Lisa vs. Malibu Stacy
Encyclopedia
"Lisa vs. Malibu Stacy" is the fourteenth episode of The Simpsons
. It originally aired on the Fox network in the United States on February 17, 1994. In the episode, Lisa
challenges the makers of the Malibu Stacy doll to create a less dull doll. Together with the original creator of Malibu Stacy, Stacy Lovell, Lisa creates the doll Lisa Lionheart in an effort to positively influence young girls.
The episode was written by Bill Oakley
and Josh Weinstein
, and directed by Jeffrey Lynch
. The episode's plot was inspired by the Teen Talk Barbie
line of talking dolls, which spoke a number of phrases considered demeaning to women. Kathleen Turner
guest starred in the episode as Stacy Lovell, creator of Malibu Stacy. It features cultural references to action figures such as Ken and G.I. Joe
. Since airing, the episode has received mostly positive reviews from television critics. It acquired a Nielsen rating
of 11.6, and was the second highest-rated show on the Fox network the week it aired.
becomes aware, perhaps fearful, of his future death and gives the family their inheritances early. He leaves the family a box of old silver dollars that they decide to spend at the mall right away. At the mall, Lisa sees the new talking Malibu Stacy doll in a toy store. Lisa is anxious to hear what the talking Malibu Stacy has to say, but is disappointed with her sexist phrases (such as "Don't ask me, I'm just a girl" and "Thinking gives you wrinkles") and general ditsy-ness. Throughout the trip, Abe will not stop telling stories and spouting useless advice, making the family shun him. Lisa is angry that no one else, friends or family, can see the ridiculousness of the doll. Back home, she and Abe sit at the kitchen table, bemoaning how they are treated because of their age while people 18-49 are revered to the point that some company released Homer's idea for a snack treat called "Nuts and Gum: Together At Last." Abe decides to get a job, and Lisa decides to find Malibu Stacy's creator, Stacy Lovell.
Lisa visits Waylon Smithers
, owner of the world's largest Malibu Stacy collection, and asks for help in finding Lovell, who was ousted from the Malibu Stacy company in 1974 as her way of thinking "wasn't cost-effective" (and she was "funneling profits to the Viet Cong"). She bikes to Lovell's house and plays the doll's phrases over the intercom. The gate immediately opens. Lisa and Lovell decide to create a new talking doll, Lisa Lionheart, voiced by Lisa herself. The doll is quietly released, but the executives of Malibu Stacy view Lisa's doll as a real threat because it might hurt the sales of their doll. Meanwhile, Abe struggles with his new job at Krusty Burger, suffering a war flashback at the drive-in and losing his false teeth making burgers. He soon becomes angry at the way seniors are treated, and quits. At the mall, as kids rush out to buy Lisa Lionheart, a cart of new Malibu Stacy dolls with new hats is wheeled right into the path of the group running for the Lisa display. Lisa appeals to them that it is just the same doll with a new hat, but they all prefer to stick with Malibu Stacy, largely due to the encouragement of Smithers, except for one little girl, who leaves with a Lisa Lionheart doll. Despite the fact that the doll is a failure, Lisa takes heart that her message was able to get through to at least one little girl.
and Josh Weinstein
, and directed by Jeffrey Lynch
. Before the episode aired, Malibu Stacy had already appeared many times on the show as one of Lisa's dolls. The staff were trying to come up with an idea for an episode by going through the companies in the Simpsons universe, and Oakley suggested an episode involving the Malibu Stacy company. The plot of the episode was inspired by the Teen Talk Barbie line of talking dolls that caused controversy in the United States in the early 1990s. In July 1992, Mattel
released Teen Talk Barbie, which spoke a number of phrases including "Will we ever have enough clothes?", "I love shopping!", and "Wanna have a pizza party?" Each doll was programmed to say four out of 270 possible phrases, so that no two dolls were likely to be the same. One of these 270 phrases was "Math
class is tough!". Although only about 1.5% of all the dolls sold said the phrase, it led to criticism from the American Association of University Women
because it was deemed to be demeaning to women. In October 1992, Mattel announced that Teen Talk Barbie would no longer say the phrase, and offered a swap to anyone who owned a doll that did.
