<P> Bart shares a sibling rivalry with his younger sister, Lisa, but has a buddy - like relationship with his youngest sister Maggie, due to her infant state . While Bart has often hurt Lisa, and even fought her physically, the two are often very close . Bart cares for Lisa deeply and has always apologized for going too far . He also believes Lisa to be his superior when it comes to solving problems and frequently goes to her for advice . Bart is also highly protective of Lisa: When a bully destroys her box of cupcakes in "Bart the General", (season one, 1990), Bart immediately stands up for her . </P> <P> Bart is portrayed as a popular cool boy and has many friends at school . Out of all of them his best friend is Milhouse Van Houten, although Bart has at times shown embarrassment about their friendship . Bart is a bad influence on Milhouse, and the two have been involved in a lot of mischief together . Because of this behavior, Milhouse's mother forbids Milhouse from playing with Bart in "Homer Defined" (season three, 1991). While at first he pretended that he did not care, Bart eventually realizes that he needs Milhouse, and Marge manages to convince Mrs. Van Houten to reconsider . Milhouse is a frequent target for local bullies Nelson Muntz and his friends Jimbo, Dolph, and Kearney . At times, Bart also finds himself at the hands of their abuse . Despite being the more socially powerful of the two, Bart's social popularity has temporarily subsided various episodes either due to extreme embarrassment caused by his family or other people (or even himself) or an unfortunate coincidence . Milhouse describes their social standing as "Three and a half . We get beat up, but we get an explanation ." While Bart and the bullies have been adversaries at times, with Bart once declaring war on Nelson, the school bullies actually like Bart for his ways and hang out with him at times, especially Nelson who eventually becomes close friends with him . </P> <P> Bart is one of the biggest fans of children's television host Krusty the Clown . He once declared, "I've based my whole life on Krusty's teachings," and sleeps in a room filled with Krusty merchandise . He has helped the clown on many occasions, for example, foiling Sideshow Bob's attempt to frame Krusty for armed robbery in "Krusty Gets Busted" (season one, 1990), reuniting Krusty with his estranged father in "Like Father, Like Clown". and helping Krusty return to the air with a comeback special and reignite his career in "Krusty Gets Kancelled". For his part, Krusty has remained largely ignorant of Bart's help and treats Bart with disinterest . One summer, Bart enthusiastically attended Kamp Krusty, which turned out to be a disaster, with Krusty nowhere to be seen . Bart keeps his hopes up by believing that Krusty would show up, but is soon pushed over the edge, and finally decides that he is sick of Krusty's shoddy merchandise and takes over the camp . Krusty immediately visits the camp in hopes of ending the conflict and manages to appease Bart . One of the original ideas for the series was that Bart worshiped a television clown but had no respect for his father, although this was never directly explored . Because of this original plan, Krusty's design is basically Homer in clown make - up . When Bart foiled Sideshow Bob's plans in "Krusty Gets Busted", it sparked a long - standing feud between the two . The writers decided to have Bob repeatedly return to get revenge on Bart . They took the idea of the Coyote chasing the Road Runner and depicted Bob as an intelligent person obsessed with catching a bratty boy . Bob has appeared in fourteen episodes, generally plotting various evil schemes which often have to do with getting revenge on Bart (and sometimes the entire Simpson family by proxy), but is always foiled in the end . </P> <P> Despite being currently portrayed as an underachiever, Bart was actually very happy and looking forward about going to school . However, the boy's initial enthusiastic nature is crushed by an uncaring and bitter teacher who said that he would be a failure at life and never amount to anything . Deeply hurt by this comment, Bart then began the process of developing his path into the mischievous way of life . </P>

When did bart first say eat my shorts