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Simpsons

 Some critics say "The Simpsons" had its last great run in Season Fifteen, and these critics point to "The President Wore Pearls."


I was only half-awake for this episode, last night, and a baby was screaming on my stomach, but I gathered the script involves Lisa running for Student Council President. Amazingly, Lisa wins, but she soon becomes a prop for Principal Skinner. This principal tries to persuade Lisa to sign off on anything, blindly, including a dastardly "cut gym, arts, and music" agenda.

The writers just slightly tweak a few "Evita" melodies to make the show a musical, and the result is delightful. The highpoint is "I Am Their Queen," a spoof on "Rainbow High" (in which Argentinian stylists reimagine Eva's image, to prepare for a tour of Europe).

Lisa needs a new look to appeal to the grade-five set. At first, Lisa resists the stylists. "I need to be heard, not seen...." "Just Osh B'Gosh me....and just let me be...." (An allusion to Eva Peron's "Christian Dior me! Make an Argentine rose!")

Whispery aides sing an incantation: "Hair-points! Scrunchie! Swatch watch!"

Eventually, Lisa becomes fond of the new duds. "There's beauty within me....So just Olsen Twin me!" Lisa goes on: "I'm a superstar tween....They are my people, and I am their queen!"

So happy to discover this....fifteen--fifteen-ish?--years after it first arrived on "the scene."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sdRIzYu0QvA
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