{{Use American English|date=January 2025}} {{Use mdy dates|date=September 2023}} {{Good article}} {{Infobox Simpsons episode | image = | caption = | season = 8 | episode = 19 | director = [[Susie Dietter]] | writer = [[Rachel Pulido]] | production = 4F09 | airdate = {{Start date|1997|04|06}} | couch_gag = The Simpsons are clear blue bubbles that float to the couch and pop one by one.<ref name="BBC">{{cite web |url=http://bbc.adactio.com/cult/simpsons/episodeguide/season8/page19.shtml |title=Grade School Confidential |access-date=2007-05-02 |last1=Martyn |first1=Warren |author-link1=Gary Russell |last2 = Wood |first2=Adrian |author-link2=Gareth Roberts (writer) |year=2000 |publisher=BBC}}</ref> | commentary = [[Matt Groening]]<br>Bill Oakley<br>Josh Weinstein<br>Rachel Pulido<br>Susie Dietter | prev = [[Homer vs. the Eighteenth Amendment]] | next = [[The Canine Mutiny]] }} "'''Grade School Confidential'''" is the nineteenth episode of the [[The Simpsons season 8|eighth season]] of the American animated television series ''[[The Simpsons]]''. It originally aired on the [[Fox Broadcasting Company|Fox network]] in the United States on April 6, 1997.<ref name="book">{{cite book |last=Groening |first=Matt |authorlink=Matt Groening |editor1-first=Ray |editor1-last=Richmond |editor1-link=Ray Richmond |editor2-first=Antonia |editor2-last=Coffman |title=[[The Simpsons episode guides#The Simpsons: A Complete Guide to Our Favorite Family|The Simpsons: A Complete Guide to Our Favorite Family]] |edition=1st |year=1997 |location=New York |publisher=[[HarperPerennial]] |lccn=98141857 |ol=433519M |oclc=37796735 |isbn=978-0-06-095252-5 |page=[https://archive.org/details/simpsonscomplete00groe/page/232 232] |ref={{harvid|Richmond & Coffman|1997}} }}.</ref> It was written by [[Rachel Pulido]] and directed by [[Susie Dietter]].<ref name="book"/> The episode establishes the long-term relationship between [[Seymour Skinner]] and [[Edna Krabappel]].<ref name="BBC"/> [[Bart Simpson|Bart]] witnesses a romantic moment between Principal Skinner and Mrs. Krabappel and acts as a go-between for them. However, they later embarrass him and he exposes their romance to the public.
==Plot== [[Martin Prince]] invites his classmates to his [[party#Birthday party|birthday party]], but it ends badly after most of the partygoers get [[Foodborne illness|food poisoning]] and end up leaving by ambulance due to diseased oysters being served instead of cake (including [[Lisa Simpson|Lisa]], who feigns being ill just so she can leave). After the party, [[Bart Simpson|Bart]], who fed his oysters to the Prince family cat, sees [[Seymour Skinner|Principal Seymour Skinner]] and [[Edna Krabappel]] kissing in Martin's pink playhouse. After failing to provide Bart with a convincing cover story, Edna and Skinner, fearing that they will be fired if anyone discovers their romance, swear him to secrecy in exchange for putting [[Milhouse Van Houten|Milhouse]]'s name on his permanent record.
Edna and Skinner use Bart as their gofer. When Edna and Skinner accidentally run into [[Superintendent Chalmers]] whilst on a date at the cinema, Skinner fetches Bart, who had been sleeping, so that Edna and Skinner could claim that they were supervising a field trip. Bart is humiliated in front of his classmates after Skinner forces him to say "I love you, Edna Krabappel" aloud as if the message were his own, with Martin making further jibes. Fed up, Bart gathers the entire school in front of a janitor's closet and opens the door to reveal that Skinner and Edna are [[making out]].
Word quickly spreads throughout Springfield, with the story the students tell growing more illicit and exaggerated. After hearing his son [[Ralph Wiggum|Ralph]]'s risqué version involving the two "making babies", [[Chief Wiggum]] reports it to Chalmers, who gives Skinner an ultimatum: either he ends his relationship with Edna or they both will be fired. Skinner decides that love trumps his professional goals, so Chalmers fires them and demands they leave the building by day's end.
Feeling guilty for costing Edna and Skinner their jobs, Bart encourages them to stand up for themselves. With Bart's help, Skinner and Edna barricade themselves inside the school, contact the media and make their demands: they want their jobs back and the townspeople to stop interfering with their relationship. When several parents protest that their children saw them having [[sexual intercourse|sex]] in the janitor's closet, Skinner insists that is untrue because he is a 44-year-old [[Virginity|virgin]]. The mob is left speechless at the revelation. Chalmers brusquely concedes that it must be true, because nobody in their right mind would lie about something so embarrassing. Realizing that they have overreacted, the residents leave peacefully.
Chalmers agrees to reinstate Skinner and Edna, but asks them to "keep the lewdness at a minimum" during school hours. They thank Bart for helping them, but tell him they are breaking up, fearing the entire town judging their relationship publicly. When a disappointed Bart leaves, they observe grade-school children will believe anything they are told before entering the janitor's closet for another sexual tryst (also indicating Skinner was exactly the sort of person to lie about being a virgin).
