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Were celebrating the 30th anniversary ofThe Simpsonsepisode Lisa on Ice at Vulture Festival on November 16-17 in Los Angeles.
In May, 2023, I visitedthe offices ofThe Simpsonsdeep inside the Fox Studio Lot in Century City.
I was the first reporter in many years to document how the show comes together.
More precisely, I was the first reporter in many years to care.
The result was an overwhelming blahness and deepening cultural irrelevance just as many shows directly inspired byThe Simpsonstook off.
Everything in showbiz is like,Pretend you do it all.Fuck that.
Im the coach, he told me.
The changing of the guard was also important on a structural level.
The staff have also found a way to look at its main characters with a fresh eye.
There was a touching episode in 2021 about the psychological ramifications of Marge offhandedly calling Lisa chunky.
You feel less like you are watching season 34 than a reboot of season one.
Jean crammed the episodes with jokes and bits, giving less airtime to stories.
The writers say the show now has fewer gags to make room for character development.
The Simpsonsisalso finding a new audience that doesnt know the difference between the classic period and the Dark Ages.
Now, Selman speculated to me,The Simpsonsmight be Mickey Mouse & Co.s favorite part of that deal.
And why wouldnt he?The Simpsonsis once again an extremely popular show.
It is a rare bit of comfort food, a high-episode-count IP that can work on the child-safe Disney+.
I dont know if youve ever spoken to little kids aboutThe Simpsons.I have, and I highly recommend it.
Most of them recounted some version of finding the show during the pandemic.
For them, the show is watched on demand in endless quantities.
I asked how many episodes they think theyve seen, and the responses were usually in the 150-to-300 range.
And they all intend to watch all 750.
Some boys in Noemis class already have, and,ugh,its so annoying.
The Simpsonsalso functions as an education in American culture.
Noemis 8-year-old best friend, Nori, told me about learning of the movieCitizen Kanethrough the season-five episode Rosebud.
This is the sort of avant-garde experimentation that Selman loves.
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