Reception
During the second season, The Simpsons aired on Fox on Thursdays at 8 PM, which was the same time as The Cosby Show, which aired on NBC. The supposed "Bill vs. Bart" rivalry had been heavily hyped by the media. The first airing of "Simpson and Delilah" on Fox had a 16.2 rating and 25% share, while The Cosby Show, which aired during the same timeslot had a 18.5 rating. However, viewer-wise, The Simpsons won with 29.9 million viewers. It is one of the highest rated episodes of The Simpsons. "Bart Gets an F", the season premiere and episode that aired the week before, averaged an 18.4 Nielsen rating, had 29% of the audience and was watched by an estimated 33.6 million viewers.
This episode was placed twenty-third on Entertainment Weekly's top 25 The Simpsons episodes list. Harvey Fierstein is number two on TV Guide's "All-time Favorite Guest Voices." The Daily Telegraph characterized the episode as one of "The 10 Best Simpsons TV Episodes." In a 2008 article, Entertainment Weekly named Harvey Fierstein's role as Karl as one of the sixteen best guest appearances on The Simpsons. Warren Martyn and Adrian Wood, the authors of the book I Can't Believe It's a Bigger and Better Updated Unofficial Simpsons Guide, praised Fierstein's performance, saying the episode was "brought to life by the superb character of Karl, helped no doubt by Harvey Fierstein's unique vocal drawl."
Read more about this topic: Simpson And Delilah
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