"Bart Star" is the sixth episode of the ninth season of the American animated television series The Simpsons. It originally aired on the Fox network in the United States on November 9, 1997.^[2] Written by Donick Cary and directed by Dominic Polcino, the episode guest starred Joe Namath, Roy Firestone, and Mike Judge.^[2] In the episode, Homer becomes the coach of a pee-wee football team and makes Bart the quarterback, to the displeasure of the rest of the team.

The episode was critically well received.

Following a health convention held in Springfield, the town's children, including Bart, are deemed to be overweight. To help them stay in shape, their parents enroll them in pee-wee football. The coach, Ned Flanders, keeps the team undefeated, but Homer heckles him relentlessly. Ned finally snaps and turns the job over to Homer, who then admits that Flanders was doing a good job.

Homer initially acts tough towards his son, but when he is reminded of how his father Abe was hard on him as a child, he decides to be nicer to Bart. The next day, he cuts many players from the team and replaces star quarterback Nelson with Bart. Bart is unable to play his position well and causes the team's first loss, earning him and Homer their ire. While training at night, Bart meets Joe Namath, who promises to help him but leaves without doing so.

Lisa suggests that Bart pretend he is injured to get out of quarterbacking, which he eagerly does, but Homer claims that without Bart the team must forfeit. This causes Bart to become angry and quit the team. For the next game, Nelson plays as quarterback again and the team wins, but Homer has nobody to celebrate with and becomes lonely. Afterward, Homer finds Bart and persuades him to rejoin the team in his old position. The next day, during the championship game, the score is tied when Chief Wiggum comes to arrest Nelson. Bart pretends he is Nelson and is arrested in his place, letting the team win the championship.^[2]

The episode was written by Donick Cary, who was inspired by his experience in high school with a football coach who had a son on the team.^[3] Similarly, show runner Mike Scully had been on a soccer team whose coach would give his son special treatment.^[4]

George Meyer obtained inspiration for a scene where Rainier Wolfcastle taunts the children from an experience he had with Arnold Schwarzenegger. He was following Schwarzenegger during a hike, and overheard him taunting his children.^[5] Schwarzenegger's influence was seen in the same scene, as he was appointed to be the chairman of the President's Council on Physical Fitness and Sports, on which he served from 1990 to 1993.^[6]

Throughout the episode, Homer dresses in homage to Dallas Cowboys player Tom Landry. Homer previously bought Landry's hat in "You Only Move Twice". The final scene took a long time to write, as the writing staff found it difficult to come up with a resolution that would end on positive terms for Bart and Homer.^[4]

In its original broadcast, "Bart Star" finished 27th in ratings for the week of November 3–9, 1997, with a Nielsen rating of 10.8, equivalent to approximately 10.6 million viewing households. It was the third-highest-rated show on the Fox network that week, following The X-Files and King of the Hill.^[11]

Since airing, the episode has received positive reviews from critics. Warren Martyn and Adrian Wood, the authors of the book I Can't Believe It's a Bigger and Better Updated Unofficial Simpsons Guide, called the episode "fun" and said "Homer is just too stupid for words, but that's excusable because we finally see Ned Flanders lose it, big time!"^[1] In 2011, Keith Plocek of LA Weekly's Squid Ink blog named the scene in which Homer tries to purchase beer that has candy floating in it at the Kwik-E-Mart as the fourth best food moment on the show.^[12]

The director of "Bart Star", Dominic Polcino, calls it his favorite of the episodes he directed.^[13]