The Bart Wants What It Wants
In its original broadcast, the episode was seen by approximately 6.4 million viewers, finishing in 27th place in the ratings the week it aired.
On their way home, the family go to a private school-held fair, where Bart meets Greta, Rainier Wolfcastle's daughter.
Greta develops a crush on the oblivious Bart and the family enjoys the royal treatment Rainier provides them.
However, Lisa discovers Bart not taking Greta seriously after he skipped her school dance to watch Principal Skinner bomb at an open mic comedy night.
[2] According to executive producer and current showrunner Al Jean, Fox's request "upset" Canada,[3] and a "sternly worded" editorial in The Toronto Star criticized the network's ways of promoting the episode.
[1] While "The Bart Wants What It Wants" features the Simpsons' first travel to Canada, the family would return in two later episodes: season sixteen's "Midnight Rx", where Homer and Grampa visited Winnipeg so they could smuggle cheap medication;[6] and season 21's "Boy Meets Curl", where Marge and Homer travel to Vancouver, so they can participate in the 2010 Winter Olympics.
Shocked, Lisa asks Skinner why he stole the equipment, to which he replies "welcome to Dick Cheney's America".
Originally, he would say "welcome to George W. Bush's America", but because none of the series' regular cast members could do an impression of him, and because the staff found it to be in bad taste, they decided to change it.
[3] When Lisa scolds Bart for being oblivious to Greta's feelings, he replies "Hey, I didn't lead her on.
[1] The song that plays while the Simpsons visit the Skydome in Toronto is "Take Off" by the fictional comedy duo Bob and Doug McKenzie, the chorus of which was sung by Geddy Lee, the lead vocalist and bassist of the Canadian rock band Rush.
The scene is a reference to an advertisement campaign for the American Budweiser beer, in which several characters are seen calling each other and saying "Whassup?".
In the DVD commentary for the episode, Jean stated that the scene was written at a time when celebrity look-alikes were making "excellent livings".
[3] At one point in the episode, Bart and Greta are seen playing Scrabble, a word game manufactured by Hasbro.
Al Jean, Matt Selman, Tim Long, John Frink, Don Payne, Tom Gammill, Max Pross, Joel H. Cohen, Pamela Hayden, Mike Frank Polcino, Steven Dean Moore and Bill Freiberger participated in the audio commentary of the episode.
She said that the third act in the city of Toronto was a disappointment and "really just a sloppy amalgamation of every Canadian joke we've ever been told by Americans that lose their punch after the millionth time.
