The Simpsons‘ executive producer has opened up about the show’s latest episode, which reframes Homer and Marge as teenagers around the year 2000.
The long-running animated series, which began in 1989, has been known to alter its timeline canon, with an episode earlier this year showing Homer as a teenager in the ’90s – despite previously suggesting he was that age in the ’70s.
Last night’s (September 26) musical season 33 premiere Star Of The Backstage saw Marge recreate her high school play Y2K: The Millennium Bug, before she realises she was treated as a bit of an outcast at the time.
Speaking to Variety, executive producer Matt Selman expressed hope that the episode makes fans “angry”, noting the fact that this isn’t the first time the show has been somewhat loose with timelines.
“I hope this episode makes the fans who canonized Homer and Marge being in their teens in the ’90s angry, the way like generation before that, that people that were angry that Homer and Marge were teens in the ’80s,” he said. “They’ve been teens in every decade, and everyone’s angry that we’ve rewritten it.”
He went on to note that the show’s writers continue to challenge themselves with new twists to keep the show fresh.
“If you’re doing episodes that don’t feel at least a little bit new, or like you’re trying something different, it’s boring,” Selman continued. “You want each show to have a unique identity. It’s one of our main goals is give each episode a big idea, a big visual thing, a big emotion, a big character thing.”
Selman previously defended changing The Simpsons‘ timelines, tweeting earlier this year in response to the Homer ’90s storyline: “The Simpsons is a 32-year-old series where the characters do not age, so the ‘canon’ must be elastic / contradictory / silly. This does not mean other beloved classic @TheSimpsons flashback shows didn’t happen.
“None of this happened. It’s all made up. Every episode is its own Groundhog Day that only has make sense for that story (if that). There is no @TheSimpsons ‘canon’ or ‘non-canon.’ There are only stories. If all these crazy things really happened to one family the characters would be in a mental hospital.”
In other Simpsons news, a 3D printer has been used to recreate the show’s iconic purple lounge TV, which also works as a functioning TV.
