Lisa
wakes up one morning
saddened
. At school, she gets in trouble with her music teacher for improvising and becomes reluctant to play dodgeball in gym. At home,
Homer
and
Bart
pummel each other at video boxing, but despite Homer's attempts, he is unable to defeat Bart. Homer and
Marge
try to cheer Lisa up, but she is consumed with
existentialism
and worry over all the suffering in the world. In her room, Lisa hears music coming from outside her window. She follows the music through town and meets
Bleeding Gums Murphy
, a soulful saxophonist playing the
blues
. Lisa learns about expressing herself through her music from him, only to be discovered and whisked away by Marge.
Homer goes to the arcade and enlists the help of an arcade boxing expert, while Marge, who is still upset at Lisa for sneaking out the night before, takes her to band practice. She tells Lisa to smile no matter how she feels inside, to suppress her emotions to be popular, and that happiness will follow. But when she sees Lisa hiding her true feelings and being taken advantage of by her classmates and her music teacher, Marge changes her tune and tells Lisa to be herself. Her support helps Lisa to feel genuinely happy. When Homer returns home, he is about to defeat Bart in a rematch but Marge unplugs the game console to announce Lisa's recovery, while Bart declares his retirement as an undefeated video boxing champ. Later, the Simpsons visit a
jazz club
to hear Bleeding Gums Murphy sing a blues number written by Lisa.
"Moaning Lisa" was the first episode of the series to focus on the character, Lisa Simpson.
[6]
The idea for it was suggested by
The Simpsons
producer
James L. Brooks
, who wanted to do an episode where Lisa was sad but she did not know why.
[4]
The writers also felt they had done several "jokey" episodes on the show and wanted to try something new that was "really emotional and sweet".
[4]
While writers
Al Jean
and
Mike Reiss
were initially thrilled to write an episode pitched by Brooks, for whom they had deep admiration, they were unsure that the depression-themed episode would work.
Matt Groening
taunted the pair for having been assigned the episode, while
Sam Simon
told them that Brooks had been trying to get such an episode made since
Taxi
. According to Reiss, the episode establishes Lisa as a character, as in his and Jean's previous episode "
There's No Disgrace Like Home
", she is as badly behaved as Bart.
[7]
The song Lisa sings in this episode later reappeared in expanded form on
The Simpsons Sing the Blues
CD.
[4]
Mr. Largo, Lisa's music teacher, was partly inspired by a music teacher Groening had as a child.
[8]
The designs of the
boxers
in the video game Homer and Bart play were loosely based on Homer and Bart,
[4]
and the referee in the game was based on a character from Matt Groening's
Life in Hell
comic strip.
[8]
Bleeding Gums Murphy was loosely based on the famous blues musician
Blind Lemon Jefferson
.
[4]
Ralph Wiggum
,
[4]
Bleeding Gums Murphy, and
Jacqueline Bouvier
(during Marge's childhood flashback) all make their first (going by production order rather than airdate) appearances on
The Simpsons
in this episode.
[3]
In its original American broadcast, "Moaning Lisa" finished 34th place in the weekly ratings for the week of February 5?11, 1990 with a
Nielsen rating
of 13.8. It was the highest-rated show on Fox that week.
[9]
The authors of the book
I Can't Believe It's a Bigger and Better Updated Unofficial Simpsons Guide
, Warren Martyn and Adrian Wood, said: "Certain scenes of this, the most syrupy of
Simpsons
episodes, sent viewers raised on the later seasons scurrying to the bathroom. Yes, the final moments may give you goosepimples, and are a world away from the anti-schmaltz normally associated with the series, but there is still much to recommend here. In fact, the Homer?Bart subplot is more successful than the main storyline; Homer's nightmare about their relationship is genuinely disturbing."
[3]
In a DVD review of the first season, David B. Grelck rated the episode a
2
+
1
?
2
(of 5) and added: "Lisa develops much of her future personality in this episode. The family dynamic is starting to fall into place, as is the relationship between Homer and Lisa."
[10]
Colin Jacobson at DVD Movie Guide said in a review that "overall, this was a pretty drab episode" and added that "it had some moments, such as the videogame boxing matches between Homer and Bart, but Lisa lacked the strength at this point to carry an entire show".
[11]
Yeardley Smith
, the voice actress of Lisa, has cited the episode as one of her favorite
Simpsons
episodes of all time.
[12]
In his 2018 memoir
Springfield Confidential
, Mike Reiss named the episode as one of four that broke new ground, alongside "
Like Father, Like Clown
", "
Homer at the Bat
" and the original "
Treehouse of Horror
".
