Be gentle, it’s my first one of these.
Four guys on this commentary, David Silverman, Matt Groening, James L. Brooks, and Jon Vitti.
David Silverman talks about the popularity of the show after the Christmas Special
Matt Groening talks about the development of the now classic “Simpsons” main titles music
Blackboard and main titles were originally a way to pad the show length, but as the show got more sophisticated the writers didn’t want to cut anything
This episode was Jon Vitti’s first 30-minute script, and David Silverman’s first full-length directorial debut
Koreans don’t have bananas, hence the miscoloring
KWYJIBO was also later used as a name for a computer virus
Milhouse’s hair is inconsistently colored in this episode, occasionally black, occasionally blue
Jon wrote a list of 100 bad things that Bart could do, and cheating on a test was the only thing that stuck
Series was not going to do fantasy sequences initially, but that stipulation was relaxed after the directors started using them very creatively (dream sequence with numbers)
Matt wanted a full orchestra to play the emotion that the show otherwise could not have depicted using animation
It was very controversial how stupid Homer’s handwriting was on the check
Loren Pyror sounds a lot like Mr. Burns in this episode
Matt considers this episode, like the other 12 in Season 1, to be experiments in the visual language of the show. Things like giant plants which featured somewhat prominently in the background were later removed
It used to be Skinner’s persistent goal to get Bart out of Springfield Elementary
There’s a discussion/mea culpa about Bart’s many, likely unoriginal, catch phrases, from “eat my shorts” to “cowabunga” etc.
The school that Bart goes to is a product of co-creation from the writers, not necessarily based on any actual school that the writers went to
The first draft of this episode was over 71 pages long!
Matt initially could not wrap his head around the fact that the sketches were moving, owing to his background in print media, but loved what he was seeing all the same
It was easier to merchandise villains than friends, so that’s why the show’s writers kept adding more
One can’t help but notice the crudeness of the animation in the opera scene
They’re all chuckling at the leisurely pacing of this episode, a result of the show’s creators learning on the fly
Kids playing with marbles is a cute anachronism
Shadows were used sparingly in early episodes out of concerns that they couldn’t afford them
The hamster gets to escape after Bart’s chemistry mishap, otherwise the joke earlier about the hamster being dissected would’ve been too cruel
Bart’s confession was animated in the US, not Korea
David enjoys having a yellow character talk to a green character
