The Way We Was

"The Way We Was"
The Simpsons episode
Young Marge tutors Homer on his French
Episode no.	Season 2 Episode 12
Directed by	David Silverman
Written by	Al Jean Mike Reiss Sam Simon
Production code	7F12
Original air date	January 31, 1991 (1991-01-31)
Guest appearance
Jon Lovitz as Artie Ziff
Episode features
Chalkboard gag	"I will not get very far with this attitude"
Couch gag	The family sits on the couch and it falls through the floor.
Commentary	Matt Groening James L. Brooks Al Jean Mike Reiss David Silverman
Episode chronology
← Previous "One Fish, Two Fish, Blowfish, Blue Fish" Next → "Homer vs. Lisa and the 8th Commandment"
The Simpsons season 2
List of episodes

"The Way We Was" is the twelfth episode of the second season of the American animated television series The Simpsons. It originally aired on Fox in the United States on January 31, 1991. In the episode, Marge tells the story of how she and Homer first met and fell in love. Flashing back to 1974, it is shown how Homer falls in love with Marge in high school and tries to get close to her by enlisting her as his French tutor. After several hours of verb conjugation, Marge falls for Homer too, only to become enraged when he admits he is not a French student. Marge rejects Homer's invitation to the prom and goes with Artie Ziff. Artie turns out to be a terrible date and Marge realizes that it is Homer she really wants.

The episode was written by Al Jean, Mike Reiss, and Sam Simon, and directed by David Silverman. It was the first flashback episode of The Simpsons. Jon Lovitz guest-starred in it as Artie Ziff. The episode features cultural references to songs such as "The Joker" and "(They Long to Be) Close to You", and the television series Siskel & Ebert & the Movies. The title itself is a reference to the 1973 film The Way We Were.

Since airing, the episode has received mostly positive reviews from television critics. It acquired a Nielsen rating of 15.6, and was the highest rated show on Fox the week it aired.