Simpsons creator Matt Greening once named his favorite character

When you poll “Simpsons” fans about their favorite characters, Bart or Homer is usually at the top of the list. After all, they're the two main troublemakers of the show—the ones whose hookups usually drive the plot and command the most attention. However, for show creator Matt Greening, his favorite is the precocious eight-year-old Lisa (Yeardley Smith). As he explained a 2018 interview“I love Lisa Simpson the most because she seems to be the character who will develop and eventually escape Springfield. The others seem pretty forgotten and kind of stuck there.”

Greening also offered a list of his favorite supporting characters: “Ralph Wigg, Milhouse van Houten, Chief Skinner and Apu (…) I forgot Principal Skinner's mother, Agnes. Tress McNeil does the voice and every time she speaks I laugh. ”

He also talked about some of his favorite episodes in the show's history: “Over the years (there has been) the atypical episode with Frank Grime (aka Grimey)a guy who (gets hired) at a nuclear power plant and is driven insane by Homer. There is an episode where Homer Skateboards Over Springfield Gorge – Almost (…) Our motto is: The more pain, the more.”

Groening's choice might come as a surprise to some “Simpsons” fans, many of whom think Lisa is a bit of a snob or a know-it-all. It's common to scroll through the comments section of a random “Simpsons” clip and see people trashing Lisa for one reason or another. Some of this is just a normal internet trend where the most prominent female character on any given show is almost always the most hated. But it certainly doesn't help that Lisa is sometimes relegated to the ungrateful character of the voice of reason. In the show's laziest moments, she's there to drive home blessedly regardless of what the writers think, a role that will almost always rub some viewers the wrong way.

However, Lisa still reigned in what I would consider to be the classic era these 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 like it took the writers until season 3's “Liza the Greek” to fully figure it out. She also makes a great partner in crime with Bart when the episodes let her, and her love of social justice leads her to fight villains like Mr. Burns and that murderous politician Bob Arnold. Perhaps Liz's best quirk is that she's simultaneously the smartest person on the show and a typical eight-year-old girl. She can lead a presentation on lake pollution at the town hall, but she also gets into a childish fight with her brother:

But Lisa's main appeal is that she's not only the only Simpsons character with a bright future ahead of her, but also the loneliest character and may have had the biggest shakeup of the entire show. “Moaning Lisa,” “Lisa's Substitute,” “Round Springfield” and “Summer of 4'2” are some of the most emotional episodes of the series, mostly because Lisa's sensitivity allows the show to go places it couldn't go before. other characters. Lisa is not only the brains of the series; she is also its heart.