Smoke on the Daughter

"Smoke On The Daughter" is the fifteenth episode of The Simpsons' nineteenth season. It originally aired on the Fox network in the United States on March 30, 2008, and was written by Billy Kimball (the only sole writing credit he has received for the show to date), and directed by Lance Kramer. Lisa becomes a ballerina at an academy and discovers her natural talent is enhanced by second hand cigarette smoke. Meanwhile, Homer shows Bart his secret room where he has secretly been making beef jerky and is torn when a family of raccoons steal it. During the first broadcast, the episode was watched by 7.1 million people.

The episode starts when Homer, dressed as a dragon, tries waking up Bart to go with him, Lisa, Marge and Maggie to the midnight sale of the last book in the Angelica Button series. The whole family then goes to stand in line (together with most of Springfield residents). At midnight Homer cannot wait; he bursts into the bookshop, followed by the rest of the people in the line. In the car on their way back home Lisa reads the book, announced there is a happy ending, and then the Simpsons throw the book away from the car. When they get back home, they decide to watch TV.

While watching TV, Marge sees a commercial for a ballet academy, and reveals to Lisa that she had always wanted to become a ballet dancer. Lisa tells Marge that she can still achieve her dream as an adult, and encourages her to audition for the Chazz Busby Ballet Academy. While Marge does make a few mistakes during her audition, Chazz Busby lets her become a student at his school. Meanwhile, Homer takes Bart to the basement and introduces him to a secret room in which Homer has been making beef jerky. When Marge keeps dancing poorly, Busby throws her out. When Lisa argues with Busby about his decision, he notices that Lisa has naturally perfect posture, and asks her to join his academy, and Marge accepts the offer on Lisa's behalf. However, no matter how hard she practices, Lisa soon turns out to be a poor ballet student. While on break, Lisa accidentally inhales smoke from the other students' cigarettes. When the break is over, Lisa enters the studio and performs better than ever, and deduces that second hand smoke is what makes her excel.