"Your son's a genius!"

―J. Loren Pryor^[src]

"The point I’m trying to make here is that Bart must learn to be less of an individual and more a faceless slug."

―J. Loren Pryor^[src]

"Have you considered the army? They're always looking for angry, messed-up young men."

―J. Loren Pryor, to teenage Homer^[src]

Dr. James Loren Pryor, M.D. is the psychologist for the school district in which Springfield Elementary School is located.

Biography[]

Dr. Pryor is one of the few employees at Springfield Elementary School who seems to actually be qualified in his field, despite relying on long outdated psychological methods such as using calipers on children's heads to conduct a phrenology analysis of children's mental status; phrenology was discredited in the scientific community by the 1840s. He does have a slight tendency toward gullibility, as Bart easily tricked Pryor into sending him to a school for gifted children by.^[2] Later, however, Pryor recommended that Bart repeat the fourth grade and refused to back off of his recommendation, in spite of Bart's protests.^[3]

Dr. Pryor also seems to be prone to occasional absent-mindedness. When Bart was in kindergarten, Homer and Marge saw him to discuss problems Bart was having with adjusting to school. Pryor said it was due to Bart's "flamboyantly homosexual tendencies," and then corrected himself when he realized he was looking at Milhouse's file instead of Bart's.^[4]

Pryor has had a much more uniformly positive influence on Lisa. On the same visit as when he accidentally disclosed the contents of Milhouse's file, Pryor spotted Lisa as a gifted child when she did a complicated puzzle and gave her age as "Three and three-eighths." He told Homer and Marge to nurture her gift.^[5] Later, when Lisa went through a rebellious phase, Pryor determined that it was the result of a developmental condition and correctly advised Homer about how to help her through it.^[6]

He took part of the world's tallest human pyramid record attempt.^[7]

After a several-year absence from the show, Pryor reappears, giving Bart some counseling over his coping of Marge's gray hair after Bart beat up Milhouse on the playground following comments made by Milhouse regarding Marge's hair.^[8]

Pryor appears once again in the episode "Mothers and Other Strangers" after another several years of absence. In a flashback as a guidance counselor, he tried to help a teenage Homer move on from the loss of his mother Mona (although she's still alive) by recommending to him to join the army but Homer declines and walks out of the room.^[9]

Non-Canon Appearances[]

The contents of this article or section are considered to be non-canon and therefore may not have actually happened/existed.

When Bart's and Lisa's arrangement to prank each other's teachers goes severely wrong, Lisa decides she has to kill Bart and chases him through Springfield Elementary School with a knife. At one point during the chase, Bart ducks into Dr. Pryor's office.^[10]

Pryor was on the top balcony of the Parasite house being strangled by Dolph. But it's not known if he was killed by him or not.^[11]

Appearances[]

Note: Many of his appearances are cameos, episodes in which he has a speaking role are in bold.

Trivia[]

• According to part of the crew on the 2001 DVD commentary for the Season 1 Bart the Genius episode, they were initially gonna form a little duo team between Dr. Pryor & Principal Skinner, where they help each other to try to get Bart out of school. In the end, this did not go through, and Superintendent Chalmers, who eventually made his debut in the 4th season, took over this role.

Citations[]