Brother's Little Helper

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The Simpsons episode

"Brother's Little Helper"

Bart becomes smart after he starts taking Focusin.

Episode no.

228

Prod. code

AABF22

Orig. airdate

Show runner(s)

"Pork is not a verb"

The Simpsons are blank paint-by-numbers figures; Asian animators come in and color the family, but don’t detail their eyes.

Guest star(s)

Mark McGwire as himself

Season 11
September 26, 1999 – May 21, 2000

"Beyond Blunderdome"
"Brother's Little Helper"
"Guess Who's Coming to Criticize Dinner?"
"Treehouse of Horror X"
"E-I-E-I-(Annoyed Grunt)"
"Hello Gutter, Hello Fadder"
"Eight Misbehavin'"
"Take My Wife, Sleaze"
"Grift of the Magi"
"Little Big Mom"
"Faith Off"
"The Mansion Family"
"Saddlesore Galactica"
"Alone Again, Natura-Diddily"
"Missionary: Impossible"
"Pygmoelian"
"Bart to the Future"
"Days of Wine and D'oh'ses"
"Kill the Alligator and Run"
"Last Tap Dance in Springfield"
"It's A Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad Marge"
"Behind the Laughter"

List of all The Simpsons episodes

Seasons
1 · 2 · 3 · 4 · 5 · 6 · 7 · 8 · 9 · 10 · 11 12 · 13 · 14 · 15 · 16 · 17 · 18 · 19 · 20

"Brother's Little Helper" is the second episode of the eleventh season of The Simpsons. It aired on October 3, 1999. The title refers to an early Rolling Stones song, titled "Mother's Little Helper" (the song is about pill abuse) and also to Santa's Little Helper.

[edit] Plot

Principal Skinner introduces a fire safety skit to the students. When Ned Flanders catches on fire, the fire department tries to extinguish him, but it does not work because Bart is pulling a prank with the fire hose. Skinner has Homer and Marge come to the school. It is then when Bart is diagnosed with Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD). Principal Skinner recommends that Bart take a behavior drug called Focusyn, otherwise he will be expelled. References in this episode indicate that Focusyn is actually Desoxyn, or methamphetamine identifiable by similarities in the name as well as the fact it contains "an extra carboxyl group" known to cause mental problems-a reference to the differences between Desoxyn and Dexedrine (the key ingredient in Adderall).

After several failed attempts by Homer, Marge convinces Bart to take the medication, and his behavior immediately improves. He begins paying attention in school and being respectful to his parents. However, side effects soon occur as Bart becomes paranoid that Major League Baseball is spying on the town using satellites. The doctors recommend that Bart go off Focusyn, but he refuses. Before anyone can stop him, he swallows several handfuls of Focusyn and runs away.

Bart wanders onto an Army base and manages to steal a tank (ala Shawn Nelson). He cuts a swath of destruction through the town, until he eventually stops at the school. There, he points the tank's cannon into the sky and shoots down a Major League Baseball satellite, proving his theory right. Mark McGwire appears, but instead of explaining the bizarre situation, he distracts the townspeople by hitting some "Dingers" (baseballs which fly out of sight) and then runs off with the evidence under his cap. Marge takes Bart off Focusyn for good and puts him back on "good old Ritalin", which he is okay with.

[edit] Cultural references

Marge standing in front of the tank is a reference to Tank Man.
The Fire Safety Day slogan, "Learn, Baby, Learn", is a spoof of "Burn, Baby, Burn"
Homer remarks that Bart has gone from Goofus to Gallant
When on his rampage, in a tank, Bart sings Don't Stop by Fleetwood Mac
Bart expresses a preference for the allergy decongestant Claritin D over regular Claritin.
One of Bart's classmates (Sherry) reads aloud the poem "The Daffodils" by William Wordsworth.
The book that Bart gives to Homer, Chicken Soup for the Loser, is a spoof of the book Chicken Soup for the Soul.
On their date, Marge and Homer see the movie Showgirls. Obviously, as well as many episodes, many of Springfield's inhabitants appear.
Bart steals a tank from Fort Fragg, a spoof of Fort Bragg, North Carolina, a major military installation in North Carolina.
The t-shirt in the Army barracks, which reads "I went to the Persian Gulf and all I got was this lousy syndrome", is a reference to Gulf War Syndrome.
Bart's Ritalin song at the end is a parody of the theme song sung at the conclusion of the Popeye animated shorts.
Principal Skinner's line "Fire can be our servant, whether it's toasting S'Mores or raining down on Charlie" references the use of Napalm on the enemy in the Vietnam war.
The Pharm Team building is modeled after Frank Lloyd Wright's Guggenheim Museum in New York.
The title "Brothers little Helper" is a parody of The Rolling Stone's song Mother's Little Helper which is about taking valium.
Homer and Marge say that all of Bart's favorite stars use drugs: Brett Butler, Tim Allen, Tommy Lee and Andy Dick.
Is the last time that Maggie Roswell puts voice to Maude Flanders before the character dies.