Loan-a Lisa

Plot

Grampa Simpson decides to give his family their inheritance early, with each person receiving $50. At Costington's, Bart pays Gil Gunderson to walk up a down escalator, while Marge misreads a $500 purse as $50 and charges it to her credit card. Homer suggests she use it until the return period is about to expire, then take it back. During dinner at a fancy restaurant, Homer drops shrimp sauce on the purse, but Marge still manages to return it.

Homer begins buying expensive items on credit and returning them for refunds, until Chris Hansen catches him on camera for a special titled "To Catch a Credit Whore," forcing Homer to flee after signing a contract authorizing use of his image. Meanwhile, Lisa donates her $50 to charity but, after an online introduction to microfinance and a video from Muhammad Yunus, she gives Nelson Muntz a loan for his fledgling bicycle company, which rapidly flourishes.

Nelson decides to drop out of school to invest all his time in the business. At a meeting of entrepreneurs, Lisa tries to persuade Nelson to stay in school but discovers all attendees except the janitor left college, including Mark Zuckerberg, Bill Gates, and Richard Branson. Grampa comforts her, saying money cannot change people, and Nelson's business soon fails due to his unwitting use of water-soluble glue that causes his customizations to fall apart.

Nelson concludes that returning to school would not be a bad thing and gives the original $50 to Principal Skinner, who sees it as a huge improvement over the school's shoestring budget. Nelson makes it up to Lisa by taking her skating, during which they knock down Zuckerberg and several other people.

Production

Yeardley Smith, a supporter of Grameen Foundation, pitched an idea to executive producer Al Jean about Lisa and micro-financing after watching Oprah Winfrey interview economist Muhammad Yunus. Yunus was approached by the producers to appear in the episode; he was familiar with the show through his daughter, who encouraged him to do it. Yunus recorded his line at the BBC Radio studio in Dhaka. In August 2010, Fox incorrectly announced that internet entrepreneur Mark Zuckerberg would appear as himself in the episode "MoneyBart," but he appeared in this episode instead.

Reception

In its original American broadcast, the episode was viewed by an estimated 8.59 million households, receiving a 4.1 rating/11 share in the 18-49 demographic, up 0.5 from the previous episode. It was the most viewed show on Animation Domination in both viewers and the 18-49 demographic.

Rowan Kaiser of The A.V. Club gave the episode a grade of B−, saying nothing about it was particularly terrible. Brad Tachek of TV Squad gave a positive review, calling it a good example of what makes The Simpsons great. Eric Hochberger of TV Fanatic gave the episode 3.7 out of 5 stars, praising the story as well-written but disliking the Mark Zuckerberg cameo.

Did You Know?

• The episode features a parody of Chris Hansen's show To Catch a Predator, titled To Catch a Credit Whore.
• Grampa Simpson lost most of his life savings by investing in a failed Broadway musical about Eddie Gaedel, the smallest person to play in a Major League Baseball game.