<P> "Bart Gets an "F" " is the first episode of The Simpsons' second season . It originally aired on the Fox network in the United States on October 11, 1990 . In the episode, Bart fails four consecutive history exams and the school psychiatrist recommends that Bart repeat the fourth grade . Bart vows that he will start to do better and attempts to get the resident class genius Martin Prince to help him, but after that backfires, Bart prays for help . That night, Springfield is hit with a massive blizzard and the school is closed, giving Bart another day to study . </P> <P> The episode was written by David M. Stern and directed by David Silverman . Mayor Quimby makes his first appearance and the episode was the first to feature a new opening sequence . "Bart Gets an "F" " was the third episode produced for the second season, but it was chosen to be the season premiere because it prominently featured Bart . </P> <P> Due to the success of the first season of The Simpsons, Fox decided to switch the show's time slot to Thursday at 8: 00 p.m. EST where it would air opposite of NBC's The Cosby Show, the number one show at the time . Through the summer, several news outlets published stories about the supposed "Bill vs. Bart" rivalry and heavily hyped the first episode of the second season . Several critics predicted that "Bart Gets an "F" " would do considerably worse in the ratings than The Cosby Show . However, the final Nielsen rating for the episode was 18.4 and a 29% share of the audience, finishing second in its time slot behind The Cosby Show, which had an 18.5 rating and 29% share . It finished eighth in the weekly ratings, but was watched by an estimated 33.6 million viewers, making it the number one show in terms of actual viewers that week . It became the highest rated and most watched program in the history of the Fox network and remained in that position until January 1, 1995 . Currently, it is still the highest rated episode in the history of The Simpsons . </P> <P> The episode has received positive reviews from television critics and was ranked 31st on Entertainment Weekly's 1999 list of "The 100 Greatest Moments in Television". </P>

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