Lisa's Substitute
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"Lisa's Substitute" is the 19th episode of the second season of The Simpsons. The episode is about Lisa falling in love with an unconventional substitute teacher.
Synopsis
When Ms. Hoover falls ill with a suspected case of lyme disease, she is replaced by substitute teacher Mr. Bergstrom. With his unusual teaching methods, Lisa quickly takes a liking to him; he is the only teacher, and perhaps the only adult, who has ever challenged, respected, and liked her. Just as Lisa is about to ask Mr. Bergstrom over to her parents house for dinner, Ms. Hoover returns. Rushing to the train station, Lisa confesses to Mr. Bergstrom (who is taking a job in another city) that she will be lost without him. To comfort her, he writes her a note with a message that will always support her. When he is gone, she finds that the note says "You are Lisa Simpson."
Meanwhile, Bart runs for class president against Martin Prince. With his shock-based campaign, he seems to be the winner, but still loses due to the fact that nobody in the class (including himself) votes, with the exception of Martin himself and one other student, Wendell.
At dinner that evening, Bart is miserable and Lisa is very upset. Lisa explains to Homer that Mr. Bergstrom is gone, but Homer responds in his usual uncaring manner which enrages Lisa who calls him a baboon before running to her room in tears. Marge furiously orders Homer upstairs to apologize and make up with Lisa. He goes upstairs and manages to cheer Lisa up with a baboon impression. Finding Bart still seething over the election result, Homer reminds his son that all the job would have meant was extra work with little reward. Bart is then instantly glad he lost. Finally going by Maggie's room, he places her pacifier in her mouth.
Proud that he helped all three of his children, Homer goes to bed happy that night.
Trivia
- The character of the substitute teacher, Mr. Bergstrom, was actually modeled on the physical appearance of Mike Reiss, longtime writer/producer for the show.
Sam Etic
Sam Etic is a pseudonym for actor Dustin Hoffman. The name is a play on the word semitic, alluding to the fact that Hoffman is Jewish. Since Hoffman's, and in season 3 Michael Jackson's appearance under pseudonyms, series creator Matt Groening has imposed the rule that guest voices on the show are not permitted to use pseudonyms.This is referenced in the later episode "[[Itchy & Scratchy: The Movie]]", in which Lisa tells Bart that the film included several cameos, mentioning Michael Jackson and Dustin Hoffman, adding that "they didn't use their real names, but you could tell it was them."
Greatest episode ever
After a six-month-long extensive voting process that involved every episode from seasons 1 to 16, Simpsons fansite No Homers Club concluded that Lisa's Substitute was the greatest Simpsons episode ever, after thousands of votes from dedicated fans of the show. It won after a close final vote against Mother Simpson. This was quite surprising, as many people had slated Last Exit to Springfield to win, as it is widely regarded as the best episode ever, but it ended up being eliminated quite early into the competition, not even being voted the best of its season.The process was done over six months by having heats for each season, where NHC users would vote out their worst episode(s) from the list, until two were left. This process could take up to a month. They were then placed into a head-to-head heat final, until the best episode of that season was chosen. The best episode of each season (plus four wildcards) were then placed in the final elimination topic, until just Mother Simpson (voted best of Season 7) and Lisa's Substitute (voted best of Season 2) were left. They were then placed in a head-to-head grand final, which Lisa's Substitute won.
External links
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