Бауырластың кішкентай көмекшісі

"Brother's Little Helper" is the second episode of the eleventh season of the American animated television series The Simpsons. It first aired on the Fox network in the United States on October 3, 1999. In the episode, Bart floods the school gymnasium and the schoolyard, which prompts the school's principal Seymour Skinner to diagnose Bart with ADHD. Bart is prescribed a psychostimulant drug called Focusyn (a parody of Focalin (Ritalin)), and initially starts paying more attention to his studies. After a while however, Bart starts turning psychotic and is convinced that Major League Baseball is watching over the people of Springfield. The episode was directed by director Mark Kirkland and was the first episode staff writer George Meyer received a sole writing credit for since the season 5 episode "Bart's Inner Child". Meyer, who was facing some psychological difficulties while writing the episode, felt so dissatisfied with the episode's first draft that he turned it in with a pseudonym. The episode satirizes the perceived misdiagnosis of behavioral disorders in children, which was a controversial topic at the time the episode was written. The episode features former Major League Baseball player Mark McGwire as himself. Following its broadcast, the episode was positively received by critics.

Bart is behaving wildly: he teases and exasperates Principal Skinner, and floods the gymnasium and the schoolyard (coincidentally saving Ned Flanders, who had caught fire). Skinner has Homer and Marge come to the school, and tells them Bart has attention deficit disorder (ADD). He will be expelled unless he takes "a radical, untested, potentially dangerous" new drug called Focusyn. Taking the drug, Bart becomes an eager and diligent student. His parents think they can safely go out for an intimate evening together, but when they come home Bart is in his room wrapped in aluminum foil, with a garbage can lid on his head, and numerous coat hangers dangling from the ceiling. He claims that Major League Baseball is spying on the town using a satellite. The doctors recommend that Bart be weaned off Focusyn, but he refuses, swallows several handfuls of the pills and runs away. Bart enters a U. S. Army base and manages to steal a tank. He cuts a swath of destruction through the town and eventually stops at the school. There, persuaded not to destroy the school or any other building, he points the tank's cannon into the sky and shoots down a Major League Baseball satellite; inside are detailed documents on everybody's behavior. Mark McGwire appears, distracts the citizens with a long home run, and hides all the evidence under his cap. Marge takes Bart off Focusyn for good and puts him back on Ritalin. Major League Baseball, however, is still spying on the Simpson family: the autographed bat that McGwire gave Bart has a hidden camera.

"Brother's Little Helper", which was originally called "Bart a Go Go", was written by staff writer George Meyer and directed by director Mark Kirkland. It was first broadcast on the Fox network in the United States on October 3, 1999. After the season 5 episode "Bart's Inner Child", Meyer got "a little burned out on writing scripts", so he wrote "Brother's Little Helper" in order to "try [his] hand again". Co producer Tim Long jokingly commented that the script was "literally moist with contempt" but went on to say that it was in fact "an amazing draft". To show the side effects Focusyn had on Bart, the animators made slight changes to his face as the episode progressed. It is first seen in the scene where Bart is reading "The 7 Habits of Highly Effective Pre teens": a cheek line is added just under his eyes to suggest that he is starting to change. In another scene, Bart can be seen speed reading and later on, the animators drew him with "mini pupils". The staff discussed whether Bart's pupils would be bigger or smaller than normal while he is on the drug. The writers settled on smaller pupils and, according to Kirkland, "several model sheets were going back and forth over the fax machines" until the staff were satisfied with the size of Bart's pupils while influenced by the drug. In fact, psychostimulants used to treat ADHD are more likely to cause pupils to become bigger (dilated). In the scene where he escapes the laboratory, Bart can be seen swallowing a handful of pills on his way out. Originally, Bart was supposed to "upend" an entire jar of Focusyn, but, according to Meyer, the censors wouldn't allow it. Azaria also voiced Sir Widebottom, one of the clowns in Krusty's car, as well as one of the marine soldiers. Then Major League Baseball player Mark McGwire guest starred as himself in the episode. Mike Scully, an executive producer and the show runner for the episode, commented that McGwire was "probably the biggest man [he'd] ever seen" and that he "did a great job for [them]". Meyer, inspired by the debates, decided to write the episode to be about the subject. Hosey the Bear, which can be seen in the beginning of the episode, is a reference to the United States Forest Service's mascot Smokey Bear. Homer says that, since taking Focusyn, Bart has gone "from Goofus to Gallant", a reference to the characters Goofus and Gallant from the children's magazine Highlights. On October 7, 2008, the episode was released as part of The Simpsons The Complete Eleventh Season DVD box set. Mike Scully, George Meyer, Mark Kirkland, Ian Maxtone Graham, Matt Selman and Tim Long participated in the DVD audio commentary of the episode. Following its broadcast, "Brother's Little Helper" received positive reviews from critics. About nine years after its original broadcast, Robert Canning of IGN posted a "flashback review" of "Brother's Little Helper". Canning, calling the episode "funny" and "a standout episode in this later season", was particularly fond of the episode's opening. However, he was less impressed with the third act of the episode, calling it "lackluster". He felt that the part involving Mark McGwire was "a silly cop out" and that it wasn't as funny as what was leading up to it. He also stated that he was put off by the writers wanting to come across a message. "It's not that I necessarily disagreed with this sentiment", Canning wrote, "but at the time, I didn't think I needed to be taught a lesson while I watched The Simpsons. I still don't." He did, however, "love" the "tag back" to the volunteer fire department seen in the beginning of the episode, and "the fact that they can't find how to fight a satellite fire in their handbook". In his review of The Simpsons The Complete Eleventh Season, Brian Tallerico of The Deadbolt considered "Brother's Little Helper" to be one of the season's best episodes. Colin Jacobsson of DVD Movie Guide was favorable as well, calling the episode "pretty good" and that it "provides some good laughs". He especially liked seeing Bart well behaved. He also appreciated the episode's message, writing that "the show offers a clever spotlight on [the] issue". He did, however, dislike the characterization of Bart. He wrote that Bart is normally "not particularly overactive or distractible", and that the writers "trie[d] to make [Bart] seem more hyper than normal". He concluded by saying that "Bart's a behavior problem but not ADHD." Five months after the episode aired, Bill Clinton, who served as president of the United States at the time, held the first ever White House conference on Mental Health. Scripps Howard News Service columnist Deroy Murdock mentioned the timeliness of the conference in connection with the episode as being an instance of The Simpsons "clairvoyantly predict[ing] the news". In 2007, the fictional word "exorcism tongs" appeared in Cracked. com's list "From Cromulent to Craptacular: The Top 12 Simpsons Created Words", ranking in at number 10. The word is used in a scene in which Homer eats a mixture of taffy and Focusyn, which puts him in a "mildly hallucinogenic state". Seeing this, Todd Flanders asks his father, Ned, "Does Mr. Simpson have a demon, daddy?" To which Ned replies, "Looks like it. Run and get daddy's exorcism tongs." About the word, Mark Peters and Daniel O' Brien of Cracked. com wrote "We'd be lying if we said we didn't go out to every Christian themed general store in the country hoping to acquire our very own set of exorcism tongs the day this episode aired."