{{Use American English|date=January 2025}} {{Use mdy dates|date=September 2023}} {{Good article}} {{Infobox Simpsons episode | image = | caption = | season = 9 | episode = 3 | director = [[Dominic Polcino]] | writer = [[Al Jean]] | production = * 3F26<ref>{{cite web|url= https://www.acmearchivesdirect.com/collections/simpsons-production-art/products/3f26-season-9-f5409|title=3F26 (Season 9) – Simpsons Production Art|author=Lisa's Sax|work=[[20th Century Animation]]|publisher=ACME Archives|access-date=June 20, 2024}}</ref> * 3G02 | airdate = {{Start date|1997|10|19}} | guests = * [[Fyvush Finkel]] as himself playing [[Krusty the Clown|Krusty]] | blackboard = "[[Money for Nothing (song)|I no longer want my MTV]]"<ref name="Book">{{cite book |last=Gimple |first=Scott M. |title=[[The Simpsons Forever!: A Complete Guide to Our Favorite Family ...Continued]] |publisher=[[HarperCollins]] |date=1999-12-01 |isbn=978-0-06-098763-3}}</ref> | couch_gag = [[Homer Simpson|Homer]] is a [[Matryoshka doll|Russian nesting doll]] that twists himself off and reveals each family member's top half.<ref name=bbc>{{cite web |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/cult/simpsons/episodeguide/season9/page3.shtml |title=Lisa's Sax |access-date=2007-12-02 |author1=Martyn, Warren |author2=Wood, Adrian |year=2000 |publisher=BBC|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20031013013403/https://www.bbc.co.uk/cult/simpsons/episodeguide/season9/page3.shtml|archive-date=2003-10-13}}</ref> | commentary = * Al Jean * Mike Reiss * Dominic Polcino | prev = [[The Principal and the Pauper]] | next = [[Treehouse of Horror VIII]] }}
"'''Lisa's Sax'''" is the third episode of the [[The Simpsons season 9|ninth season]] of the American animated television series ''[[The Simpsons]]''. It originally aired on [[Fox Broadcasting Company|Fox]] in the United States on October 19, 1997, to overwhelmingly positive reviews. In the series' sixth flashback episode, it is explained how [[Lisa Simpson|Lisa]] got her saxophone. The episode was executive produced by [[Al Jean]] and [[Mike Reiss]] and was the first episode Jean wrote by himself, as all of his previous writing credits had been shared with Reiss. It was directed by [[Dominic Polcino]] and guest starred [[Fyvush Finkel]], who appeared as himself portraying [[Krusty the Clown|Krusty]] in a film.<ref name="bbc" />
==Plot== [[Homer Simpson|Homer]] and [[Bart Simpson|Bart]] are watching the [[The WB|Warner Bros. Network]] on television when they are interrupted by [[Lisa Simpson|Lisa]] playing her [[saxophone]] in her bedroom. Bart enters Lisa's bedroom and tries to grab the saxophone from her, but he inadvertently tosses it out the window. It lands in the middle of the street and is run over by traffic and stomped on by [[Nelson Muntz]]. In a period of mourning, Lisa reveals she cannot remember ever ''not'' having that saxophone, so Homer recounts the instrument's origins.
In a flashback to 1990, Bart goes to his first day of school, but things do not go so well for him and he becomes depressed. It is during discussions of Bart's future that the school [[psychologist]] realizes the young Lisa is very intelligent, telling Homer and [[Marge Simpson|Marge]] that they need to nurture her gifted spirit. They try to send Lisa to a private school but the tuition fee costs $6,000. Meanwhile, a terrible heatwave hits Springfield and Homer saves $200 to buy an [[air conditioner]]. Marge, however, asks Homer not to buy one until they figure out how to help Lisa. At the school, Bart talks with [[Milhouse Van Houten|Milhouse]] and makes a [[Flatulence|farting]] sound, which Milhouse finds amusing. Encouraged, Bart entertains a group of children and sets out on his path to become the school prankster.
On his way to purchase a new air conditioner, Homer discovers that a musical instrument is a way to encourage a gifted child, and subsequently sacrifices his air conditioner money to buy Lisa her first saxophone. In the present, Marge mentions that there is some money in the air conditioner account, so Homer decides to buy another saxophone for Lisa.
