The Old Man and the "C" Student

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The Simpsons episode
"The Old Man and the "C" Student"

Episode no.	223
Prod. code	AABF16
Orig. Airdate	April 25, 1999
Show Runner(s)	Mike Scully
Written by	Julie Thacker
Directed by	Mark Kirkland
Chalkboard	"Loose teeth don't need my help."
Couch gag	The living room becomes a movie theater.
Guest star	Jack La Lanne as himself
Season 10 August 23, 1998 – May 16, 1999
Lard of the Dance The Wizard of Evergreen Terrace Bart the Mother Treehouse of Horror IX When You Dish upon a Star D'oh-in in the Wind Lisa Gets an "A" Homer Simpson in: "Kidney Trouble" Mayored to the Mob Viva Ned Flanders Wild Barts Can't Be Broken Sunday, Cruddy Sunday Homer to the Max I'm with Cupid Marge Simpson in: "Screaming Yellow Honkers" Make Room for Lisa Maximum Homerdrive Simpsons Bible Stories Mom and Pop Art The Old Man and the "C" Student Monty Can't Buy Me Love They Saved Lisa's Brain Thirty Minutes over Tokyo
List of all Simpsons episodes...

"The Old Man and the "C" Student" is the twentieth episode of The Simpsons' tenth season. The episode aired on April 25, 1999.

1 Synopsis
2 Cultural references
3 See also
4 External links

[edit] Synopsis

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

When Lisa writes a letter to the International Olympic Committee, they decide that Springfield will be home to the next Olympics. To honor the Olympics, there is a contest for the games' mascot. Homer creates a mascot for the Olympic Games named Springy, the Springfield Spring, which became the mascot, much to Patty and Selma's dismay, and everyone in Springfield prepares for the games. When the IOC inspects the town, things go well until Bart does a racist comedy routine that insults foreign nations. Only Principal Skinner, Homer, and the children laughed due to their liking of it. In response, the IOC decides not to let Springfield have the Olympics, and Superitendent Chalmers blames Skinner for putting Bart on stage. Skinner wanted to keep his case strong by telling that the comedy worked well during rehearsal, but to prevent from losing his job, he makes every one of the school's students do 20 hours of community service, and assigns Bart to work at the Springfield Retirement Castle, which Lisa also works at.

Meanwhile, Homer gets 1,000 springs he intended to sell as Olympic mascots. He uses various get-rich-quick schemes to sell of the mascots, but fail miserably beacause of their hatred on the way Bart cost the town the Olympics. At the time Lisa leads the seniors in the "imagination time", Bart makes the seniors experience the fountain of youth when she comes by. Bart takes the seniors on a trip on the town and on a boat ride, and Lisa is initially shocked to see these things happen, but nevertheless, she is quite impressed of what Bart's doing for the seniors. The seniors have fun until a side of the boat crashes into Mr. Burns's yacht. Soon, the boat starts to sink, until the springs Homer flushed down the toilet saves them. Bart finishes his community service time, and everybody on the boat is saved.

[edit] Cultural references

There are many instances which parody the 1975 movie One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest:
- A Native American character, 'Chief' smashes a window to escape using a heavy object which was part of a water dispenser (even though the door was open).
- Bart takes the members of the old folks home out on a boat trip as a break from their tedious routine.
- The old folks home has a "medication time".
- The primary nurse in the old folks home resembles the character Nurse Ratched from said film.

This is one of three title puns on The Old Man and the Sea; the two other are The Old Man and the Lisa and The Old Man and the Key.

Aboard the Gone Fission II, Smithers is seen drawing Mr. Burns naked, reclining on a chaise longue, but Burns is seen dressed. This is a parody of the scene in Titanic where Jack Dawson draws Rose DeWitt Bukater nude. The boat also sinks in a way similar to the Titanic.

Battleship commercials, Jasper jokes, "You sunk my battleship"

The seniors at the retirement castle watch a seniors-edited (and redubbed) version of Gone with the Wind.The movie was almost sixty years old when this episode aired.

The scene where Bart frees the seniors and they "frolic" outside of the home is a parody of The Beatles' movie A Hard Day's Night. The song playing during this scene is a cover of "Can't Buy Me Love", the original version of which actually appeared in the film (during the scene that was parodied) and its soundtrack album. The following episode's title was a pun on the refrain "money can't buy me love".

"The father of fitness" Jack LaLanne, who at the time this episode first aired was 85 years old, attempts to save the day by pulling the boat to safety.