Reception
In its original American broadcast, "Bart the General" finished 31st place in the weekly ratings for the week of January 29 - February 4, 1990 with a Nielsen rating of 14.3. It was the highest rated show on the Fox Network that week. Since airing, the episode has received mostly 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: "Some good lines and setpieces aside - we love Bart's fantasy of death at Nelson's hands - this episode nevertheless feels a bit unsure of itself, particularly towards the end." In a DVD review of the first season David B. Grelck gave the episode a rating of 3/5 and adds "Another episode that helped to propel Bart's popularity into the stratosphere ...". Colin Jacobson at DVD Movie Guide said in a review that the episode "remains a primitive example of The Simpsons, but it’s a reasonably amusing and entertaining experience." and added that the episode "lacks the subtlety and cleverness found on later episodes, but it was onto something." Matt Groening notes on the commentary track that he finds it strange how controversial this episode seemed at the time of its release. Today, they would go a lot further and to him this episode now seems harmless. The episode's reference to Full Metal Jacket was named the eleventh greatest film reference in the history of the show by Nathan Ditum of Total Film.
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