Oakley and Weinstein decided to include Abe in the episode because they had an "obsession" with old people. Weinstein said they both "love them and seem to really hate them" at the same time. He also said that they enjoy writing for characters such as Abe and Mr. Burns because of their "out-datedness", and because he and Oakley get to use dictionaries for looking up "old time slang
". Executive producer David Mirkin
thought it was difficult to make Abe funny because he is a "boring and tedious" character. He thinks that even though "Abe's doing all these complaints, what makes him funny is that the things he says are actually funny in the context of the boring and tedium." Mirkin thought this was a "big challenge, and Bill and Josh pulled it off very well."
When the episode was in production, Oakley's wife Rachel Pulido was an enthusiastic Barbie
collector. Oakley therefore spent a lot of time going to Barbie conventions across the United States and met many different collectors. At one convention, Oakley met the man who owned the world's largest Barbie collection. The meeting between the two inspired the part of the episode where Lisa visits Smithers and it is revealed that Smithers is the owner of the world's largest Malibu Stacy collection. Kathleen Turner
guest starred in the episode as Stacy Lovell. Mirkin thought Turner was "completely game" when she showed up at the recording studio to record her lines as she "nailed" her lines really fast. He added that he enjoyed directing her and he thought she had one of the best performances ever on The Simpsons.
At the beginning of the episode, Abe watches his idol Ben Matlock talk to a crowd of excited seniors at the Grand Opening of the Center for Geriatric Medicine. Matlock is a character from the American television series Matlock
, portrayed by Andy Griffith
. The crowd cheer for Matlock by singing a slightly changed version of the "We Love You, Conrad" song from stage musical Bye Bye Birdie. Homer dances on giant piano keys recessed in the floor of the toy store, spoofing a scene from the 1988 film Big
. Lisa wants Lisa Lionheart to have "the wisdom of Gertrude Stein
, the wit of Cathy Guisewite
, the tenacity of Nina Totenberg
, the common sense of Elizabeth Cady Stanton
, and the down-to-earth good looks of Eleanor Roosevelt
."
Stacy Lovell's list of husbands features the action figures Ken, Johnny West, G.I. Joe
, Doctor Colossus, and Steve Austin
. Lisa's story about the Malibu Stacy doll saying phrases that are considered demeaning to women is based on the Teen Talk Barbie line of dolls and how they caused controversy. During one scene in the episode, one girl's Malibu Stacy doll says "My Spidey Sense is tingling! Anyone call for a web-slinger?
", a reference to a practical joke by the Barbie Liberation Organization
in the early 1990s in which the voiceboxes of talking Barbie and G.I. Joe toys were swapped.
of 11.6, equivalent to 11 million viewing households. It was the second highest-rated show on the Fox network that week, following Beverly Hills, 90210
.
Since airing, the episode has received mostly positive reviews from television critics. DVD Movie Guide's Colin Jacobson thought the episode was "good but not great", despite "more than a few strong moments, like the hilarious shot of Bart at the gay rights parade." He added that "most years this would be an A-list program, but it’s one of season five’s lesser lights despite a generally high level of quality." The authors of the book I Can't Believe It's a Bigger and Better Updated Unofficial Simpsons Guide, Warren Martyn and Adrian Wood, described the episode as "Lisa at her crusading best, Homer at his stupidest and Abe getting all the best lines again, especially at Krusty Burgers. Kathleen Turner's spot as the real Malibu Stacy is superb." Janica Lockhart of The Easterner called the episode a "classic" and added: "The episode takes on misogynist
views, but in a humorous way, that only The Simpsons can master." Patrick Bromley of DVD Verdict gave the episode a grade of A, and DVD Talk
's Bill Gibron gave it a score of 5 out of 5. The episode is one of Oakley and Weinstein's favorites from their time as writers on the show. One of Mirkin's favorite jokes on the show is the scene in this episode where Abe cycles down the street, shouting "Look at me, I'm acting young!" before Lisa's Malibu Stacy doll catches the front wheel of the bike, sending Abe flying into an open grave.
