The Simpsons Creator Matt Groening Once Named His Favorite Character

When you poll “Simpsons” fans for their favorite character, Bart or Homer usually tops the list. Those are the show’s two main villains after all – the ones whose hijinks usually drive the plot and draw the most attention. For the creator of the show, Matt Groening, however, his favorite is Lisa (Yeardley Smith), eight years old. As he explained in s interview 2018“I love Lisa Simpson the most, because she seems like the one character who’s going to evolve and eventually escape Springfield. The rest seem pretty oblivious and like they’re stuck there .”

Groening also offered a list of his favorite supporting characters: “Ralph Wiggum, Milhouse van Houten, Principal Skinner and Apu (…) I forgot Principal Skinner’s mother, Agnes. Tress MacNeille does the voice, and every time she she talks, I laugh.”

He also talked about some of his favorite episodes in the show’s history: “Over the years, (there is) the atypical episode with Frank Grimes (aka Grimey)the man who (is employed at) the nuclear power plant and is driven mad by Homer. The episode where Homer skateboards over Springfield Canyon – almost (…) Our motto is: More pain, more fun.”

Groening’s choice may come as a surprise to some “Simpsons” fans, many of whom see Lisa as a bit of a noise or a know-it-all. It’s common to go through the comments section of a random “Simpsons” clip and see people trashing Lisa for one reason or another. Some of that is just the usual trend with the internet, where the most prominent female character in any show is almost always the most hated. But it certainly doesn’t help that Lisa is sometimes relegated to the thankless role of the voice-of-reason character. At the show’s laziest, she’s there to sanctimoniously drive home whatever point the writers are making, a role that will almost always rub some viewers the wrong way.

However, Lisa still reigned during the classical period, and I would consider that those first eight seasons. Her dynamic with Homer is one of the funniest (and often sweetest) relationships in the entire series; the two bounce off each other perfectly, even if it seems to take until season 3’s “Lisa the Greek” to fully figure this out. She also makes a great partner-in-crime with Bart when the episodes let her, and her love of social justice has her fighting the good fight against villains like Mr. Burns and that sleazeball politician Bob Arnold. Perhaps the best gag of all with Lisa is the way she is at the same time the smartest person on the show and a normal eight-year-old girl. She can lead a presentation on lake pollution at the town hall, but she’ll also get into a childish spat with her brother:

But Lisa’s main appeal is that she, as well as being the only “Simpsons” character with a bright future ahead of her. also the most lonely character and it can be argued that he went through the most turmoil throughout the show. “Lisa’s Complaint,” “Substitute Lisa,” “Round Springfield,” and “Summer 4’2” are some of the most emotional episodes in the series, mostly because Lisa’s sensitivity lets the show go places could take them completely. other characters. Lisa isn’t just the brains of the series; she is also her heart.