Reception and Legacy
In its original broadcast, "Lisa's Wedding" finished 52nd in ratings for the week of March 13-19, 1995, with a Nielsen rating of 9.1, equivalent to approximately 8.7 million viewing households. It was the third highest-rated show on the Fox network that week, following Beverly Hills, 90210 and Melrose Place.
"Lisa's Wedding" won an Emmy Award in 1995 for Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Animated Program, becoming the third episode of The Simpsons to win in the category. This episode is a favorite of James L. Brooks, who believes that it is one of the best written episodes and ranks near the top of Simpsons episodes. The emotion of "Lisa's Wedding" is often compared with season 2's "Lisa's Substitute". The Quindecim, a college newspaper, made their own top 25 list, ranking "Lisa's Wedding" as the greatest episode of The Simpsons. They also criticised Entertainment Weekly for leaving this episode and "Lisa's Substitute" off their top 25 list, saying it was the "equivalent of leaving the Sistine Chapel off a list of Michelangelo's best work ... Serving well as bookends, these episodes are not only brilliantly funny, they're among the most genuinely touching stories in the show's entire run."
Mandy Patinkin as Hugh is considered one of the best Simpsons guest spots by Chris Turner in his book Planet Simpson, who says that many of the best Simpsons guest stars have been lesser known celebrities. In a 2008 article, Entertainment Weekly named Patinkin one of the 16 best Simpsons guest stars. The Daily Telegraph characterized the episode as one of "The 10 Best Simpsons TV Episodes."
On August 1, 2010, the day of Lisa's wedding in the episode, the name "Lisa Simpson" was a trending topic on Twitter, a microblogging website. Most of the Twitter users that "tweeted" her name wished her a happy wedding day.
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Famous quotes containing the words reception and/or legacy:
“He’s leaving Germany by special request of the Nazi government. First he sends a dispatch about Danzig and how 10,000 German tourists are pouring into the city every day with butterfly nets in their hands and submachine guns in their knapsacks. They warn him right then. What does he do next? Goes to a reception at von Ribbentropf’s and keeps yelling for gefilte fish!”
—Billy Wilder (b. 1906)
“What is popularly called fame is nothing but an empty name and a legacy from paganism.”
—Desiderius Erasmus (c. 1466–1536)