In the book The Simpsons and Philosophy: The D'oh! of Homer
, Aeon J. Skoble cited the episode as an example in his piece titled: "Do We Admire or Laugh at Lisa?". He wrote: "The fact that the less intellectual doll is vastly preferred over Lisa's doll, even though Lisa's objections are reasonable, demonstrates the ways in which reasonable ideas can be made to take a back seat to having fun and going with the flow. This debate is often played out in the real world, of course: Barbie is the subject of perennial criticism along the lines of Lisa's
critique of Malibu Stacy, yet remains immensely popular, and in general, we often see
intellectual critiques of toys dismissed as 'out of touch' or elitist."
The Simpsons
The Simpsons is an American animated sitcom created by Matt Groening for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series is a satirical parody of a middle class American lifestyle epitomized by its family of the same name, which consists of Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa and Maggie...
The Simpsons (season 5)
The Simpsons fifth season originally aired on the Fox network between September 30, 1993 and May 19, 1994. The show runner for the fifth production season was David Mirkin who executive produced 20 episodes. Al Jean and Mike Reiss executive produced the remaining two, which were both hold overs...
. It originally aired on the Fox network in the United States on February 17, 1994. In the episode, Lisa
Lisa Simpson
Lisa Marie Simpson is a fictional main character in the animated television series The Simpsons. She is the middle child of the Simpson family. Voiced by Yeardley Smith, Lisa first appeared on television in The Tracey Ullman Show short "Good Night" on April 19, 1987. Cartoonist Matt Groening...
challenges the makers of the Malibu Stacy doll to create a less dull doll. Together with the original creator of Malibu Stacy, Stacy Lovell, Lisa creates the doll Lisa Lionheart in an effort to positively influence young girls.
The episode was written by Bill Oakley
Bill Oakley
Bill Oakley is an American television writer and producer, known for his work on the animated comedy series The Simpsons. Oakley and Josh Weinstein became best friends and writing partners at high school; Oakley then attended Harvard University and was Vice President of the Harvard Lampoon...
and Josh Weinstein
Josh Weinstein
Josh Weinstein is an American television writer and producer, known for his work on the animated comedy series The Simpsons. Weinstein and Bill Oakley became best friends and writing partners at St. Albans High School; Weinstein then attended Stanford University and was editor-in-chief of the...
, and directed by Jeffrey Lynch
Jeffrey Lynch
Jeffrey Lynch is an American animator and graphic artist. He has worked as an animation director on The Simpsons and Futurama, and as an assistant director on Spider-Man, Spider-Man 2, Spider-Man 3 and The Iron Giant....
. The episode's plot was inspired by the Teen Talk Barbie
Barbie
Barbie is a fashion doll manufactured by the American toy-company Mattel, Inc. and launched in March 1959. American businesswoman Ruth Handler is credited with the creation of the doll using a German doll called Bild Lilli as her inspiration....
line of talking dolls, which spoke a number of phrases considered demeaning to women. Kathleen Turner
Kathleen Turner
Mary Kathleen Turner is an American actress. She came to fame during the 1980s, after roles in the Hollywood films Body Heat, Peggy Sue Got Married, Romancing the Stone, The War of the Roses, Who Framed Roger Rabbit and Prizzi's Honor...
guest starred in the episode as Stacy Lovell, creator of Malibu Stacy. It features cultural references to action figures such as Ken and G.I. Joe
G.I. Joe
G.I. Joe is a line of action figures produced by the toy company Hasbro. The initial product offering represented four of the branches of the U.S. armed forces with the Action Soldier , Action Sailor , Action Pilot , Action Marine and later on, the Action Nurse...
