"Lisa the Simpson" | |
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The Simpsons episode | |
Episode no. | Season 9 Episode 17 |
Directed by | Susie Dietter |
Written by | Ned Goldreyer |
Production code | 4F24 |
Original air date | March 8, 1998 |
Guest appearance | |
Episode features | |
Couch gag | A vine grows in the middle of the living room. The Simpsons appear as fruits and vegetables. [1] |
Commentary | Bill Oakley Josh Weinstein Ned Goldreyer Susie Dietter |
"Lisa the Simpson" is the seventeenth episode of the ninth season of the American animated television series The Simpsons . It originally aired on Fox in the United States on March 8, 1998. [2] In the episode, Lisa fears that she may be genetically predisposed to lose her intelligence after Grampa tells her of a family gene that can permanently take away intelligence.
"Lisa the Simpson" was written by Ned Goldreyer and directed by Susie Dietter. [2] This was the final episode with Bill Oakley and Josh Weinstein as show runners. [2]
It received generally positive reviews from critics, and is considered one of the best episodes of the ninth season.
At Springfield Elementary, Lisa is presented with a brain teaser featuring strange hieroglyphs, which she is unable to solve. Following this incident, Lisa finds herself unable to perform simple tasks. Later, Lisa tells Grampa about her recent cognitive problems. He seems to recognize this, and tells Lisa about the "Simpson Gene", which apparently causes all members of the Simpson family to gradually lose their intelligence as they get older.
Lisa tries to accept the inevitable by watching lowbrow television with Homer and Bart, and reluctantly tries to join in the two messily eating candy bars from a hidden stash minutes before dinner. She has a sudden vision of a bleak future in which she is grossly obese and unintelligent, speaks in a Southern white trash accent, and is married to Ralph Wiggum who works as a hotdog vendor, and the two live in a trailer with their numerous children, while Lisa spends her days lazing in a hammock and watching soap operas.
After running away, Lisa appears on the TV news program Smartline to tell the citizens of Springfield to treasure their brains. As she does this, Homer decides to prove her wrong, and contacts the entire extended Simpson family to visit. However, when they arrive, Homer realizes they are also unsuccessful, unintelligent people, which only depresses Lisa further and causes Homer to send them home.
However, before they leave, Marge urges Homer to talk to the Simpson women. Reluctantly, he talks to one of them at her request and he discovers that the women are all successful. Lisa asks why the women in her family were not affected by the "Simpson Gene". Dr. Simpson reveals that the defective gene is only found in the Y-chromosome and only the males are affected. As a female, Dr. Simpson tells Lisa that she will be successful like they are. She is relieved that she is fine and she will not suffer the "Simpson Gene". When Bart realizes he will be a failure in life due to his gender, he is wary and bemoaning his future. However, Homer reassures him that he will be a spectacular failure. Lisa is soon finally able to solve the brain teaser she was unable to finish earlier in the episode; the answer was "6", with the hieroglyphs being 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5 but mirror-imaged. [2]
Meanwhile in the subplot, Jasper visits the Kwik-E-Mart and empties the freezer containing ice cream in order to freeze himself, with the intention of being defrosted sometime in the distant future. Apu decides to take advantage of this unusual situation for financial gain, exhibiting Jasper as "Frostillicus". The convenience store, now renamed the "Freak-E-Mart", becomes more profitable as a tourist trap, until the freezer's cooling system fails (after Apu had turned it up to its highest setting when he noticed Jasper's fingers twitching), causing Jasper to defrost and walk away. Apu then decides to turn the Kwik-E-Mart into a nude nightclub called the "Nude-E-Mart".
This episode was the final episode for a number of crew members on the show. It was the last episode run by Bill Oakley and Josh Weinstein, as it was a carry-over episode from season eight. Susie Dietter, one of the directors of the show, and Brad Bird, the show's executive consultant, also left the show after this episode. Dietter returned for one episode in season 18, "Yokel Chords" while Bird left to write and direct The Iron Giant . [3] The episode was written by Ned Goldreyer, and is one of the two episodes he has written on The Simpsons.
