Published Aug 31, 2026, 12:00 PM EDT
After joining Screen Rant in January 2025, Guy became a Senior Features Writer in March of the same year, and now specializes in features about classic TV shows. With several years' experience writing for and editing TV, film and music publications, his areas of expertise include a wide range of genres, from comedies, animated series, and crime dramas, to Westerns and political thrillers.
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The voice of Homer Simpson himself, Dan Castellaneta is someone whose opinion we can trust when it comes to evaluating episodes of The Simpsons. Castellaneta has featured in the entirety of the show’s record-breaking run, and has made many of its most iconic storylines and gags what they are.
Therefore, when he names one particular installment of the animated sitcom as his favorite, it’s time to sit up and take notice. It’s no surprise that the Simpsons episode Castellaneta holds dearest belongs to the show’s golden age. He isn’t alone in his choice, either, as several other main cast and crew members have cited it as their all-time favorite.
The episode in question features one of the best Simpsons characters to appear just once in the series, courtesy of an inspired piece of guest casting. Yet, Castellaneta and his fellow voice actor Yeardley Smith are the real stars of a story that’s routinely included in conversations about the sitcom’s greatest episode.
Its Lisa storyline arguably has the biggest heart of anything in the show’s history, and ultimately demonstrates Homer’s credentials as a loving father, despite his many flaws. It’s also the moment we truly come to understand his middle child, long before any flashforward episode of The Simpsons predicts Lisa’s future.
“Lisa’s Substitute” Is The Favorite Simpsons Episode Of Several Cast & Crew
Among classic seasons of The Simpsons, no episode deserves to be called the greatest of all time more than “Lisa’s Substitute”. Dan Castellaneta evidently agrees, as it’s one of the three episodes he gave Tim Lawson and Alisa Persons, the authors of the book The Magic Behind the Voices, when they asked him for his favorite.
The weight of opinion behind the episode is overwhelming. In addition to Castellaneta, Nancy Cartwright, who voices Bart, Lisa actor Yeardley Smith, the show’s co-developer James L. Brooks, two-time showrunner Al Jean, and longtime director Mark Kirkland have all named it one of their personal favorites at various points.
It only makes sense that so many key people involved in the series should feel this strongly about such an important episode. Some of them were among the group that to New York to record Dustin Hoffman’s iconic Simpsons guest appearance as Mr. Bergstrom.
In “Lisa’s Substitute”, Bergstrom temporarily takes charge of the second grade class at Springfield Elementary school. In doing so, he changes Lisa’s life, becoming a surrogate father figure in her eyes when she feels let down by Homer. Ironically, though, the episode's crowning moment belongs to the real father of the Simpson household.
The Simpsons Has Never Topped The Iconic Final Sequence Of “Lisa’s Substitute”
As unlikely as it might seem on the surface, Homer and Lisa Simpson actually share the same tragic fate of being underappreciated by those they depend on for validation. Homer has always been underestimated by members of his family and various authority figures, which is why he tends to find comfort in laziness and mediocrity.
It’s also why he attempts to live vicariously through Bart in “Lisa’s Substitute”, by investing emotionally in his son’s campaign to become class president at school. This subplot leads to the explosive conflict between Homer and Lisa at the Simpson dinner table, as the episode reaches its climax.
Any sane person can see from the outside that Lisa is the child whose emotional needs he should be meeting at this moment, as she suffers the heartache of losing the only true mentor she’s ever had. Yet, he completely disregards his daughter’s pain, uttering the iconic line, “Just because I don’t care, doesn’t mean I don’t understand.”
What happens next is the most heartwarming sequence in Simpsons history. When Lisa insults Homer and runs crying to her bedroom, Marge finally stands up for her daughter. Homer then proves he’s worthy of fatherhood after all, in a succession of parenting masterstrokes he calls “the biggest roll of my life”. That goes for The Simpsons, too.
Release Date December 17, 1989
Network FOX
Showrunner Al Jean
Directors Steven Dean Moore, Mark Kirkland, Rob Oliver, Michael Polcino, Mike B. Anderson, Chris Clements, Wes Archer, Timothy Bailey, Lance Kramer, Nancy Kruse, Matthew Faughnan, Chuck Sheetz, Rich Moore, Jeffrey Lynch, Pete Michels, Susie Dietter, Raymond S. Persi, Carlos Baeza, Dominic Polcino, Lauren MacMullan, Michael Marcantel, Neil Affleck, Swinton O. Scott III, Jennifer Moeller
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Homer Simpson / Abe Simpson / Barney Gumble / Krusty (voice)
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Marge Simpson / Patty Bouvier / Selma Bouvier (voice)
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