Bart The Lover

"Bart the Lover" is the sixteenth episode of The Simpsons' third season. It first aired on the Fox network in the United States on February 13, 1992. In the episode Mrs. Edna Krabappel, Bart's teacher, feels increasingly isolated and, looking for a companion, places a personal ad in the newspaper. Bart, who was given a month's detention for breaking the class fish tank with his yo-yo, decides to get revenge by responding to the ad. He creates a new adult male alter ego named Woodrow, inspired by a picture of former President Woodrow Wilson, and Mrs. Krabappel becomes infatuated with "Woodrow". Meanwhile, Ned Flanders asks Homer to cut down on his swearing, so Homer starts using a swear jar.

The episode was written by Jon Vitti and directed by Carlos Baeza. Vitti had wanted an episode centered around Mrs. Krabappel that examined what it was like to have Bart as a student. It was the first episode of the show to feature her in a prominent role. The subplot where Homer tries to clean up his language was written partially in response to the many complaints the show had been getting about the amount of cursing on the show. Woodrow's voice was performed by Harry Shearer, who did an impression of Ricardo Montalbán. The picture Bart sends Edna is of NHL and WHA star Gordie Howe. The writers had originally wanted to use a picture of American football player Johnny Unitas, but were unable to get the rights to use his image for free.

In its original airing on the Fox Network during February sweeps, the episode had a 12.9 Nielsen rating, finishing the week ranked 29th, up from the season's average. Marcia Wallace, the voice of Mrs. Krabappel, won a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Voice-Over Performance for her role in the episode.