Little Girl in the Big Ten
"Little Girl in the Big Ten" is the twentieth episode of the thirteenth season of the American animated television series The Simpsons.
In its original broadcast, the episode was seen by approximately 6.8 million viewers and finished in 40th place in the ratings the week it aired.
Lisa also meets two girls and becomes friends with them, but with their fractals and parking permits, she realizes they are college students "with small gymnast bodies!"
Lisa tries to keep up her double life, attending poetry readings at night with the girls while wearing a beret and falling asleep in her second grade class during the day.
While Martin takes pictures of Skinner posing next to a giant chocolate cake in his white polyester suit, Bart rolls Lisa, who is inside his bubble, to the edge of the school's roof.
"[...] since we work so far ahead we usually do these things that are sort of timeless stories," Jean said, "but every once in a while there's something that turns out to be ironic in a bad way, then we have to change it.
[1] The episode also parodies the British anarcho-punk band Chumbawamba, with Homer singing his own version of their song "Tubthumping".
[5] When Lisa changes her bike's appearance to pass as a college student the main theme from The Pink Panther movie plays, composed by Henry Mancini.
When Bart rolls Lisa off the school roof and she dives into the cake the introduction from Also sprach Zarathustra by Richard Strauss plays.
In its original American broadcast on May 12, 2002, "Little Girl in the Big Ten" received a 6.4 rating, according to Nielsen Media Research, translating to approximately 6.8 million viewers.
The episode finished in 40th place in the ratings for the week of May 6–12, 2002, making it the most watched program of the network tied with Malcolm in the Middle and Boston Public.
[6] On August 24, 2010, "Little Girl in the Big Ten" was released as part of The Simpsons: The Complete Thirteenth Season DVD and Blu-ray set.
Al Jean, Ian Maxtone-Graham, Matt Selman, Tom Gammill, Max Pross and Robert Pinsky participated in the audio commentary of the episode.
Nate Boss of Project-Blu called it "An average episode, for the series as a whole, making it a great one for this season," praising "a superb Chumbawumba parody" which he thought was "way better than the R.E.M.
"[5] Colin Jacobson of DVD Movie Guide wrote "Lisa–based shows definitely fall into the hit or miss category, and "Ten" stays within those confines."
"[7] DVD Verdict's Jennifer Malkowski gave the episode a B−, and wrote that "Homer's answer to the rhetorical question about gymnastics 'Who wants to put on a leotard and get screamed at?'"
