### Author:  [@Herge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Herge)
#### Post date: [September 18, 2003, 11:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-simpons-are-getting-to-me-emotionally/202502/1 "2003-09-18T23:53:30Z")
I was watching an episode today, in which Lisa’s class gets a new substitute teacher. This teacher recognises her talent and intelligence, and encourages her to learn. Lisa convinces Marge to invite him round for dinner, but the teacher leaves for another assignment in a different city. Back home, Lisa is heartbroken, and Bart is sad about not winning the class president election. Homer manages to comfort both kids, as well as Maggie, and feels like a superdad!
The part where the Lisa is saying goodbye to the teacher on the train, and the part where Homer comforts his kids really touched me. Call me girlish and childish, but it really got to me. I think the script, animation, and writing talent are sometimes better than in some movies. There have been other episodes that have got to me, for example the one in which Bart throws Lisa’s centrepiece into the fire, and later they make up on the roof. \ 🙂
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### Author:  [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)
#### Post date: [September 19, 2003, 12:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-simpons-are-getting-to-me-emotionally/202502/2 "2003-09-19T00:00:09Z")
Yep, the Simpsons was at its best when it mixed a little sentiment in with the sarcasm and pop culture references. _Futurama_ was the same, only moreso.
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### Author:  [@Herge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Herge)
#### Post date: [September 19, 2003, 12:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-simpons-are-getting-to-me-emotionally/202502/3 "2003-09-19T00:07:35Z")
Yes but Fururama was different in that it wasn’t based around a proper family. The Simpsons plays sentiment more effectively because you really feel for the characters. When Bart and Lisa make up, or Marge declares her love for Homer, you can relate it to a real life family. For me, at least, it seems more emotional because the characters and the interaction between them seem more realistic.
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### Author:  [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)
#### Post date: [September 19, 2003, 12:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-simpons-are-getting-to-me-emotionally/202502/4 "2003-09-19T00:57:11Z")
Yeah, the episodes from the first couple of years in particular really could carry some weight when they wanted to. I think _'Round Springfield_, the episode in which Bleeding Gums Murphy dies, is one of the best.
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### Author:  [@TripleAnt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TripleAnt)
#### Post date: [September 19, 2003, 1:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-simpons-are-getting-to-me-emotionally/202502/5 "2003-09-19T01:04:00Z")
Just last night I saw the episode where Homer sees his long lost mother and at the end where she leaves and the credits role and Homer is sitting on the hood of his car as it gets dark gets to me to every time b/c the scene is sad and the theme song is real slow as well
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### Author:  [@Weirddave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Weirddave)
#### Post date: [September 19, 2003, 1:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-simpons-are-getting-to-me-emotionally/202502/6 "2003-09-19T01:11:38Z")
I get misty at the end of the prom episode ( The Way We Was ) when Homer tells Marge in the car.
"I’ve got a problem. Once you stop this car, I’m going to hug you, and kiss you, and then I’ll never be able to let you go.’’
Cut back to the present where he adds:
“And I never have”
_sniff_
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### Author:  [@Rayn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rayn)
#### Post date: [September 19, 2003, 1:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-simpons-are-getting-to-me-emotionally/202502/7 "2003-09-19T01:26:05Z")
Wusses 😉
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### Author:  [@Herge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Herge)
#### Post date: [September 19, 2003, 1:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-simpons-are-getting-to-me-emotionally/202502/8 "2003-09-19T01:31:14Z")
I love that prom episode too!
I’m just a sucker for a good old fashioned love story I suppose!
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### Author:  [@El\_Cid\_Viscoso](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/El_Cid_Viscoso)
#### Post date: [September 19, 2003, 2:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-simpons-are-getting-to-me-emotionally/202502/9 "2003-09-19T02:50:02Z")
Bart/Lisa hockey episode. Chokes me up every time.
_Those kids are so [sup]_\* ~ cute ~\*\*[/sup]\*. _Hmm- **MMM** _ \
Carry on.
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### Author:  [@ResIpsaLoquitor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ResIpsaLoquitor)
#### Post date: [September 19, 2003, 2:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-simpons-are-getting-to-me-emotionally/202502/10 "2003-09-19T02:52:31Z")
The episode where Bart gets caught shoplifting. I get choked up when Marge catches Bart sneaking in the house with a photo of himself, with the receipt “paid in full.”
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### Author:  [@Jennyrosity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jennyrosity)
#### Post date: [September 19, 2003, 8:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-simpons-are-getting-to-me-emotionally/202502/11 "2003-09-19T08:03:51Z")
It’s a clips episode, but the one where Homer and Marge realise the one true love story with a happy ending is their own really gets to me. Sniff.