[7]
The episode was released first on home video in the United Kingdom, as part of a VHS release titled
The Simpsons Collection
; the episode was paired with season one episode "
Homer's Odyssey
".
[13]
It was released in the US on the VHS release
The Best of The Simpsons, Vol. 2
(1997), paired with "
Bart the General
".
[14]
In the United States, it was later re released in a collector's edition boxed set of the first three volumes of
The Best of The Simpsons
collections.
[15]
In the United Kingdom, it was re released as part of a VHS boxed set of the complete first season, in November 1999.
[16]
The episode's debut on the DVD format was as a part of
The Simpsons
season one DVD set, which was released on September 25, 2001. Groening, Reiss, Archer, and Jean participated in the DVD's
audio commentary
.
[17]
A digital edition of the series' first season, including the episode, was published December 20, 2010 in the United States through
Amazon Video
and
iTunes
.
[18]
- ^
Groening, Matt
(1997).
Richmond, Ray
; Coffman, Antonia (eds.).
The Simpsons: A Complete Guide to Our Favorite Family
(1st?ed.). New York:
HarperPerennial
. p.?
23
.
ISBN
978-0-06-095252-5
.
LCCN
98141857
.
OCLC
37796735
.
OL
433519M
.
.
- ^
a
b
c
Moaning Lisa
BBC.co.uk
. Retrieved on August 17, 2008
- ^
a
b
c
d
e
f
g
Jean, Al (2001).
The Simpsons The Complete First Season DVD commentary for the episode "Moaning Lisa"
(DVD). 20th Century Fox.
- ^
"The Simpsons: Moaning Lisa: Full CAst & Crew"
.
IMDb
. Retrieved
January 24,
2023
.
- ^
Wilson, Stacey (February 8, 2012).
"
'The Simpsons' at 500: Untold Stories"
.
The Hollywood Reporter
. Retrieved
February 8,
2012
.
- ^
a
b
Reiss, Mike (2018).
Springfield Confidential
(First?ed.). New York, NY: Dey Street. pp.?147?148.
ISBN
978-0-06-274803-4
.
- ^
a
b
Groening, Matt (2001).
The Simpsons The Complete First Season DVD commentary for the episode "Moaning Lisa"
(DVD). 20th Century Fox.
- ^
De Atley, Richard (February 16, 1990). "
'Blind Faith' and 'Funniest Home Videos' are in Nielsen Top 10".
St. Petersburg Times
. p.?7D.
- ^
Grelck, David B. (September 25, 2001).
"The Complete First Season"
. WDBGProductions. Archived from
the original
on February 2, 2009
. Retrieved
September 15,
2011
.
- ^
Jacobson, Colin.
"The Simpsons: The Complete First Season (1990)"
. DVD Movie Guide
. Retrieved
August 29,
2008
.
- ^
Smith, Yeardley [@YeardleySmith] (November 24, 2019).
"It's #SimpsonsSunday! Today I attempt to answer the impossible-but ubiquitous-question: "What's your favorite episode?" ????"
(
Tweet
)
. Retrieved
November 23,
2021
? via
Twitter
.
- ^
"The Simpsons - Moaning Lisa (1989)"
.
Amazon UK
. November 1991
. Retrieved
April 21,
2011
.
- ^
The Best of The Simpsons, Vol. 1 - Bart the General/ Moaning Lisa
. Amazon.com.
ASIN
6304561857
.
- ^
The Best of The Simpsons, Boxed Set 1
. Amazon.com.
ASIN
6304561873
.
- ^
"The Simpsons - Season 1 Box Set [VHS]"
.
Amazon UK
. November 29, 1999
. Retrieved
April 21,
2011
.
- ^
"The Simpsons - The Complete 1st Season"
.
TVShowsOnDVD.com
. Archived from
the original
on May 25, 2011
. Retrieved
April 21,
2011
.
- ^
"The Simpsons Season 1 - Amazon Video"
.
Amazon
. Retrieved
April 21,
2011
.
- Reiss, Mike (2018),
Springfield Confidential
, Dey Street,
ISBN
978-0-06-274803-4
- Groening, Matt
(October 28, 2010).
Richmond, Ray
;
Gimple, Scott M.
; McCann, Jessie L.; Seghers, Christine; Bates, James W. (eds.).
Simpsons World: The Ultimate Episode Guide: Seasons 1?20
(1st?ed.).
HarperCollins
.
ISBN
9780061711282
.