When you poll “Simpsons” fans for their favorite character, top of the list is usually Bart or Homer. Those are the show’s two main troublemakers after all — the ones whose hijinks typically drive the plot and draw the most attention. For the show’s creator Matt Groening, however, his favorite is the precocious eight-year-old Lisa (Yeardley Smith). As he explained in a 2018 interview, “I love Lisa Simpson the most, because she seems like the one character that’s going to evolve and eventually escape Springfield. The rest seem pretty oblivious and like they’re stuck there.” 

Groening offered a list of his favorite supporting characters, too: “Ralph Wiggum, Milhouse van Houten, Principal Skinner and Apu […] I forgot Principal Skinner’s mother, Agnes. Tress MacNeille does the voice, and every time she speaks, I laugh.” 

He also talked about some of his favorite episodes in the show’s history: “Over the years, (there’s been) the atypical episode with Frank Grimes (aka Grimey), the guy who (is hired at) the nuclear power plant and is driven insane by Homer. There’s the episode where Homer skateboards over Springfield Gorge — almost […] Our motto is: More pain, more funny.”

Groening’s pick might be surprising to some “Simpsons” fans, many of whom find Lisa to be a bit of a nag or a know-it-all. It’s common to go through the comment section of a random “Simpsons” clip and seeing people trashing Lisa for one reason or another. Some of that is just the usual trend with the internet, where the most prominent female character in any show is almost always the most hated. But it certainly doesn’t help that Lisa is sometimes relegated to the thankless role of the voice-of-reason character. At the show’s laziest, she’s there to sanctimoniously drive home whatever point the writers are making, a role that will almost always rub some viewers the wrong way.

However, Lisa still ruled during the classic era, which I’d consider to be those first eight seasons. Her dynamic with Homer is one of the funniest (and often sweetest) relationships in the whole series; the two bounce off each other perfectly, even if it seemingly took the writers until season 3’s “Lisa the Greek” to fully figure this out. She also makes a great partner-in-crime with Bart when the episodes let her, and her love for social justice has her fighting the good fight against villains like Mr. Burns and that sleazeball politician Bob Arnold. Perhaps the best gag of all with Lisa is the way she’s simultaneously the wisest person on the show and a typical eight-year-old. She can lead a presentation on lake pollution at the town hall, but she will also get into a childish spat with her brother:

But the main appeal of Lisa is that, in addition to her being the only “Simpsons” character with a bright future ahead of her, she’s also the loneliest character and arguably has gone through the most turmoil throughout the show. “Moaning Lisa,” “Lisa’s Substitute,” “Round Springfield,” and “Summer of 4’2” are some of the most emotional episodes in the series, mainly because Lisa’s sensitivity lets the show go places it couldn’t quite go with other characters. Lisa isn’t just the brains of the series; she’s also its heart.