The Simpsons has mainly told one continuous story over its many years on TV, but it also completely wrote out Lisa's best friend early on. Fox's hit animated series, hailing from creator Matt Groening, remains one of the most popular shows on television for its humor and characters. The show may be focused around Homer Simpson, but the rest of his family - wife Marge, son Bart, and daughters Lisa and Maggie - have also remained central characters throughout its 30-season run.
One of the trickiest parts of their stories, though, is the usual approach for animated shows. In most cases, and especially with The Simpsons, characters rarely age or move on to extremely different lives. They usually have the same group of friends and co-workers, and the same locals become recurring characters. However, that isn't always the case, as Lisa's story in The Simpsons went through a significant change in its first few seasons.
In the first two seasons of The Simpsons, Lisa is frequently shown hanging out with her best friend and second-grade classmate Janey Powell. Janey first appeared in the sixth episode of season 1 and continued to reappear throughout season 2. However, this is also when she was largely forgotten about. This is just one of many moments or storylines from The Simpsons that do not make sense. Check out more of them in Screen Rant's latest video featured at the top of this post.
Janey no longer being Lisa's best friend is not explored in future seasons and leaves her on the outside looking in as a character. She becomes a background character instead, frequently being seen at the school but rarely interacting with Lisa. Her usage as a background character could be a way for animators to keep using her model without coming up with a new character, but it is clear that the writers of The Simpsons have moved on from her story - for the most part.
The last notable appearance by Janey wasn't good news for her. She was brought back in the Treehouse of Horror special episode in season 28 and was shown playing hide and seek with Lisa. However, the fun didn't last long for Janey, as she was killed by a rogue lawnmower while hiding. This was a gruesome end for Janey and highlights the general disinterest from the creators of The Simpsons to keep her around for any meaningful role. With Janey out of the picture, it only makes it all the sadder that Lisa remains without any close friends. So even though she's been written out of the show and barely used anymore, maybe Janey will get a chance to be friends with Lisa again in future seasons of The Simpsons.