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### Author:  [@Made\_in\_Macau](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Made_in_Macau)
#### Post date: [September 19, 2003, 9:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-simpons-are-getting-to-me-emotionally/202502/12 "2003-09-19T09:51:13Z")
Help me out - is Bart going to be held back a year? He has to take a test alone and Mrs. Crabapple fudges the rules so he just passes (an ‘F’?) and anyway here’s the thing - they gather round the fridge to look at Bart’s paper and make a big fuss of him and there are several ‘A’ graded papers of Lisa’s behind it.
You can tell how that gets to me by the clear and lucid way I’ve expressed myself.
BTW the sub teacher is Dustin Hoffman isn’t it?
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### Author:  [@Herge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Herge)
#### Post date: [September 19, 2003, 12:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-simpons-are-getting-to-me-emotionally/202502/13 "2003-09-19T12:43:17Z")
Could well be, Macau! The episode I’m talking about was on BBC1 yesterday… did you see it? The voice would fit with Hoffman, as well as the image, and of course being jewish.
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### Author:  [@lno](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lno)
#### Post date: [September 19, 2003, 3:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-simpons-are-getting-to-me-emotionally/202502/14 "2003-09-19T15:42:50Z")
Dustin Hoffman played the substitute teacher Mr. Bergstrom in [episode 7F19 Lisa’s Substitute](http://www.snpp.com/episodes/7F19.html).
> [@](#):
>
> Who was Sam Etic?
> From the 29 Apr 91 USA TODAY:
>
> If you saw Fox’s `The Simpsons' Thursday, you may have noticed a new voice in the credits---Sam Enid [sic]. Enid's voice sure sounded familiar, almost like Dustin Hoffman. And gee, there sure were a lot of references in `The Simpsons’ to Hoffman’s first hit, `The Graduate’, thrown into a story about Lisa falling into love with her substitute teacher. Shazam!
>
> It turns out Enid is none other than Hoffman, whose contract with `The Simpsons’ stated that his real name could not be used on the credits or in publicity.
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### Author:  [@AncientHumanoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AncientHumanoid)
#### Post date: [September 19, 2003, 3:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-simpons-are-getting-to-me-emotionally/202502/15 "2003-09-19T15:48:45Z")
[Nelson]
HA ha!
[/Nelson]
😉
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### Author:  [@Nichol\_storm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nichol_storm)
#### Post date: [September 19, 2003, 5:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-simpons-are-getting-to-me-emotionally/202502/16 "2003-09-19T17:49:34Z")
The BEST episode of The Simpsons EVER is when Homer and Marge are remembering the time prior to Maggie’s birth. Homer quit his job at the plant and got his dream job and everything was hunky dory until Marge became pregnant. They didn’t have enough money to pay for another child on the salary Homer was receiving, so he goes and begs his old job back from Mr. Burns. Burns tapes up a sign in Homer’s office that reads:
DON’T FORGET YOU’RE HERE FOREVER
Cut to present day, Homer is sitting in his office and we see that he has taped pictures of Maggie over the sign to read:
DO IT FOR HER
I sobbed like an old woman.
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### Author:  [@bradthomas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bradthomas)
#### Post date: [September 19, 2003, 6:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-simpons-are-getting-to-me-emotionally/202502/17 "2003-09-19T18:12:41Z")
Ahh, Nichol, you beat me to it.
That is, IMO, the most touching, and one of the best Simpson’s episodes ever.
Brad
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### Author:  [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)
#### Post date: [September 19, 2003, 6:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-simpons-are-getting-to-me-emotionally/202502/18 "2003-09-19T18:24:30Z")
Or when Maggie said the one and only word she’s ever said in the entire series:
“Daddy”
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### Author:  [@mobo85](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mobo85)
#### Post date: [September 19, 2003, 6:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-simpons-are-getting-to-me-emotionally/202502/19 "2003-09-19T18:59:07Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by kunilou \*
> \*\*Or when Maggie said the one and only word she’s ever said in the entire series:
>
> “Daddy” \*\*
For that to work, you must remember that Bart and Lisa (as we learned earlier in the episode) would never call their father “Daddy,” as Homer wanted them to-they’d just call him “Homer.” Maggie, however, seems to have learned not to call your elders by their first name. Homer would be proud…if he had heard her say it.
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### Author:  [@Iteki](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Iteki)
#### Post date: [September 19, 2003, 7:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-simpons-are-getting-to-me-emotionally/202502/20 "2003-09-19T19:00:56Z")
**Nichol\_storm** beat me to it too. Misting up just thinking of it here.
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