As it was the final episode they ran, Oakley and Weinstein wanted to end on a good note, with Weinstein stating that the episode "was meant to embody the humor, depth, and emotions of The Simpsons". [4] They also wished to have an episode they ran that was based on the background of every character they could do, and believed that this episode came out well. [4] The name of the episode was the center of an argument that Oakley and Goldreyer had, as Oakley had originally wanted to have the episode named "Lisa the Simpson", although Goldreyer wanted to name it "Suddenly Stupid", a pun on a show that had been airing at the time called Suddenly Susan . [5]
The Simpsons' family members that showed up took some time to be made, but the staff enjoyed the results. [4] All of the male Simpson family members that showed up were voiced by Dan Castellaneta, the voice of Homer. He had asked for the recording tape to be run for about 20 minutes, so he could do many different voice variations that would fit the different men, but still be close to Homer's voice. [4]
In its original broadcast, "Lisa the Simpson" finished 19th in ratings for the week of March 2–8, 1998, with a Nielsen rating of 10.7, equivalent to approximately 10.4 million viewing households. It was the second highest-rated show on the Fox network that week, following The X-Files . [6]
IGN 's Todd Gilchrist named the episode as one of his favorites of the ninth season in his review of the DVD boxset. [7] The authors of the book I Can't Believe It's a Bigger and Better Updated Unofficial Simpsons Guide, Warren Martyn and Adrian Wood, thought well of the episode, saying, "A terrific episode, with a good mix of pathos (Lisa's farewell to the Springsonian and her favourite jazz club are inspired) and fun (her Homeresque 'woo-hoo') which comes together to make a refreshing and exciting look at Lisa's life." [1]
Bill Oakley and Josh Weinstein greatly enjoyed the episode and thought of it as a great final episode that they ran. On the DVD audio commentary, writer Ned Goldreyer stated, "I think this might have been the best episode ever produced." [5]
Abraham Jay "Abe" Simpson II, better known as Grampa Simpson, is a recurring character in the animated television series The Simpsons. He made his first appearance in the episode entitled "Grandpa and the Kids", a one-minute Simpsons short on The Tracey Ullman Show, before the debut of the television show in 1989.
Apu Nahasapeemapetilon is a recurring character in the American animated television series The Simpsons. He is an Indian immigrant proprietor who runs the Kwik-E-Mart, a popular convenience store in Springfield, and is known for his catchphrase, "Thank you, come again". He was voiced by Hank Azaria and first appeared in the episode "The Telltale Head". He was named in honor of the title character of The Apu Trilogy by Satyajit Ray.
Reverend Timothy "Tim" Lovejoy, Jr. is a recurring character in the animated television series The Simpsons. He is voiced by Harry Shearer, and first appeared in the episode "The Telltale Head".
Troy McClure is a fictional character in the American animated series The Simpsons. He was originally voiced by Phil Hartman and first appeared in the second season episode "Homer vs. Lisa and the 8th Commandment". McClure is a washed-up actor who is usually shown doing low-level work, most notably hosting manipulative infomercials and questionable educational films. He appears as the main character in "A Fish Called Selma", in which he marries Selma Bouvier to aid his failing career and quash rumors about his personal life. McClure also hosts "The Simpsons 138th Episode Spectacular" and "The Simpsons Spin-Off Showcase".
Springfield is the primary fictional setting of the American animated sitcom The Simpsons and related media. It is an average-sized, fictional city within an unknown state in the United States. The fictional city's geography, surroundings, and layout are flexible, often changing to accommodate the plot of any given episode.
Josh Weinstein is an American television writer and producer, known for his work on the animated comedy series The Simpsons. Weinstein and Bill Oakley became best friends and writing partners at St. Albans School; Weinstein then attended Stanford University and was editor-in-chief of the Stanford Chaparral. He worked on several short-term media projects, including writing for the variety show Sunday Best, but was then unemployed for a long period.
"The Two Mrs. Nahasapeemapetilons" is the seventh episode of the ninth season of the American animated television series The Simpsons. It originally aired on Fox in the United States on November 16, 1997. It was written by Richard Appel and directed by Steven Dean Moore. The episode sees Apu Nahasapeemapetilon marry Manjula, and incorporates several aspects of Hindu wedding ceremonies, which the writers researched during the episode's production. Appel pitched the episode several years before season nine but the idea was not used until Mike Scully became showrunner. The episode's subplot, which sees Homer stay at the Springfield Retirement Castle, was initially conceived as a separate episode, but could not be developed in enough detail. The episode received positive reviews.
William Lloyd Oakley is an American television writer and producer, known for his work on the animated comedy series The Simpsons. Oakley and Josh Weinstein became best friends and writing partners at St. Albans School; Oakley then attended Harvard University and was Vice President of the Harvard Lampoon. He worked on several short-term media projects, including writing for the variety show Sunday Best, but was then unemployed for a long period.
"Scenes from the Class Struggle in Springfield" is the fourteenth episode of the seventh season of the American animated television series The Simpsons. It originally aired on Fox in the United States on February 4, 1996. In this episode, Marge buys a Chanel suit and, invited to join the Springfield Country Club, becomes obsessed with trying to fit in with Springfield's upper class.
