Lard of the Dance

To help her make new friends, Lisa takes Alex, Sherri, Terri, Allison Taylor and Janey Powers for lunch in the cafeteria after the two groups meet up, but shortly afterwards, they abandon Lisa after seeing that Alex owns sophisticated accessories like a cell phone, a purse, and perfume.

She is later forced to enter the dance hall, discovering the boys and girls are standing on different sides of the room, and explains to Alex that it is like this because they are only children, not adults.

A grease fight begins among the students, where Alex eventually joins in after being told by Lisa to act her own age.

[4] The scene showing Homer's hemorrhaged eye as Groundskeeper Willie strangles him got a big laugh in the studio.

[8] In a 2008 article, Entertainment Weekly named Lisa Kudrow's role as Alex as one of the sixteen great guest appearances on The Simpsons.

The authors of the book I Can't Believe It's a Bigger and Better Updated Unofficial Simpsons Guide Warren Martyn and Adrian Wood commented that "The idea of Lisa being unpopular in the light of a new girl in the school hallways is not new (see "Lisa's Rival") but it is done here with such class,"[1] concluding of Homer's treatment that "this is an episode which shows that even he can find interesting ways to do things.

"[1] Wesley Mead noted, in a review of the tenth season that the episode "might deal with familiar territory ("Lisa's Rival", anyone?

), but it doesn't feel like a retread, and is also home to a superbly realised subplot that sees Homer and Bart go into the grease business.