 Many of The Simpsons ' writers had left the show or were absent at the beginning of season four , which left Al Jean and Mike Reiss to brainstorm plot ideas alone . After brainstorming " Homer the Heretic " , they thought of Lisa entering a beauty pageant . They assigned Jeff Martin to write the episode because they assumed he would fill it with songs , like he had done on previous episodes . Martin obliged , and wrote the episode and its music . He also based the episode on some of his own experiences , such as the scene where Lisa has a caricature of herself drawn . According to Jeff Martin , " I 'm not sure if we could do this episode today . People had a more innocent view of child beauty pageants before <unk> Ramsey . " 
