|12}}
[[Category:The Simpsons season 12 episodes]] [[Category:2001 American television episodes]] [[Category:Television episodes about bullying]] [[Category:Television episodes written by John Frink]] [[Category:Television episodes written by Don Payne (writer)]]