By Andrew Pelechaty
While The Simpsons is the most beloved animated show of the last 40 years, there’s a section of ‘fans’ who love bragging about the show’s decline.
“I’ve never watched after season 11.”
“The show died in the late 90s.”
“The Simpsons is unwatchable now!”
Contrary to these critics’ beliefs, the show is still going and is heading towards its 40th anniversary.
Aside from season 1, The Simpsons has consistently aired 20+ episodes a season (except for 18 in season 35, which was affected by the 2023 Writers Guild of America strike). But season 36 saw only 18 standard episodes and four Disney+ exclusives. And season 37 had 15 episodes and three exclusives: “Extreme Makeover: Homer Edition” was a 48-minute episode combining another Homer and Marge’ marriage in crisis’ plot with three mini-stories about Homer (parodying Top Gun, a 1950s-style Rock Hudson drama, and a mesh of the two Todd Phillips The Joker movies). “Simpsley” was a noir black-and-white parody of The Talented Mr Ripley. The third Disney+ exclusive, “Yellow Mirror”, airs in late August.
Season 38 will have 15 standard episodes and two Disney+ exclusives.
This seems to be the future as the show embraces Disney+ and gradually moves away from Fox. Unfortunately, they’ve squandered the Disney+ shorts by using them for cynical and unnecessary cross-promotion of other Disney+ properties and other celebrities.
For those who ignore the critics and actually watched the new seasons, they’ll notice the show has more freedom to experiment. Some of the standout episodes have been “Pixelated and Afraid” (Season 33, Episode 12), “A Serious Flanders” (Season 33, Episodes 6/7), “Not IT” (Season 34, Episode 5), “My Life as a Vlog” (Season 34, Episode 12), “A Mid-Childhood Night’s Dream” (Season 35, Episode 2), and “Bart’s Birthday” (Season 36, Episode 1).
The rise of streaming and the slow death of commercial/network TV mean the traditional model of 20+ episodes – spread over six or seven months – has been replaced by shorter seasons on streaming platforms (around 10 episodes). In a climate where people have less time to properly engage with TV, and there’s more distractions, shorter seasons make sense.
At some point, the core cast of Dan Castellaneta, Julie Kavner, Nancy Cartwright, Yeardley Smith, Hank Azaria, and Harry Shearer will retire. There have been concerns over Kavner’s declining voice for the last few years, and the show has recast certain characters so the voice actors align with the characters’ proper ethnicity. How The Simpsons will look when the core cast eventually leaves (either as a group or individually) will shape its future: finding soundalike replacements or even using AI could cause a backlash among fans and create a firestorm on social media.
If/when the show moves to Disney+ for good, there’s the option to focus more on side characters and put the main family in the background. The lack of commercial pressure compared to network TV means there’s less of a need to hook into casual viewers with yet another Homer/Marge/Bart/Lisa plot (choose your combination) for a quick ratings hit.
Or the show may stop making standard episodes and focus on longer specials (between four and six a year), turning each episode into an event to be anticipated, hyped on social media, and scheduled for peak holiday periods (Easter, Halloween, Christmas, etc). This would give the show even more room to experiment with formats, films/TV parodies, and different characters, as well as continuing the traditional Treehouse of Horror episodes.
Regardless of the future format, The Simpsons has a few more years left, even if you choose to ignore it and complain about how it hasn’t been good since the ’90s! The true fans will keep watching.
