Summary
- The Simpsons season 35 references a lot of real-life news stories, but these references often make the episodes feel dated and distract from the main plot.
- The show's long production process makes it difficult for The Simpsons to keep up with timely news stories, resulting in episodes that feel behind the times.
- The best episodes of season 35 are the ones that focus on the Simpson family themselves, rather than relying on current events for relevance. These character-centric episodes are the show's strongest storylines.
WhileThe Simpsonsseason 35 has been an improvement on the show’s recent outings, the series still struggles with one of its oldest problems.The Simpsons has been through something of a critical resurgence in the last two years. Season 34 was singled out for praise, with some online commentators claiming that the show’s lengthy nadir was finally at an end andThe Simpsons was now back to its old strengths. While few viewers could argue that seasons 34 and 35 hold a candle to the show's Golden Age from seasons 3—11, there is no denying that there has been an obvious uptick in quality beginning as early as season 33.
WhetherThe Simpsons season 36 can keep this improvement alive remains to be seen, but a few problems are working against the long-running series. For one thing,The Simpsonshas access to an endless stream of A-list guest stars. While this would be a boon for many shows,The Simpsons has been known to over-rely on flashy celebrity cameosat the expense of the show’s main characters. This connects to another issue that plagues the series. While many TV comedies would kill to have as many beloved minor characters as The Simpsons, focusing on minor Springfield citizens instead of the central family sometimes leaves the show feeling directionless. However, neither of these issues is as deleterious as the biggest problem facing The Simpsons in season 35.
The Simpsons Season 35 References A LOT of Real Life News Stories
The animated comedy riffs on a news story in every second episode
For a show that takes eight months to produce an episode,The Simpsons keeps commenting on old news stories as if they were still relevant.The Simpsons season 35’s real-life news references include, but are not limited to, the NFT bubble, the Theranos scandal, border control controversies, the Lake Erie Walleye Trail fishing tournament scandal, Sam Bankman-Fried’s fraud charges, Bill Belichick, and Operation Varsity Blues. The last four of these news stories were all name-checked in the same outing, season 35, episode 10, “Do The Wrong Thing," but all of them were well outdated by the time the episodes aired.
To be fair to the series, not all of these riffs on real news derail the plots of their episodes. Both the season premiere, “Homer’s Crossing,” and “Do The Wrong Thing” relied on topical new stories for their inspiration but still managed to tell compelling stories about Homer’s moral ambiguity. However, in both cases, the timely satirical gags distracted from the main plot and made the outings feel unmistakably dated. One gag fromThe Simpsons season 35 episode 10 successfully satirized Bankman-Fried’s scandal without slowing down the episode’s plot in the process, but this overstuffed outing went on to reference a half dozen unrelated news stories in the same storyline.
Why The Simpsons Can’t Keep Referencing Topical Plots
The show’s long production process makes referencing timely stories risky
The reason thatThe Simpsons can’t keep relying on news stories is that they age badly. This was evidenced by “Wild Barts Can't Be Token,” an NFT-focused segment of season 35, episode 5, “Treehouse of Horror XXXIV.” In this segment, Bart was turned into a lucrative NFT by Homer only for Marge to then enter the blockchain to save her son in aSnowpiercer parody. Non-fungible tokens were a craze in early to mid-2022 so,by the time the episode aired, NFTs had been out of the news for almost a year. This is one ofThe Simpsons season 35’s biggest problems, as potentially promising conceits end up feeling outdated and cringe-worthy.
The first 34 seasons ofThe Simpsonsare streaming on Disney+ with season 35 streaming on Hulu.
In contrast,South Parkspoofed the NFT bubble back in July 2022 with their feature-length specialThe Streaming Wars. Like “Wild Barts Can't Be Token,” this outing mocked crypto as a speculative bubble and warned about its impending failure without spending much screentime focusing on specific criticisms of NFTs, the blockchain, and cryptocurrency at large. However, this special arrived over a year earlier than the Treehouse of Horror segment. Critically,South Park struck while the iron was hot thanks to the show’s fast-paced production schedule.The Simpsons felt woefully behind the times when the show mocked NFTs over a year after their popularity peaked.
Poorly Aged Satire Has Plagued The Simpsons For Years
The Simpsons has spent decades referencing stale memes and old jokes
The Simpsons has a long history of missing the boat badly. This was epitomized in season 32’s cringe-worthy Bernie Sanders jokes (which aired nine months after Sanders dropped out of the 2020 election and over four years after he dropped out of the 2016 election) and the show referencing 2016’s viral meme Baby Shark in December 2019. WhileThe Simpsons alluding to controversies about the show itself can sometimes succeed, this is because meta-jokes allow the series to mock its own shortcomings. Trying to make fun of news stories months and years after they are forgotten is much less successful.
News Stories Mean Less Simpson Family Stories
The Simpsons themselves are the focus of season 35’s best storylines
What makes this issue worse is the fact that season 35’s best outings are character-centric episodes that don’t rely on recent news events for relevance. Season 35, episode 2, “A Mid-Childhood Night's Dream,” and episode 7, “It’s A Blunderful Life,” both focused on the Simpsons themselves and their relationships with each other instead of whatever news story was popular during their production. When the series spends less time trying to keep up with Twitter moments and more time highlighting, for example,Homer’s character shift in recent years,The Simpsonscan still feel like a funny, moving family sitcomdespite its age.
There Is One Upside To The Simpsons Focusing On News Stories
The show’s many cameos are actually improved by borrowing from current events
To be fair toThe Simpsons, there is one upside to the show’s obsession with trawling through the news for episode plots.This tendency gives the show a chance to create new characterswho provide its frequent guest stars with meatier cameo roles. Season 35, episode 4, “Thirst Trap: A Corporate Love Story,” proved this point with Elizabeth Banks’ funny Elizabeth Holmes parody, Persephone Odair. Banks was perfectly cast as the delusional, self-interested Odair, and the character acted as a scathing indictment of Holmes while also functioning as a funny, ludicrous invention for anyone unfamiliar with the Theranos scandal.
In contrast,Taika Waititi’sSimpsonscameo as himself in episode 9, “Murder She Boat,” was much less successful precisely because the actor/director was called upon to play a fictionalized self-insert. While the episode took a few limp jabs at Waititi, the outing’s depiction of him mostly came across as fawning and unfunny.The Simpsonsfares better when the show lets guest stars play original characters rather than themselves, a point that was proven again by Kylie Jenner’s redundant appearance in “Wild Barts Can’t Be Token.” To this end, the news-inspired plots ofThe Simpsonsaren’t always a bad thing.
