The Simpsons creator Matt Groening has said that the controversy surrounding the hit animated show was “one of the best things” that ever happened to it.
The long-running sitcom has been on the air since 1990 and has 36 seasons to its name, with four more having already been commissioned.
Although the escapades of Homer, Bart, Lisa, Marge, Maggie and the other residents of Springfield are now well-known and embraced all over the globe it still has the capacity to generate headline-grabbing controversy, such as playing up to racial stereotypes.
The risque nature of the show’s early episodes, which practically celebrated Homer’s lazy attitude to work and Bart's mischief at school also prompted backlash from some parents who chose to ban their children from watching it.
Groening, though, actually believes that negativity helped the show in the long run.
“One of the best things that ever happened in the course of the show was that some people forbade the show,” Groening told Variety.
“It became this exotic, forbidden thing. Bart Simpson Underachiever T-shirts were once controversial and banned in schools. So when we did a Lisa Simpson Overachiever T-shirt, but we got in trouble for that because it said ‘Damn I’m Good.’”
Another thing that Groening believes has helped The Simpsons to survive for so long is its ability to tell stories and jokes through other mediums such as comics, video games and even merchandise.
“It is storytelling,” said the 71-year-old. “Even merchandise –even a lunch box –we try to tell a little story, include a little joke. We try to avoid what’s called in the biz a ‘label slap. We actually try to have jokes on everything.”
It comes after showrunner Matt Selman revealed that he hopes the show’s eventual final episode will just be “a really good story about the family.”
The long-running animated series teased fans in 2024 with a spoof ‘finale’ that imagined how AI would attempt to create an effective finale.
Speaking to The New York Post, Selman said that episode, which was in fact the premiere episode of the show’s 36th season, was inspired by the impossibility of ending the show satisfactorily.
“The discussion that it would be so hard to do a last episode is what led to the fake series finale,” said Selman. “That it’s sort of an impossible thing.”
“The show isn’t meant to end,” he continued. “To do a sappy crappo series finale, like most other shows do, would be so lame. So we just did one that was like over the top.”
Selman went on to say that he hoped that if the show ever does end, it would finish with “a regular episode” that would hopefully be “a really good story about the family,” and added that so many people’s ideas for a series finale “are based on having watched other last shows.”
