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...