==Production== [[File:Al_Jean_by_Gage_Skidmore_2.jpg|thumb|This was the first episode for which [[Al Jean]] was credited as having written by himself.]] "Lisa's Sax" is the first episode of the show that [[Al Jean]] was credited as having been written by himself. Before this episode, all of his writing credits had been shared with [[Mike Reiss]].<ref name="Reiss">{{cite video |people=Reiss, Mike |date=2006 |title=The Simpsons season 9 DVD commentary for the episode "Lisa's Sax" |medium=DVD |publisher=20th Century Fox}}</ref> The episode was written with a small staff that consisted of Jean, Reiss and [[David M. Stern|David Stern]], among others. According to Reiss, the final episode contained 80–90% of Jean's original script.<ref name="Jean">{{cite video |people=Jean, Al |date=2006 |title=The Simpsons season 9 DVD commentary for the episode "Lisa's Sax" |medium=DVD |publisher=20th Century Fox}}</ref> It is the sixth flashback episode done by the show. "[[The Way We Was]]" was the first flashback episode and in it, Homer graduated from high school in 1974 and that made it difficult to have a realistic timeframe as this episode is set in 1990.<ref name="Jean"/> Jean conceived the idea for the ''[[All in the Family]]'' style opening while waiting to get tickets to the [[O. J. Simpson murder case|O.J. Simpson murder trial]].<ref name="Jean"/> The episode was originally very short, so the montage of Lisa playing the sax at the end was added to pad it out,<ref name="Jean"/> and the full [[The Simpsons opening sequence|intro]] is used.
The pastel drawing of Krusty was drawn entirely by Dominic Polcino, who revealed it was the only piece of original artwork created solely by him that was featured in an episode. He created the pastel drawing with this in mind. It was an easy episode for Polcino to direct due to the lack of crowds and being a "grounded episode".<ref name="Polcino">{{cite video |people=Polcino, Dominic |date=2006 |title=The Simpsons season 9 DVD commentary for the episode "Lisa's Sax" |medium=DVD |publisher=20th Century Fox}}</ref> This is the last episode in which [[Doris Grau]] has a speaking role as [[Lunchlady Doris]], although this episode aired nearly two years after her death. It would also mark the final time the character would speak until [[The Simpsons season 18|Season 18]]'s "[[The Mook, the Chef, the Wife and Her Homer]]" when she was voiced by [[Tress MacNeille]].<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.imdb.com/character/ch0003039/filmoseries#tt0096697 |title=Lunchlady Doris (Character) |access-date=2007-11-20 |publisher=[[Internet Movie Database]]}}</ref>
==Cultural references== The opening scene of the episode depicts a TV movie broadcast by [[The WB]] titled ''The Krusty the Klown Story: Booze, Drugs, Guns, Lies, Blackmail and Laughter''; although this is a parody of cheesy TV movie biopics in general, it more specifically lampoons ''Love and Betrayal: The Mia Farrow Story'' which aired on Fox in 1995. While telling Bart and Lisa about 1990, Homer says, "[[Tracey Ullman]] was entertaining America with [...] crudely drawn filler material." This is a reference to [[The Simpsons shorts|''The Simpsons''{{'}}s debut]] as "bumpers" airing before and after commercials on ''[[The Tracey Ullman Show]]''.<ref name=bbc/> The song "Those Were the Days" parodies the opening credits of the television show ''[[All in the Family]]''.<ref name="Jean"/> Bart's blackboard punishment "I no longer want my [[MTV]]" is a reference to the old MTV slogan "I Want My MTV" (and a jab at the channel's declining quality due to lack of music videos and an uptick in reality TV shows, like ''[[The Real World (TV series)|The Real World]]''). One of the people who run over the saxophone is a man on a tricycle, who promptly falls over. This is a reference to the show ''[[Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In]]''.<ref name="Jean"/> At the beginning of the flashback, the song "[[Don't Worry, Be Happy]]" by [[Bobby McFerrin]] can be heard.<ref name="Jean"/> In the flashback, [[Julius Hibbert|Dr. Hibbert]] fashioned his hair and attire like [[Mr. T]] in ''[[The A-Team]]''.<ref name="Jean"/> Homer can be seen watching ''[[Twin Peaks]]'' and [[The Giant (Twin Peaks)|The Giant]] is then shown waltzing with the White Horse.<ref name=bbc/> Homer imagines playing foosball with [[Michelangelo]]'s [[David (Michelangelo)|''David'']] and [[Edvard Munch|Munch]]'s ''[[The Scream]].