" Little Girl in the Big Ten " was written by producer Jon Vitti and directed by Lauren MacMullan . The idea for the episode was pitched by Vitti , who suggested an episode in which Lisa meets girls who thought she was a college student . It was first broadcast on the Fox network in the United States on May 12 , 2002 . Jean thought the idea was " brilliant " , and the subplot involving Bart in a " germ-free " plastic bubble was conceived by the writers wanting to make " the most different subplot from ... an intellectual college plot " they could think of . A scene in the episode shows Lisa talking to Bart on the branch of a tree in their garden . Bart says the line " You ca n't believe what that sunset looks like to me " , to which Lisa replies " That 's not a sunset , that 's a bird on fire . " Originally , Lisa 's line read " ... that 's a plane on fire , " however , after the September 11 attacks , the line was considered offensive and was changed . " ... since we work so far ahead we usually do these things that are sort of timeless stories , " Jean said , " but every once in a while there 's something that turns out to be ironic in a bad way , then we have to change it . " The Itchy & Scratchy cartoon " Butter Off Dead " was , according to Jean , " completely improv ise d " by director MacMullan . Usually , the episodes are too " narrow " for there to be any room for improvisation , but MacMullan was an exception , since her improvisations " always turned out great " . The writers came up with the cartoons title and its " template " , however " the way the death proceeded and the different digestion s " were " All Lauren MacMullan " . The sequence in which Pinsky is reading the poem was " very hard to do " , since the animators did not have access to computers at the time . One of the audience members in the scene was designed after staff writer Matt Warburton
September 11 attacks
September 11 attacks
Little Girl in the Big Ten