Production
"Moaning Lisa" was the first episode of the series to focus on Lisa. The idea for it was suggested by The Simpsons producer James L. Brooks, who wanted to do an episode where Lisa was sad but she did not know why. The writers also felt that they had done several "jokey" episodes on the show and wanted to try something new that was "really emotional and sweet". The song Lisa sings in this episode later reappeared in expanded form on The Simpsons Sing the Blues CD.
Mr. Largo, Lisa's music teacher, was partly inspired by a music teacher Matt Groening had as a kid. The designs of the boxers in the video game Homer and Bart play were loosely based on Homer and Bart, and the referee in the game was based on a character from Matt Groening's Life in Hell comic strip. Bleeding Gums Murphy was loosely based on the famous blues musician Blind Lemon Jefferson. Ralph Wiggum, Bleeding Gums Murphy, and Jacqueline Bouvier (during Marge's childhood flashback) all make their first appearances on The Simpsons in this episode.
Read more about this topic: Moaning Lisa
Famous quotes containing the word production:
“The growing of food and the growing of children are both vital to the family’s survival.... Who would dare make the judgment that holding your youngest baby on your lap is less important than weeding a few more yards in the maize field? Yet this is the judgment our society makes constantly. Production of autos, canned soup, advertising copy is important. Housework—cleaning, feeding, and caring—is unimportant.”
—Debbie Taylor (20th century)
“The problem of culture is seldom grasped correctly. The goal of a culture is not the greatest possible happiness of a people, nor is it the unhindered development of all their talents; instead, culture shows itself in the correct proportion of these developments. Its aim points beyond earthly happiness: the production of great works is the aim of culture.”
—Friedrich Nietzsche (1844–1900)
“The development of civilization and industry in general has always shown itself so active in the destruction of forests that everything that has been done for their conservation and production is completely insignificant in comparison.”
—Karl Marx (1818–1883)