Bart The General - Production

Production

This episode was running too long to use the normal opening sequence. It therefore did not feature a chalkboard gag or a couch gag. Instead, it just cut to an image of the Simpson house. David Silverman was the director and was kind of stressed, because he was doing storyboards for this episode while also directing "Bart the Genius". Originally, he had planned to use the song "War" by Edwin Starr in the episode. The plans were dropped, when they decided that the song did not really fit the story. The episode had problems with the censors, who did not want the characters to say "family jewels" on prime time television. The producers ignored the notes and "family jewels" remained in the episode. This act of attempted censorship was reflected in the part where Grampa Simpson writes a letter complaining of how sexualized television has become and gives a list of words he never wants to hear on TV again, one of which is "family jewels".

Two new characters were introduced in this episode. The first, Nelson Muntz, remains a frequently used recurring character, while the second, Herman, has been used far less. The design of Herman, with the exception of his missing arm, was inspired by writer John Swartzwelder. His voice, as performed by Harry Shearer, was partly inspired by George H. W. Bush. The original idea for Herman was for him to have a differing story for the loss of his arm with every appearance.