"22 Short Films About Springfield" is the twenty-first episode of the seventh season of the American animated television series The Simpsons. It originally aired on the Fox Network in the United States on April 14, 1996. It was written by Richard Appel, David X. Cohen, Jonathan Collier, Jennifer Crittenden, Greg Daniels, Brent Forrester, Dan Greaney, Rachel Pulido, Steve Tompkins, Josh Weinstein, Bill Oakley, and Matt Groening, with the writing being supervised by Daniels. The episode was directed by Jim Reardon. Phil Hartman guest-starred as Lionel Hutz and the hospital board chairman.
"The Simpsons Spin-Off Showcase" is the twenty-fourth and penultimate episode of the eighth season of the American animated television series The Simpsons. It originally aired on the Fox network in the United States on May 11, 1997. The episode centers on fictional pilot episodes of non-existent television series derived from The Simpsons, and is a parody of the tendency of networks to spin off characters from a hit series. As such it includes references to many different television series. The first fictional spin-off is Chief Wiggum P.I., a cop-dramedy featuring Chief Wiggum and Seymour Skinner. The second is The Love-matic Grampa, a sitcom featuring Moe Szyslak who receives dating advice from Abraham Simpson, whose ghost is possessing a love testing machine. The final segment is The Simpson Family Smile-Time Variety Hour, a variety show featuring the Simpson family except for Lisa, who has been replaced.
"Lisa's Date with Density" is the seventh episode of the eighth season of the American animated television series The Simpsons. It originally aired on the Fox network in the United States on December 15, 1996. It was written by Mike Scully and directed by Susie Dietter. The episode sees Lisa develop a crush on Nelson Muntz. When they start dating and Lisa is unable to reform him, she ends their relationship. In the subplot, Homer uses an autodialer in a telemarketing scheme that annoys all of Springfield's residents.
"Home Sweet Homediddly-Dum-Doodily" is the third episode of the seventh season of the American animated television series The Simpsons. It originally aired on Fox in the United States on October 1, 1995. In the episode, following a series of misunderstandings, the Simpson children are put in foster care at Ned and Maude Flanders' house. Homer and Marge are forced to attend a parenting class to get their children back.
"Marge in Chains" is the twenty-first and penultimate episode of the fourth season of the American animated television series The Simpsons. It originally aired on Fox in the United States on May 6, 1993. In the episode, an exhausted Marge is arrested for shoplifting after forgetting to pay for an item at the Kwik-E-Mart. The family hires attorney Lionel Hutz to defend her at trial, but she is found guilty and sentenced to 30 days in prison. Homer and the rest of the family have trouble coping without Marge.
"Much Apu About Nothing" is the twenty-third episode of the seventh season of the American animated television series The Simpsons. It originally aired on the Fox network in the United States on May 5, 1996. In the episode, a referendum is placed on the ballot that will require all illegal immigrants in Springfield to be deported. After learning that Apu will be deported if the measure passes, Homer helps him prepare for a United States citizenship test so that he can become a legal citizen.
"Lisa's Pony" is the eighth episode of the third season of the American animated television series The Simpsons. It originally aired on Fox in the United States on November 7, 1991. In this episode, Homer goes drinking at Moe's Tavern instead of buying a new reed for Lisa's saxophone, making her flop at the school talent show. Desperate to win back his daughter's love, Homer gives Lisa the one thing she has always wanted: a pony. Homer struggles with two jobs to cover the cost of sheltering and feeding it. After seeing the sacrifices he endures to pay for it, Lisa decides to part with her pony.
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The fifth season of the American animated television series The Simpsons originally aired on the Fox network between September 30, 1993, and May 19, 1994. The showrunner for the fifth production season was David Mirkin who executive produced 20 episodes, with the season being produced by Gracie Films and 20th Century Fox Television. Al Jean and Mike Reiss executive produced the remaining two, which were both hold overs that were produced for the previous season. The season contains some of the series' most acclaimed and popular episodes, including "Cape Feare", "Lisa vs. Malibu Stacy", "Homer Goes to College", "Deep Space Homer", and "Rosebud". It also includes the 100th episode, "Sweet Seymour Skinner's Baadasssss Song". The season was nominated for two Primetime Emmy Awards and won an Annie Award for Best Animated Television Program as well as an Environmental Media Award and a Genesis Award. The DVD box set was released in Region 1 on December 21, 2004, Region 2 on March 21, 2005, and Region 4 on March 23, 2005.