Movies - TV
Only One Part Of The Simpsons Canon Really Matters To The Writers
By MICHAEL BOYLE
“The Simpsons” has been on the air for over 30 years and exists inside a sort of time bubble where the characters don’t age, and Bart can enjoy multiple summer breaks while still remaining in the fourth grade. As time passes, the writers continually update the timeline so the characters match their supposed age with the present — an act that can drive fans crazy.
One such example is creating a new backstory where Marge and Homer didn’t get married until the 1990s, instead of meeting in high school in the ’70s. Fans hated the change, with one critic saying, “It insulted lifelong Simpsons fans everywhere,” before adding that the episode was “thumbing its nose at all the great, established, hilarious moments and episodes we’ve come to love and cherish.”
Matt Selmon, “The Simpsons” co-showrunner, stated that the show’s canon needs to remain “elastic/contradictory/silly” due to its long run and clarified that changes to the timeline don’t erase any other beloved previous episodes. Selmon explained, “The characters themselves don’t change;” they’re the only canon that truly matters, and the writers have always kept that in mind.