So far The Simpsons season 33 has seen the series continue to rely on celebrity guest stars in almost every episode, resulting in a string of outings that spend more time introducing new characters than prioritizing the titular family’s misadventures. Since the series began over thirty years ago, celebrity guest stars have been part of what makes The Simpsons great. The anarchic animated sitcom has been able to wrangle some impressive names over the decades and has consistently wrung funny, self-deprecating performances from actors, singers, and public figures alike.
Even celebrities who reject cameos on The Simpsons (like Bob Dylan) pave the way for a more game big name to take their place. However, while there is nothing inherently wrong with celebrities appearing on The Simpsons, the long-running series has run into a recurring issue when the show prioritizes guest stars and new characters over the existing cast. Unfortunately, The Simpsons season 33 has continued to fall afoul of this problem.
Of the eleven episodes that The Simpsons season 33 has so far aired, all but one has at least one celebrity guest star. That lone celebrity-free Simpsons outing still has Joe Mantegna - albeit as series mainstay Fat Tony - and nine out of the eleven episodes have more than one guest star. Three episodes have four or more guest stars each, with even the Simpsons season 33 outing that brought back Glenn Close as Homer’s mother Mona also cramming in a guest appearance from Rachel Bloom. This is far too many new one-off characters and too many celebrities playing themselves, meaning the show famous for its sprawling cast of supporting stars never ends up utilizing them, since The Simpsons is too busy jumping from one guest star to the next.
Few series have the impressive cultural reputation of The Simpsons, a show that reshaped the landscape of television comedy when it reached its Golden Age in the ‘90s. Unfortunately, this also means that almost no famous face will turn down the series, resulting in fan-hated Simpsons episodes like Elon Musk and Lady Gaga’s outings. Even when The Simpsons features guest stars who aren’t playing themselves, however, the issue of the show ignoring its established characters is never entirely solved.
For example, The Simpsons’ “The Longest Marge” (season 33, episode 11) featured a new character played by comedian Beck Bennett, a hard-living footballer named Grayson Mathers. The episode also featured an appearance from John Mulaney as recurring character Warburton Parker, but rather than flesh out the comedic character Mulaney played in an earlier appearance, The Simpsons barely made time for the comedian’s appearance before cramming in a cameo from Adam Schefter as himself. An episode that focused on Bennett’s character could have been funny, as could a cameo from Schefter, or the return of Mulaney’s Parker. However, the mistake The Simpsons season 33 made (and keeps making) was to cram all three into one episode, meaning none of the famous faces or new characters had a chance to make an impact. It is a problem that The Simpsons has encountered before, and one that is hard to excuse in a show that already has a cast of hundreds of supporting characters.