Oh hey, it’s been a decade since the last time I did one of these. Here’s a massive roundup of all the Simpsons and Simpsons-adjacent news that occured over the past years.
- The episode “The Dad-Feelings Limited,” which would later make the New York Times‘ list of the best TV episodes of 2021, aired.
- A bunch of people foolishly thought The Simpsons “predicted” the Capitol riot based on a viral photoshop of Groundskeeper Willie looking like the QAnon Shaman.
- Writer David Richardson died at 65.
- Writer Marc Wilmore died at 57.
- Some Instagram guy made a cool nightmare Simpsons gener… oh wait, he’s doing NFT shit now. Disregard.
- Extinct, an animated movie written and produced by a few Simpsons writers and directed by longtime Simpsons director David Silverman, was released.
- The show did a tribute to the late Marcia Wallace, voice of Mrs. Krabappel, to make up for their previous attempt.
- Kevin Michael Richardson took over the role of Dr. Hibbert, previously voiced by Harry Shearer.
- Disney+ launched Star, a catch-all brand for non-Disney-branded media including The Simpsons, in select territories that aren’t the United States.
- Fox renewed the show for two more seasons.
- The show’s animation studio 20th Television Animation became a standalone unit, replacing 20th Television as co-producer of the show, and changed its name three times in six months.
- Animator Edwin Aguilar died at 46.
- Morrisey got mad about a character partially inspired by him.
- Details about the failed live-action Krusty spinoff were revealed!
- The Simpsons started producing shorts for Disney+, beginning with a Star Wars-themed one on May The Fourth.
- Reclusive Simpsons legend John Swartzwelder did an interview with The New Yorker.
- More details and artwork about Matt Groening’s never-produced Saturday morning cartoon were uncovered.
- Arcade1Up released a miniaturized replica of the 1991 Simpsons arcade game cabinet.
- Former showrunner turned fast food reviewer Bill Oakley was in a Burger King commercial. It’s been deleted so you’ll just have to take my word for it.
- Loki, living with the Simpsons?! It happened!
- Humberto Velez returned as the voice of Homer Simpson in the Latin American dub, 17 years after a labor dispute led to the entire cast being replaced.
- The Round Springfield podcast interviewed Matt Groening.
- YouTuber Kid Leaves Stoop discovered a security breach on a defunct website where people would go to request a replacement box for the much-maligned Homer-head-shaped Season 6 DVD case.
- Simpsons staffers played Pictionary during a virtual Comic-Con panel.
- The government hid the facts on a Simpsons-related blog post.
- A bunch of people, including me, foolishly thought these were genuine Las Vegas betting odds on who shot Mr. Burns, but it was actually a mockup made for the forgotten special hosted by John Walsh.
- The No Homers Club message board relaunched on new software.
- If I’m not mistaken, Matt Groening became the only person with his signature on streaming service icons.
- Animator Nik Ranieri won an Emmy for Outstanding Individual Achievement In Animation.
- The DVD sets turned 20.
- Bill Morrison revealed he and Paul Dini had once worked on an outline for a never-produced Simpsons and DC Comics crossover.
- The Simpsons started doing NFT shit.
- The Simpsons celebrated Disney+ Day with a short everybody hated.
- The Simpsons aired a two-parter parodying prestige TV that was well-recieved and made Rolling Stone‘s list of the top TV episodes of the year.
- A bunch of people foolishly thought The Simpsons “predicted” the Astroworld tragedy.
- adidas launched a delightful shoe that looks like Snowball II.
- Disney+ pulled the China-focused episode “Goo Goo Gai Pan” in Hong Kong. A decades-old episode of The Golden Girls was declared a danger to society last year in the US, so let’s not get all high and mighty about it.
- David Silverman started doing NFT shit.
- The Simpsons did a music video for Bad Bunny.
- Writer Frank Mula died at 71.