Lisa the Vegetarian

The Simpson family visits a fairy tale–themed amusement park. At the petting zoo, Lisa is enchanted by a cute lamb. That night, Marge serves lamb chops for dinner. Troubled by the connection between the dish and its living counterpart, Lisa decides to become a vegetarian. Bart and Homer razz her to no end for her new food choices. Reaction at school is no better: when Lisa objects to dissecting a worm in class and requests a vegetarian alternative to the cafeteria food, Principal Skinner labels her an "agitator". After her second-grade class is forced to watch a Meat Council propaganda film starring Troy McClure that criticizes a vegetarian eating style, Lisa's classmates tease and ignore her. Jealous of Ned Flanders' barbecue, Homer hosts his own, complete with roast pig. Lisa makes gazpacho as an alternative to meat, only to have the partygoers laugh in her face. After Homer inadvertently flips a burger into her room that lands on her face, an enraged Lisa stops the guests from eating the roast by using a riding mower to drive away with the pig in tow. Homer and Bart chase her, but she pushes the pig off a slope. It rolls into a river and is shot into the air by a dam spillway's suction. At home, Homer is furious at his daughter for ruining his barbecue; Lisa rebukes him for serving a meat-based dish. At breakfast the next day, Lisa runs away after Homer's choice of words causes Lisa to reach her breaking point, calling Homer a "prehistoric carnivore" after she is punished by him. Lisa eventually succumbs to the pressure to eat meat and bites into a hot dog from the roller grill at the Kwik-E-Mart. However, Apu, an avid vegan, reveals that she has eaten a tofu dog, and leads Lisa through a secret passageway to the Kwik-E-Mart roof, where they meet Paul and Linda McCartney. Being vegetarians, the McCartneys explain that they are old friends of Apu from Paul's days in India. Apu then asks her what happened at home that made her run away. After a brief confession, he helps Lisa realize her intolerance towards others' views. Lisa recommits herself to vegetarianism, but she also realizes that she should not force her animal rights views onto others. On her way home, Lisa reunites with Homer, who is frantically searching for her, and apologizes to her, admitting that he and Bart went too far in picking on her for wanting to be a vegetarian. Lisa apologizes, also admitting she has no right to wreck his party. Homer forgives her and offers her a "veggie-back" ride home. During the end credits, the roasted pig is seen still flying through the air. ==Production==

Writing (then known as David S. Cohen) wrote. "Lisa the Vegetarian" was the first full-length episode David X. Cohen wrote for The Simpsons. 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". Voice acting and Linda McCartney guest-star 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 was murdered 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. The staff wanted to bring McCartney onto the show, and Mirkin thought "Lisa the Vegetarian" would be an attractive story, since McCartney is a vegetarian himself. The staff promised that she would remain a vegetarian, resulting in one of the few permanent character changes made in the show (though Lisa would be seen eating bacon in the season twenty-seventh episode "Fland Canyon" in a flashback that Homer explicitly mentions as having taken place before the events of this episode). McCartney's wife Linda was also recruited to appear in the episode. She told Entertainment Weekly that the episode was a chance for her and her husband "to spread the vegetarian word to a wider audience". Paul and Linda were both long-time fans of The Simpsons. Mirkin later said that recording with the McCartneys was one of the most "amazing" experiences of his life. where the McCartneys spent an hour recording their parts. On April 17, 1998, Linda McCartney died of breast cancer, aged 56. The Simpsons' season nine episode "Trash of the Titans", which aired on April 26, was dedicated to her memory. Executive producer Mike Scully said, "It just seemed like the right thing to do. Everyone here was surprised and saddened by her death." Directing and animating The episode was directed by Mark Kirkland, ==Cultural references==

The episode features several references to the Beatles and McCartney's solo career. A modified version of the song plays in the final scene, then over the closing credits of the episode; One of the backwards snippets says, "Oh, and by the way, I'm alive", When Lisa, Apu, and the McCartneys gather on the Kwik-E-Mart roof, Apu tells Lisa: "I learned long ago to tolerate others rather than forcing my beliefs on them. You know, you can influence people without badgering them always. It's like Paul's song, 'Live and Let Live'." Paul corrects Apu and says the song's title is actually "Live and Let Die". The McCartneys later ask Lisa if she would like to hear a song, and Apu sings part of "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band", ==Reception==

"Lisa the Vegetarian" originally aired on the Fox network in the United States on October 15, 1995. It finished 47th in the ratings for the week of October 9–15, 1995, with a Nielsen rating of 9.0, equivalent to approximately 8.63 million viewing households. The episode was the fourth highest-rated show on the Fox network that week, following The X-Files, Fox NFL Sunday, and Melrose Place. The episode has also received a Genesis Award in the "Best Television Comedy Series, Ongoing Commitment" category. The Genesis Award is awarded annually by the Humane Society of the United States to honor works that raise the public's understanding of animal issues. 's favorite episodes. He was show runner of The Simpsons when it was produced, and directed the McCartneys' performance. "Lisa the Vegetarian" has received widespread acclaim from television critics and is popular among the staff of The Simpsons; among them, Mirkin, Kirkland, 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". 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". 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." 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". the authors of the book ''I Can't Believe It's a Bigger and Better Updated Unofficial Simpsons Guide'', called it "Lisa's finest hour - you'll cheer as she saves the life of an earthworm, triggers the school's Independent Thought alarm system and makes a pig fly." and Dzikiy thought it seemed "a little forced". IGN collectively 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. 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." and Larry Dobrow and Mike Errico of Blender listed it as the eighth-best band cameo in the show's history. ==See also==