. Since airing, the episode has received mostly positive reviews from television critics. It acquired a Nielsen rating
Nielsen Ratings
Nielsen ratings are the audience measurement systems developed by Nielsen Media Research, in an effort to determine the audience size and composition of television programming in the United States...
of 11.6, and was the second highest-rated show on the Fox network the week it aired.
Plot
Dr. Hibbert introduces a frail Ben Matlock to a crowd of excited seniors at the Grand Opening of the Center for Geriatric Medicine. After seeing his idol mobbed to the ground by fans, AbeAbraham Simpson
Abraham J. "Abe" Simpson, often known simply as Grampa, is a fictional character in the animated television series The Simpsons. He is voiced by Dan Castellaneta and he is also the patriarch of the Simpson family, the father of Homer Simpson, and the grandfather of Bart, Lisa, and Maggie Simpson...
becomes aware, perhaps fearful, of his future death and gives the family their inheritances early. He leaves the family a box of old silver dollars that they decide to spend at the mall right away. At the mall, Lisa sees the new talking Malibu Stacy doll in a toy store. Lisa is anxious to hear what the talking Malibu Stacy has to say, but is disappointed with her sexist phrases (such as "Don't ask me, I'm just a girl" and "Thinking gives you wrinkles") and general ditsy-ness. Throughout the trip, Abe will not stop telling stories and spouting useless advice, making the family shun him. Lisa is angry that no one else, friends or family, can see the ridiculousness of the doll. Back home, she and Abe sit at the kitchen table, bemoaning how they are treated because of their age while people 18-49 are revered to the point that some company released Homer's idea for a snack treat called "Nuts and Gum: Together At Last." Abe decides to get a job, and Lisa decides to find Malibu Stacy's creator, Stacy Lovell.
Lisa visits Waylon Smithers
Waylon Smithers
Waylon Smithers, Jr., usually referred to as Smithers, is a recurring fictional character in the animated series The Simpsons, who is voiced by Harry Shearer. Smithers first appeared in the episode "Homer's Odyssey", although he could be heard in the series premiere "Simpsons Roasting on an Open...
, owner of the world's largest Malibu Stacy collection, and asks for help in finding Lovell, who was ousted from the Malibu Stacy company in 1974 as her way of thinking "wasn't cost-effective" (and she was "funneling profits to the Viet Cong"). She bikes to Lovell's house and plays the doll's phrases over the intercom. The gate immediately opens. Lisa and Lovell decide to create a new talking doll, Lisa Lionheart, voiced by Lisa herself. The doll is quietly released, but the executives of Malibu Stacy view Lisa's doll as a real threat because it might hurt the sales of their doll. Meanwhile, Abe struggles with his new job at Krusty Burger, suffering a war flashback at the drive-in and losing his false teeth making burgers. He soon becomes angry at the way seniors are treated, and quits. At the mall, as kids rush out to buy Lisa Lionheart, a cart of new Malibu Stacy dolls with new hats is wheeled right into the path of the group running for the Lisa display. Lisa appeals to them that it is just the same doll with a new hat, but they all prefer to stick with Malibu Stacy, largely due to the encouragement of Smithers, except for one little girl, who leaves with a Lisa Lionheart doll. Despite the fact that the doll is a failure, Lisa takes heart that her message was able to get through to at least one little girl.
Production
The episode was written by Bill OakleyBill Oakley
Bill Oakley is an American television writer and producer, known for his work on the animated comedy series The Simpsons. Oakley and Josh Weinstein became best friends and writing partners at high school; Oakley then attended Harvard University and was Vice President of the Harvard Lampoon...
and Josh Weinstein
Josh Weinstein
Josh Weinstein is an American television writer and producer, known for his work on the animated comedy series The Simpsons. Weinstein and Bill Oakley became best friends and writing partners at St. Albans High School; Weinstein then attended Stanford University and was editor-in-chief of the...
