Reception
In its original American broadcast, "Bart on the Road" finished 63rd in the ratings for the week of March 25 to March 31, 1996, with a Nielsen rating of 7.2. The episode was the fifth highest-rated show on the Fox network that week, following The X-Files, Cops, Party of Five, Martin and Melrose Place.
Since airing, the episode has received positive reviews from television critics. The authors of the book I Can't Believe It's a Bigger and Better Updated Unofficial Simpsons Guide, Warren Martyn and Adrian Wood, said that it "contains some superb touching character scenes between Homer and Lisa, a fascinating glimpse of Marge's insecurities, and some nice touches that take it above the show's very high average." Dave Foster of DVD Times said that "Bart on the Road" is an episode which is built upon a "frankly ludicrous" idea which if the writers were to "stumble upon" now, "we'd simply see Bart happen upon a license and skip town without anyone noticing, but here they do give the setup a great deal of consideration both on and off the screen." He thought the story was "partly believable, though the opportunity when Bart hits the road is largely wasted with only a few well constructed jokes to speak of." Foster thinks "what saves the episode is the opportunity to see Lisa and Homer connect, once again displaying what a strong season this is for Lisa as we see the two share some wonderfully tender moments, alongside some genuinely laugh-out-loud moments." DVD Movie Guide's Colin Jacobson enjoyed the episode and said that he "loves" the children's experiences at their parents' jobs, "and when they head out of town, the fun continues. Any episode that sends the kids to the site of the World's Fair is OK by me." Jennifer Malkowski of DVD Verdict considered the best part of the episode to be when Patty and Selma explain their job at the DMV: "Somedays we don't let the line move at all. We call those weekdays." The website concluded its review by giving the episode a grade of B+. John Thorpe of Central Michigan Life named it the eighth best episode of the show. Robert Canning of IGN in a Flashback Review gave the episode a 9.5 saying it was "Outstanding" and also stated ""Bart on the Road" is a fun trip and very funny, but it's the way everything comes together that really makes it memorable".
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