==Production== The idea of Skinner and Krabappel becoming a couple had been around since the days when [[Mike Reiss]] and [[Al Jean]] were show runners.<ref name=Oakley>{{cite video |people=Oakley, Bill |date=2006 |title=The Simpsons The Complete Eighth Season DVD commentary for the episode "Grade School Confidential" |medium=DVD |publisher=20th Century Fox}}</ref> The episode's writer [[Rachel Pulido]] took some of the inspiration for this episode from "[[Bart the Lover]]", specifically Mrs. Krabappel's line to Bart about refusing to date Principal Skinner because, "his mommy won't let him out to play".<ref name=Pulido>{{cite video |people=Pulido, Rachel |date=2006 |title=The Simpsons The Complete Eighth Season DVD commentary for the episode "Grade School Confidential" |medium=DVD |publisher=20th Century Fox}}</ref> The Mathmagician is based on [[Bill Gates]].<ref name=Weinstein/> The cakes in [[List of recurring The Simpsons characters#Agnes Skinner|Agnes Skinner]]'s cake book were designed to accurately resemble the real life versions of them.<ref name=Dietter>{{cite video |people=Dietter, Susie |date=2006 |title=The Simpsons The Complete Eighth Season DVD commentary for the episode "Grade School Confidential" |medium=DVD |publisher=20th Century Fox}}</ref> [[Homer Simpson|Homer]] using his megaphone to talk to [[Marge Simpson|Marge]] and [[Lisa Simpson|Lisa]], who were standing next to him, was ad-libbed by [[Dan Castellaneta]].<ref name=Weinstein/> A deleted scene featured an awkward moment at Martin's party, between Bart, Milhouse and Martin, when the latter introduces the two to his parents.<ref name=Weinstein>{{cite video |people=Weinstein, Josh |date=2006 |title=The Simpsons The Complete Eighth Season DVD commentary for the episode "Grade School Confidential" |medium=DVD |publisher=20th Century Fox}}</ref> This episode marks the only episode in [[The Simpsons season 8|Season 8]] in which Marge has a minor role, and one of the four times Lisa has a minor role in a [[The Simpsons season 8|Season 8]] episode, the others being "[[Bart After Dark]]", "[[Homer's Enemy]]", and "[[The Simpsons Spin-Off Showcase]]", although she has major or supporting roles in the season's other episodes.
==Cultural references== The title is a reference to ''[[High School Confidential! (film)|High School Confidential!]]'' Mrs. Krabappel has a candle that resembles [[Charlie Brown]], a character from ''[[Peanuts]]''.<ref name="book"/> At the Aztec theater, a movie with actor [[Tom Berenger]] was played. It is implied by Superintendent Chalmers' comment "You think they actually filmed this in [[Atlanta]]?" and from the commentary that the movie is ''[[The Big Chill (film)|The Big Chill]]''.<ref name="Oakley" /> In trying to force Edna and Seymour out of the school, the Springfield police attempts to flood the area with music. This is similar to a tactic that the US troops used during [[Operation Just Cause]] in an attempt to force [[Manuel Noriega]] out of the [[Vatican City|Vatican]] embassy in [[Panama City]].<ref name="Weinstein" /> However, in this case, romance-themed music was played, which was "[[Embraceable You]]" by [[George Gershwin]] and [[Ira Gershwin]].<ref name="Oakley" /> Edna and Seymour's dance poses were taken from Orlando Baeza, who was the assistant director for this episode.<ref name="Dietter" />
==Reception== In its original broadcast, "Grade School Confidential" finished 57th in ratings for the week of March 31 - April 6, 1997, with a [[Nielsen ratings|Nielsen rating]] of 7.7, equivalent to approximately 7.5 million viewing households. It was the fifth highest-rated show on the Fox network that week, following ''[[The X-Files]]'', ''[[Party of Five]]'', ''[[Beverly Hills, 90210]]'' and ''[[Melrose Place]]''.<ref>{{cite news |title=CBS scores with NCAA basketball |work=Sun-Sentinel |agency=Associated Press |page=4E |date=April 11, 1997}}</ref>
The authors of the book ''I Can't Believe It's a Bigger and Better Updated Unofficial Simpsons Guide'', [[Gary Russell]] and [[Gareth Roberts (writer)|Gareth Roberts]],<ref>{{Cite magazine|url=http://doctorwho.org.nz/archive/tsv51/garyrussell.html|title=Gary Russell: From Peladon to Placebos|author=Preddle, Jon|date=June 1997|magazine=Time Space Visualiser|issue=51|access-date=20 August 2020|publisher=The New Zealand Doctor Who Fan Club|quote=I've just done my first non-fiction book, Oh No It's A Completely Unofficial Simpsons Guide for Virgin, co-authored with Gareth Roberts which has, to be frank, been more of a nightmare than it needed to be [the book was published as I Can't Believe It's An Unofficial Simpsons Guide, with Gary and Gareth writing under the pseudonyms Warren Martyn & Adrian Wood].}}</ref> called it "A delightful episode that finally brings to fruition one of the series' longest running gags: Edna and Seymour's mutual attraction. What is doubly refreshing is that it remains a constant in the subsequent episodes."<ref name="BBC"/> The scene in which Agnes Skinner shows Bart her cake book is one of [[Matt Groening]]'s all-time favorite scenes.<ref name=Groening>{{cite video |people=Groening, Matt |date=2006 |title=The Simpsons The Complete Eighth Season DVD commentary for the episode "Grade School Confidential" |medium=DVD |publisher=20th Century Fox}}</ref>
==References== {{Reflist}}
==External links== {{Wikiquote|The_Simpsons/Season_8#Grade_School_Confidential|"Grade School Confidential"}} {{Portal|The Simpsons}} *{{Snpp capsule|4F09}} *{{IMDb episode|0779666}}
{{The Simpsons episodes|8}}
[[Category:The Simpsons season 8 episodes]] [[Category:1997 American television episodes]] [[Category:Television shows about virginity]] [[Category:Television episodes about academic scandals]] [[Category:Television episodes about birthdays]] [[Category:Television episodes about educators]] [[Category:Television episodes directed by Susie Dietter]]