, and directed by Jeffrey Lynch
Jeffrey Lynch
Jeffrey Lynch is an American animator and graphic artist. He has worked as an animation director on The Simpsons and Futurama, and as an assistant director on Spider-Man, Spider-Man 2, Spider-Man 3 and The Iron Giant....
. Before the episode aired, Malibu Stacy had already appeared many times on the show as one of Lisa's dolls. The staff were trying to come up with an idea for an episode by going through the companies in the Simpsons universe, and Oakley suggested an episode involving the Malibu Stacy company. The plot of the episode was inspired by the Teen Talk Barbie line of talking dolls that caused controversy in the United States in the early 1990s. In July 1992, Mattel
Mattel
Mattel, Inc. is the world's largest toy company based on revenue. The products it produces include Fisher Price, Barbie dolls, Hot Wheels and Matchbox toys, Masters of the Universe, American Girl dolls, board games, and, in the early 1980s, video game consoles. The company's name is derived from...
released Teen Talk Barbie, which spoke a number of phrases including "Will we ever have enough clothes?", "I love shopping!", and "Wanna have a pizza party?" Each doll was programmed to say four out of 270 possible phrases, so that no two dolls were likely to be the same. One of these 270 phrases was "Math
Mathematics
Mathematics is the study of quantity, space, structure, and change. Mathematicians seek out patterns and formulate new conjectures. Mathematicians resolve the truth or falsity of conjectures by mathematical proofs, which are arguments sufficient to convince other mathematicians of their validity...
class is tough!". Although only about 1.5% of all the dolls sold said the phrase, it led to criticism from the American Association of University Women
American Association of University Women
The American Association of University Women advances equity for women and girls through advocacy, education, and research. It was founded in 1882 by Ellen Swallow Richards and Marion Talbot...
because it was deemed to be demeaning to women. In October 1992, Mattel announced that Teen Talk Barbie would no longer say the phrase, and offered a swap to anyone who owned a doll that did.
Oakley and Weinstein decided to include Abe in the episode because they had an "obsession" with old people. Weinstein said they both "love them and seem to really hate them" at the same time. He also said that they enjoy writing for characters such as Abe and Mr. Burns because of their "out-datedness", and because he and Oakley get to use dictionaries for looking up "old time slang
Slang
Slang is the use of informal words and expressions that are not considered standard in the speaker's language or dialect but are considered more acceptable when used socially. Slang is often to be found in areas of the lexicon that refer to things considered taboo...
". Executive producer David Mirkin
David Mirkin
David Mirkin is an American feature film and television director, writer and producer. Mirkin grew up in Philadelphia and intended to become an electrical engineer, but abandoned this career path in favor of studying film at Loyola Marymount University. After graduating, he became a stand-up...
thought it was difficult to make Abe funny because he is a "boring and tedious" character. He thinks that even though "Abe's doing all these complaints, what makes him funny is that the things he says are actually funny in the context of the boring and tedium." Mirkin thought this was a "big challenge, and Bill and Josh pulled it off very well."
When the episode was in production, Oakley's wife Rachel Pulido was an enthusiastic Barbie
Barbie
Barbie is a fashion doll manufactured by the American toy-company Mattel, Inc. and launched in March 1959. American businesswoman Ruth Handler is credited with the creation of the doll using a German doll called Bild Lilli as her inspiration....
collector. Oakley therefore spent a lot of time going to Barbie conventions across the United States and met many different collectors. At one convention, Oakley met the man who owned the world's largest Barbie collection. The meeting between the two inspired the part of the episode where Lisa visits Smithers and it is revealed that Smithers is the owner of the world's largest Malibu Stacy collection. Kathleen Turner
Kathleen Turner
Mary Kathleen Turner is an American actress. She came to fame during the 1980s, after roles in the Hollywood films Body Heat, Peggy Sue Got Married, Romancing the Stone, The War of the Roses, Who Framed Roger Rabbit and Prizzi's Honor...
guest starred in the episode as Stacy Lovell. Mirkin thought Turner was "completely game" when she showed up at the recording studio to record her lines as she "nailed" her lines really fast. He added that he enjoyed directing her and he thought she had one of the best performances ever on The Simpsons.
