Thousands of years from now, alien archaeologists will come to one inescapable conclusion: The Simpsons dictated humanity’s every advance. The latest evidence is none other than today’s giant Disney-Fox merger, which America’s favorite family jokingly predicted in 1998.
We’ve seen The Simpsons and Robot Chicken team up for a couch gag once before, but never to take aim at South Park, or the California Raisins for that matter. And yet, both end up facing Homer’s wrath in a new couch gag from Sunday’s latest, featuring Robot Chicken co-creator Seth Green.
Born on this day in 1954, Matt Groening's instantly recognizable visual style, off-kilter humor, and knack for depicting the innate dysfunctionality of personal interactions have defined him as one of the most influential cartoonists of the late 20th/early 21st century. From self-publishing comics in the late '70s, to overseeing a multi-media empire in the new millennium, he's followed an unorthodox and unlikely path to fame and fortune, without compromising his idiosyncratic vision.
Time and time again, fans dismissed the possibility of a Trump presidency as a throwaway Simpsons gag, even during the real-life campaign. Now, The Simpsons itself has a chance to acknowledge one of its strangest prophecies, one it’s none-too-thrilled to have been right on.
The Simpsons managed to dovetail its 600th episode with Season 28's “Treehouse of Horror XXVII” this coming Sunday, and no element of the series’ history is off-limits. As such, Hank Azaria will make his long-awaited return to the role of Homer’s “nemesis” Frank Grimes, the first clip of which you can watch right now.