Release
The episode originally aired on the Fox network in the United States on March 11, 2001. During this broadcast, it was watched in approximately 8.8 million households. It received an 8.7 Nielsen rating, ranking twenty-sixth in the ratings for the week of March 5–11, 2001. The episode was seen by a fourteen percent share of the television audience during the broadcast. On August 18, 2009, "Bye Bye Nerdie" was released on DVD as part of the box set The Simpsons – The Complete Twelfth Season. Staff members Mike Scully, Don Payne, Lauren MacMullan, Tim Long, Ian Maxtone-Graham, Matt Selman, Tom Gammill, Yeardley Smith, and Steven Dean Moore participated in the DVD audio commentary for the episode. Deleted scenes from the episode were also featured on the box set.
Critics gave given "Bye Bye Nerdie" generally positive reviews. DVD Movie Guide's Colin Jacobson commented that "While this isn’t saying much, 'Nerdie' provides one of Season 12’s better shows. Both plots work well, though I prefer the childproofing side of things; it peters out at the end, but it has some good bits. The episode keeps us interested and entertained." Mac McEntire of DVD Verdict cited the scene in which the children imagine what kind of person the new student is as the greatest moment in the episode.
In the July 26, 2007 issue of Nature, the scientific journal's editorial staff listed "Bye Bye Nerdie" among "The Top Ten science moments in The Simpsons", writing: "Lisa isolates the element in nerd sweat that makes them irresistible targets for bullies. She presents her data at a conference with luminaries including former surgeon general C. Everett Koop, a scene in which we find the true purpose of a science pole." At the conference, Professor Frink gets the attention of the audience by shouting "Pi is exactly three!", making everyone gasp. This scene and the episode as a whole has been used by mathematicians Sarah J. Greenwald of Appalachian State University and Andrew Nestler of Santa Monica College in mathematics classes to teach students about the number pi (π).
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—Calvin Coolidge (1872–1933)
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—Margaret Mead (1901–1978)