Lisa the Vegetarian

This was the first full-length episode David X. Cohen (then known as David S. Cohen) wrote.

"Lisa the Vegetarian" was the first full-length episode David X. Cohen wrote for The Simpsons.[5] His most prominent work for the show to that point had been the "Nightmare Cafeteria" segment in the season six episode "Treehouse of Horror V".[6] The idea for "Lisa the Vegetarian" came to him while he was working on another script for the show. Cohen could not concentrate on his task because he was waiting for lunch, and on the back of the script he scribbled, "Lisa becomes a vegetarian?". Cohen showed the note to writer Brent Forrester, who liked the idea.[5] Show runner David Mirkin then approved the story when Cohen pitched it to him. Mirkin had just become a vegetarian himself, and later noted that many of Lisa's experiences in the episode were based on his own.[6]

Writer Bill Oakley suggested the episode's barbecue scenes.[5] Cohen's first draft contained a more philosophical argument between Lisa and Homer about eating meat, but Oakley told Cohen that the story needed something more specific to serve as the basis of Homer and Lisa's dispute.[5] George Meyer, a writer known among the staff for his "bizarre physical jokes",[6] contributed the idea of the barbecue pig getting caught in the spillway and flying into the air.[6] Cohen credits writer John Swartzwelder for inspiring the scene in which Homer finds it impossible to believe that bacon, ham, and pork chops could possibly come from the same animal. According to Cohen it was based on a real statement made by Swartzwelder, who was going on and on about how amazing the pig is for the variety of cuts of meat that come from it.[7]

Paul and Linda McCartney guest starred in the episode.

At the time the episode was being written, Paul McCartney was the only living member of the Beatles who had never appeared on The Simpsons. John Lennon died before the show was created, but Ringo Starr and George Harrison had guest starred in 1991 ("Brush with Greatness") and 1993 ("Homer's Barbershop Quartet"), respectively.[6][8][9] The staff wanted to bring McCartney onto the show, and David Mirkin thought "Lisa the Vegetarian" would be an attractive story, since McCartney is a vegetarian himself.[6] McCartney agreed to appear, but requested that Lisa remain a vegetarian for the rest of the series, rather than revert to meat-eating in the next episode.[10][11][12][13] The staff promised that she would remain a vegetarian,[11][14] resulting in one of the few permanent character changes made in the show.[15][16] McCartney's wife Linda was also recruited to appear in the episode.[17][18] She told Entertainment Weekly that the episode was a chance for her and her husband "to spread the vegetarian word to a wider audience".[12] Paul and Linda were both long-time fans of The Simpsons.[19]

Mirkin later said that recording with the McCartneys was one of the most "amazing" experiences of his life.[6] He flew to London and met the couple at Paul McCartney's recording studio,[20] where the McCartneys spent an hour recording their parts.[6] The Simpsons creator Matt Groening was supposed to go with Mirkin to London, but missed his plane.[15] Groening commented that having McCartney and the rest of the Beatles on The Simpsons "was a dream come true for all of us".[21]

Linda McCartney died of cancer at age 56 on April 17, 1998.[22] The Simpsons' season nine episode "Trash of the Titans", which aired on April 26, 1998, was dedicated to her memory.[23] Executive producer Mike Scully said, "It just seemed like the right thing to do. Everyone here was surprised and saddened by her death."[24]

The episode was directed by Mark Kirkland,[2] who was intrigued by the story because he had not seen many television episodes about vegetarianism.[25] The designs for Paul and Linda McCartney are unusual for The Simpsons in that the characters have brown and blue irises, respectively. Most The Simpsons characters simply have black spots in the centers of their eyes.[25]

In one scene of the episode, Homer sprays two bottles of lighter fluid onto his grill, causing viewers to anticipate an explosion when Homer throws a match on it. When he does release the match, however, the grill barely ignites. A similar scene appears in an older episode of The Simpsons, "Treehouse of Horror", although in that episode, Homer uses a single bottle of lighter fluid and causes an explosion. Mirkin enjoyed the joke enough to reuse parts of it in "Lisa the Vegetarian", adding new twists to further enhance the comedic effect.[6] The old sketches from "Treehouse of Horror" were used to help the animators animate the scene.[25]

"Lisa the Vegetarian" is one of David Mirkin's favorite episodes. He was show runner of The Simpsons when it was produced, and directed the McCartneys' performance.

"Lisa the Vegetarian" has received universal acclaim from television critics and the staff of The Simpsons. Among the show's staff, Mirkin,[6] Kirkland,[25] Groening,[15] and writer Ian Maxtone-Graham list it as one of their favorite episodes.[38] In the DVD audio commentary for the episode, Mirkin called the opening sequence at the petting zoo one of his favorite set pieces in the show's history. He thought it was "absolutely hilarious", and praised Kirkland for his animation. Mirkin also enjoyed the use of Apu in the episode, because Apu shows Lisa that "the way to get people to change is through tolerance and understanding".[6] Groening considers the joke in which the family forms a conga line to be one of the "high-points" in the history of The Simpsons.[15]

Television critics praised "Lisa the Vegetarian" for its humor. John Serba of the Grand Rapids Press named it his favorite episode, "because the tale of Lisa's conversion to vegetarianism has more humorous scenes per square inch than any other episode".[39]

The Ventura County Reporter's Matthew Singer thought it was "overflowing with great individual scenes", particularly Troy McClure's Meat Council propaganda video, which he said "may be the funniest isolated segment in the history of the show".[40]

Today's Patrick Enwright, who listed the episode as his second favorite of the series, highlighted the "You don't win friends with salad!" song as "one of those archetypal Simpsons moments, one in which the writers hit a joke so long that it goes from funny to unfunny and back to funny again."[41]

Reviewers of the episode have also praised it for its character development. Todd Gilchrist of IGN said he thinks the key to The Simpsons' longevity is its "sentimental but not gooey" approach to storytelling and character development. He cited "Lisa the Vegetarian" as an example and said: "Lisa sabotages Homer's barbecue, which results in an unceremonious death for his prize pig. But rather than simply punctuating the episode with an iconic image of the porker soaring through the air, the writers actually develop a story into which the joke fits. The comedic effect is actually intensified because we care about the characters, are invested in the story, and primed for a great gag."[42]

The Niagara Gazette's Phil Dzikiy said that "the character development and storytelling is perfect", noting that the episode was "equally hilarious, touching and satirical".[43]

The McCartneys' guest appearance received mixed reactions from critics. Warren Martyn and Adrian Wood, the authors of the book I Can't Believe It's a Bigger and Better Updated Unofficial Simpsons Guide, called it a "superb" performance.[2] Singer, however, thought their cameo was poorly integrated into the show,[40] and Dzikiy thought it seemed "a little forced".[43]

IGN ranked McCartney's performance in this episode, along with Ringo Starr's performance in "Brush with Greatness", and George Harrison's performance in "Homer's Barbershop Quartet", as the tenth best guest appearance in The Simpsons' history.[44] They added that "Although none of these appearances were really large, the fact that the most popular band of all time appeared on The Simpsons is a large statement on the popularity and importance of the show."[44]

Simon Crerar of Times Online named Paul and Linda McCartney's performance in the episode as one of the thirty-three "funniest Simpsons cameos ever",[45] and Larry Dobrow and Mike Errico of Blender listed it as the eighth best band cameo in the show's history.[29]