Cultural references
Matlock (TV series)
Matlock is an American television legal drama, starring Andy Griffith in the title role of attorney Ben Matlock. The show originally aired from September 23, 1986 to May 8, 1992 on NBC, where it replaced The A-Team, then from November 5, 1992 until May 7, 1995 on ABC.The show's format was similar...
, portrayed by Andy Griffith
Andy Griffith
Andy Samuel Griffith is an American actor, director, producer, Grammy Award-winning Southern-gospel singer, and writer. He gained prominence in the starring role in director Elia Kazan's epic film A Face in the Crowd before he became better known for his television roles, playing the lead...
. The crowd cheer for Matlock by singing a slightly changed version of the "We Love You, Conrad" song from stage musical Bye Bye Birdie. Homer dances on giant piano keys recessed in the floor of the toy store, spoofing a scene from the 1988 film Big
Big
Big is a 1988 romantic comedy film directed by Penny Marshall and stars Tom Hanks as Josh Baskin, a young boy who makes a wish "to be big" to a magical fortune-telling machine and is then aged to adulthood overnight...
. Lisa wants Lisa Lionheart to have "the wisdom of Gertrude Stein
Gertrude Stein
Gertrude Stein was an American writer, poet and art collector who spent most of her life in France.-Early life:...
, the wit of Cathy Guisewite
Cathy Guisewite
Cathy Lee Guisewite is the cartoonist who created the comic strip Cathy, about a career woman facing the issues and challenges of eating, work, relationships, and being a mother. As Cathy put it in one of her strips, "The four basic guilt groups."Born in Dayton, Ohio, Guisewite grew up in Midland,...
, the tenacity of Nina Totenberg
Nina Totenberg
Nina Totenberg is an American legal affairs correspondent for National Public Radio focusing primarily on the activities and politics of the Supreme Court of the United States. Her reports air regularly on NPR's newsmagazines All Things Considered, Morning Edition, and Weekend Edition...
, the common sense of Elizabeth Cady Stanton
Elizabeth Cady Stanton
Elizabeth Cady Stanton was an American social activist, abolitionist, and leading figure of the early woman's movement...
, and the down-to-earth good looks of Eleanor Roosevelt
Eleanor Roosevelt
Anna Eleanor Roosevelt was the First Lady of the United States from 1933 to 1945. She supported the New Deal policies of her husband, distant cousin Franklin Delano Roosevelt, and became an advocate for civil rights. After her husband's death in 1945, Roosevelt continued to be an international...
."
Stacy Lovell's list of husbands features the action figures Ken, Johnny West, G.I. Joe
G.I. Joe
G.I. Joe is a line of action figures produced by the toy company Hasbro. The initial product offering represented four of the branches of the U.S. armed forces with the Action Soldier , Action Sailor , Action Pilot , Action Marine and later on, the Action Nurse...
, Doctor Colossus, and Steve Austin
Steve Austin (fictional character)
Steve Austin is a fictional character created by Martin Caidin for his 1972 novel, Cyborg, who later became a 1970s television icon as portrayed by Lee Majors in the 1974-1978 series The Six Million Dollar Man.-Background:...
. Lisa's story about the Malibu Stacy doll saying phrases that are considered demeaning to women is based on the Teen Talk Barbie line of dolls and how they caused controversy. During one scene in the episode, one girl's Malibu Stacy doll says "My Spidey Sense is tingling! Anyone call for a web-slinger?
Spider-Man
Spider-Man is a fictional Marvel Comics superhero. The character was created by writer-editor Stan Lee and writer-artist Steve Ditko. He first appeared in Amazing Fantasy #15...
