# New Kids on the Blecch
**New Kids on the Blecch** is the fourteenth episode of the twelfth broadcast season of the American animated sitcom *The Simpsons*, and the 262nd episode overall. It first aired on February 25, 2001, and guest stars the boy band 'N Sync as themselves.[1](https://simpsonswiki.com/wiki/New_Kids_on_the_Blecch) In the episode, [Bart Simpson](https://www.edgepedia.org/bart-simpson), Nelson Muntz, Milhouse Van Houten, and [Ralph Wiggum](https://www.edgepedia.org/ralph-wiggum) are recruited by the boy-band creator L.T. Smash to form a group called the Party Posse, which the boys later discover is a vehicle for subliminal messaging that urges listeners to join the navy.[1](https://simpsonswiki.com/wiki/New_Kids_on_the_Blecch) • [2](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/tv/the_simpsons/s12/e14)
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Episode number | Season 12, episode 14; 262nd episode overall[1](https://simpsonswiki.com/wiki/New_Kids_on_the_Blecch) |
| Original airdate | February 25, 2001[1](https://simpsonswiki.com/wiki/New_Kids_on_the_Blecch) |
| Production | Written by Tim Long; directed by Steven Dean Moore; production code CABF12; showrunner Mike Scully[1](https://simpsonswiki.com/wiki/New_Kids_on_the_Blecch) |
| Guest stars | 'N Sync as themselves[1](https://simpsonswiki.com/wiki/New_Kids_on_the_Blecch) |
| Plot | Bart, Milhouse, Ralph, and Nelson are recruited by boy-band creator L.T. Smash; 'N Sync pays a visit to Springfield[2](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/tv/the_simpsons/s12/e14) |
| Central premise | The Party Posse's songs contain subliminal messaging to get people to join the navy[1](https://simpsonswiki.com/wiki/New_Kids_on_the_Blecch) |
| IMDb rating | 7.2/10 from about 2,500 users; 30-minute runtime, TV-14[3](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0701190) |
## Production
The episode was written by Tim Long and directed by Steven Dean Moore, with Mike Scully as showrunner, and carries the production code CABF12.[1](https://simpsonswiki.com/wiki/New_Kids_on_the_Blecch) IMDb also lists Jim Reardon among the directors and Joel H. Cohen among the writers.[3](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0701190) The regular voice cast includes [Dan Castellaneta](https://www.edgepedia.org/dan-castellaneta) (Homer), [Julie Kavner](https://www.edgepedia.org/julie-kavner) (Marge), [Nancy Cartwright](https://www.edgepedia.org/nancy-cartwright) (Bart, Nelson, and Ralph), Yeardley Smith (Lisa), and Hank Azaria (Moe and Chief Wiggum, among others).[3](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0701190) • [4](https://www.tvmaze.com/episodes/5259/the-simpsons-12x14-new-kids-on-the-blecch) The chalkboard gag reads "I will not buy a presidential pardon", and the couch gag shows the family, dressed in prison clothes, tunneling to the couch while police searchlights pursue them.[1](https://simpsonswiki.com/wiki/New_Kids_on_the_Blecch)
## Plot
After Bart pulls a stunt during the Springfield Marathon, the boy-band creator Lt. Smash recruits Bart, Nelson, Milhouse, and Ralph into a new group, the Party Posse.[4](https://www.tvmaze.com/episodes/5259/the-simpsons-12x14-new-kids-on-the-blecch) • [2](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/tv/the_simpsons/s12/e14) A talent agency manufactures the band's musical abilities, and the group takes dance lessons and records a first song, "Special Girl".[1](https://simpsonswiki.com/wiki/New_Kids_on_the_Blecch) The boys later find out that their songs contain subliminal messaging intended to get people to join the navy.[1](https://simpsonswiki.com/wiki/New_Kids_on_the_Blecch) 'N Sync visit [Springfield](https://www.edgepedia.org/springfield) during the episode.[2](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/tv/the_simpsons/s12/e14)
## Reception and ratings
On IMDb the episode holds a rating of 7.2 out of 10 from roughly 2,500 users, with a 30-minute runtime and a TV-14 content rating.[3](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0701190) Rotten Tomatoes lists the episode with a TV-PG (L|V) rating on its episode page.[2](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/tv/the_simpsons/s12/e14) An IMDb user review places the episode in what the reviewer calls the show's "limbo years": hardly any good, but not as poor as the material from the mid-2000s onward.[5](https://m.imdb.com/title/tt0701190/reviews/)
## Afterlife
The episode resurfaced in 2014 when the Egyptian television station Al Tahrir presented a clip from its spoof music video, in which soldiers ride in a jeep decorated with a flag resembling the one used by anti-government rebels in the Syrian Civil War, as supposed evidence that the Syrian conflict was premeditated. The anchor, Rania Badawy, argued that the flag could not have existed in 2001. *Time*, citing *The New York Times*, noted that the Syrian opposition had not invented a new flag in 2011 but adopted an old version of the Syrian flag used before the country's 1963 military coup, and that the song's lyrics actually reference [Saddam Hussein](https://www.edgepedia.org/saddam-hussein), the then-dictator of Iraq.[6](https://time.com/90786/egyptian-tv-cites-simpsons-episode/)
## References
1. [New Kids on the Blecch, Wikisimpsons](https://simpsonswiki.com/wiki/New_Kids_on_the_Blecch)
2. [The Simpsons: Season 12, Episode 14, Rotten Tomatoes](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/tv/the_simpsons/s12/e14)
3. [New Kids on the Blecch (TV Episode 2001), IMDb](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0701190)
4. [New Kids on the Blecch - The Simpsons 12x14, TVmaze](https://www.tvmaze.com/episodes/5259/the-simpsons-12x14-new-kids-on-the-blecch)
5. [New Kids on the Blecch (TV Episode 2001) - User reviews, IMDb](https://m.imdb.com/title/tt0701190/reviews/)
6. [Egyptian TV Uses An Old Simpsons Episode To Prove the Arab Spring Was a Global Conspiracy, Time](https://time.com/90786/egyptian-tv-cites-simpsons-episode/)
---
*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Seasons, episodes, and installments › Episodes and serial chapters › Individual episode articles › General episode articles › Comedy and comedy-drama episodes*
*Initially written Sep 17, 2026 · Reviewed: Sep 19, 2026; Sep 30, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Sep 19, 2026; Sep 30, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*
*Copyright 2026 EdgeChat AI, a subsidiary of Biostate AI.*
License: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license