Lisa's Substitute - Production

Production

The episode was written by Jon Vitti and directed by Rich Moore. According to Vitti, The Simpsons producer James L. Brooks contributed more to this episode than he did to any other in the show's history. Vitti said the episode was "very controversial" when it was being made because it "came at a point when the staff were just beginning to realize the comedy potential of the show, but we were trapped with these love stories, and just as the staff were starting to get frustrated with the love stories, along came 'Lisa's Substitute': the biggest, huggiest, warmest and fuzziest of them all."

Mr. Bergstrom was modeled on the physical appearance of Mike Reiss, a longtime writer and producer on the show. American actor Dustin Hoffman provided the voice of Mr. Bergstrom. Hoffman was not sure if he wanted to be identified with a cartoon show at the time, like many early guest stars on The Simpsons, and therefore used the pseudonym Sam Etic in the closing credits. Sam Etic is a play on the word semitic, alluding to the fact that both Hoffman and Mr. Bergstrom are Jewish. Brooks was the one who suggested the pseudonym, which Hoffman immediately liked. The cast of the show flew to New York to record the episode with Hoffman. Yeardley Smith, who provides the voice of Lisa, said she grew as an actress after working with Hoffman that day. The Simpsons writer Al Jean said he remembered that when the audio track of the episode came back, Hoffman's voice was too low on the singing parts. The staff were "petrified" that the singing scenes would not show up on air, so they had Hoffman re-record them when he was in Los Angeles.