", a reference to a practical joke by the Barbie Liberation Organization
Barbie Liberation Organization
The Barbie Liberation Organization or BLO, sponsored by RTMark, are a group of artists and activists involved in culture jamming. They gained notoriety in 1993 by switching the voice boxes on talking G.I. Joes and Barbie dolls...
in the early 1990s in which the voiceboxes of talking Barbie and G.I. Joe toys were swapped.
Reception
In its original broadcast, "Lisa vs. Malibu Stacy" finished 23rd in the ratings for the week of February 14–20, 1994, with a Nielsen ratingNielsen Ratings
Nielsen ratings are the audience measurement systems developed by Nielsen Media Research, in an effort to determine the audience size and composition of television programming in the United States...
of 11.6, equivalent to 11 million viewing households. It was the second highest-rated show on the Fox network that week, following Beverly Hills, 90210
Beverly Hills, 90210
Beverly Hills, 90210 is an American drama series that originally aired from October 4, 1990 to May 17, 2000 on Fox and was produced by Spelling Television in the United States, and subsequently on various networks around the world. It is the first series in the Beverly Hills, 90210 franchise...
.
Since airing, the episode has received mostly positive reviews from television critics. DVD Movie Guide's Colin Jacobson thought the episode was "good but not great", despite "more than a few strong moments, like the hilarious shot of Bart at the gay rights parade." He added that "most years this would be an A-list program, but it’s one of season five’s lesser lights despite a generally high level of quality." The authors of the book I Can't Believe It's a Bigger and Better Updated Unofficial Simpsons Guide, Warren Martyn and Adrian Wood, described the episode as "Lisa at her crusading best, Homer at his stupidest and Abe getting all the best lines again, especially at Krusty Burgers. Kathleen Turner's spot as the real Malibu Stacy is superb." Janica Lockhart of The Easterner called the episode a "classic" and added: "The episode takes on misogynist
Misogyny
Misogyny is the hatred or dislike of women or girls. Philogyny, meaning fondness, love or admiration towards women, is the antonym of misogyny. The term misandry is the term for men that is parallel to misogyny...
views, but in a humorous way, that only The Simpsons can master." Patrick Bromley of DVD Verdict gave the episode a grade of A, and DVD Talk
DVD Talk
DVD Talk is a website for DVD enthusiasts founded in January 1999 by Geoffrey Kleinman when DVDs and DVD players were first beginning to hit the market.The site started as an online forum, an email newsletter, and a page of DVD news and reviews...
's Bill Gibron gave it a score of 5 out of 5. The episode is one of Oakley and Weinstein's favorites from their time as writers on the show. One of Mirkin's favorite jokes on the show is the scene in this episode where Abe cycles down the street, shouting "Look at me, I'm acting young!" before Lisa's Malibu Stacy doll catches the front wheel of the bike, sending Abe flying into an open grave.
In the book The Simpsons and Philosophy: The D'oh! of Homer
The Simpsons and Philosophy: The D'oh! of Homer
The Simpsons and Philosophy: The D'oh! of Homer is a non-fiction book analyzing the philosophy and popular culture effects of the American animated sitcom, The Simpsons, published by Open Court. The book is edited by William Irwin, Mark T. Conard and Aeon J...
, Aeon J. Skoble cited the episode as an example in his piece titled: "Do We Admire or Laugh at Lisa?". He wrote: "The fact that the less intellectual doll is vastly preferred over Lisa's doll, even though Lisa's objections are reasonable, demonstrates the ways in which reasonable ideas can be made to take a back seat to having fun and going with the flow. This debate is often played out in the real world, of course: Barbie is the subject of perennial criticism along the lines of Lisa's
critique of Malibu Stacy, yet remains immensely popular, and in general, we often see
intellectual critiques of toys dismissed as 'out of touch' or elitist."
External links
- "Lisa vs. Malibu Stacy" at The Simpsons.com