<ref name="bbc" />'' In King Toot's music store, when Homer buys Lisa her first saxophone, there is a guitar in the background that is similar to [[Eddie Van Halen]]'s "[[Frankenstrat]]" guitar.<ref name="Reiss"/> The photo beside Kent Brockman on the news has him modeled after the [[Coppertone (sunscreen)|Coppertone]] Girl.<ref>{{cite news|last1=Ryan|first1=Kyle|title=The Simpsons (Classic): "Lisa's Sax"|url=https://www.avclub.com/the-simpsons-classic-lisa-s-sax-1798184434|access-date=January 23, 2022|newspaper=[[The A.V. Club]]|date=July 12, 2015}}</ref> At the end of the episode, Lisa performs a brief, cruder rendition of the hook of "[[Baker Street (song)|Baker Street]]" by [[Gerry Rafferty]] on her new saxophone before the music segues into the original song.<ref name=bbc/>
==Reception== In its original broadcast, "Lisa's Sax" finished 51st in ratings for the week of October 13–19, 1997, with a [[Nielsen ratings|Nielsen rating]] of 8.2, equivalent to approximately 8.0 million viewing households. It was the second highest-rated show on the Fox network that week, following ''[[King of the Hill]]''.<ref>{{cite news |title=Game 2 of series slides into top 10 |work=Rocky Mountain News |agency=Associated Press |page=15D |date=October 23, 1997}}</ref> The authors of the book ''I Can't Believe It's a Bigger and Better Updated Unofficial Simpsons Guide'', Warren Martyn and Adrian Wood, called it "a terrific episode, full of amusing self-referential wit and it is especially nice to finally discover what it was that caused Bart to go down the path to the dark side."<ref name="bbc"/>
Robert Canning of ''[[IGN]]'' strongly praised the episode, saying it is "not only very funny, but it's also loaded with ''Simpson'' heart."<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.ign.com/articles/2008/06/09/the-simpsons-flashback-lisas-sax-review |title=The Simpsons Flashback: "Lisa's Sax" Review |author=Canning, Robert |work=IGN |access-date=2022-01-23 |date=2008-06-09}}</ref> A review of ''The Simpsons'' season 9 DVD release in ''[[The San Diego Union-Tribune]]'' highlighted "Lisa's Sax" along with "[[All Singing, All Dancing]]" and "[[Trash of the Titans]]" as some of the more memorable episodes of the series.<ref>{{cite news|last=Dixon |first=David |title=ON DVD: 'The Simpsons – The Complete Ninth Season' |work=[[The San Diego Union-Tribune]] |publisher=Union-Tribune Publishing |date=2007-01-06 |url=http://www.signonsandiego.com/uniontrib/20070106/news_lz1c06ratedg.html |archive-url=https://archive.today/20120629134317/http://www.signonsandiego.com/uniontrib/20070106/news_lz1c06ratedg.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=2012-06-29 |access-date=2007-12-11 }}</ref>
Stephen Becker of ''[[The Dallas Morning News]]'' noted that season 9 "has a special affinity for Lisa", and highlighted this episode along with "[[Das Bus]]" and "[[Lisa the Simpson]]" in his review of the DVD.<ref>{{cite news |last=Becker |first=Stephen |title=DVD review: The Simpsons: The Complete Ninth Season |work=[[The Dallas Morning News]] |publisher=The Dallas Morning News |date=2006-12-22 |url=http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/ent/stories/DN-simpsons_1219gl.ART.State.Edition1.3e5aabd.html |archive-url=https://archive.today/20120629134318/http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/ent/stories/DN-simpsons_1219gl.ART.State.Edition1.3e5aabd.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=2012-06-29 |access-date=2007-12-11 }}</ref> A segment of the episode where two schoolgirls chant the digits of [[pi]] while playing [[Pat-a-cake, pat-a-cake, baker's man|patty-cake]] is used by mathematicians [[Sarah J. Greenwald]] of [[Appalachian State University]] and Andrew Nestler of [[Santa Monica College]] in a website on the [[mathematics]] of ''The Simpsons''.<ref>{{cite news|last=Staff |title=Tune into math The Simpsons way. (Grades 9-12) |work=Curriculum Review |date=December 1, 2003 }}</ref>
==References== {{reflist|2}}
==External links== {{wikiquote|The_Simpsons/Season_9#Lisa.27s_Sax|"Lisa's Sax"}} *{{cite web|url=http://www.simpsonsmath.com/ |title=Simpsons Math |access-date=2007-12-11 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110716072643/http://www.simpsonsmath.com/ |archive-date=2011-07-16}} {{portal|The Simpsons}} * {{snpp capsule|3G02}} *{{IMDb episode |id=0701163}}
{{The Simpsons episodes|9}}
[[Category:The Simpsons season 9 episodes]] [[Category:1997 American television episodes]] [[Category:Television episodes directed by Dominic Polcino]] [[Category:Television episodes written by Al Jean]] [[Category:Television episodes set in 1990]]