and Apu sings part of "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band", to which the McCartneys snap along. Release "Lisa the Vegetarian" originally aired on the Fox network in the United States on October 15, 1995. It finished 47th in the ratings for the week of October 9–15, 1995, with a Nielsen rating of 9.0, equivalent to approximately 8.63 million viewing households. The episode was the fourth highest-rated show on the Fox network that week, following The X-Files, Fox NFL Sunday, and Melrose Place. "Lisa the Vegetarian" was later selected for release in a 2000 video collection of episodes titled The Simpsons – Raiders of the Lost Fridge. Other episodes included in the collection set were "Guess Who's Coming to Criticize Dinner?", "King-Size Homer", and "Burns Verkaufen der Kraftwerk". "Lisa the Vegetarian" was later included in The Simpsons' season seven DVD set, which was released on December 13, 2005. David X. Cohen, Mark Kirkland, Matt Groening, and David Mirkin participated in the episode's DVD audio commentary. The episode won an Environmental Media Award in the "Best Television Episodic Comedy" category, which has been awarded every year since 1991 to the best television episode or film with an environmental message. The episode has also received a Genesis Award in the "Best Television Comedy Series, Ongoing Commitment" category. The Genesis Award is awarded annually by the Humane Society of the United States to honor works that raise the public's understanding of animal issues. Critical reviews "Lisa the Vegetarian" has received universal acclaim from television critics and the staff of The Simpsons. Among the show's staff, Mirkin, Kirkland, Groening, and writer Ian Maxtone-Graham list it as one of their favorite episodes. In the DVD audio commentary for the episode, Mirkin called the opening sequence at the petting zoo one of his favorite set pieces in the show's history. He thought it was "absolutely hilarious", and praised Kirkland for his animation. Mirkin also enjoyed the use of Apu in the episode, because Apu shows Lisa that "the way to get people to change is through tolerance and understanding". Groening considers the joke in which the family forms a conga line to be one of the "high-points" in the history of The Simpsons. Television critics praised "Lisa the Vegetarian" for its humor. John Serba of the Grand Rapids Press named it his favorite episode, "because the tale of Lisa's conversion to vegetarianism has more humorous scenes