The first half of The Simpsons season 34 has already broken an impressive number of the show's unspoken rules, proving that the long-running family comedy still knows how to surprise longtime viewers. Although The Simpsons has been on the air for decades, the creators of the cartoon comedy are still trying to avoid stale repetition. To this end, The Simpsons season 34 has committed to keeping the seasoned series fresh this year by breaking almost all the few rules that shape the universe of the series.While The Simpsons season 34 mocked its Golden Age with a joke about the limitations of 90s animation, it is worth noting that the show's critical peak saw the series frequently break the rules of conventional TV sitcoms. Long before Family Guy and South Park, The Simpsons was one of the first cartoon comedy shows to unapologetically court an adult audience with its witty writing. Not only that, but before Seinfeld famously instigated its "no hugging, no learning" policy, The Simpsons rejected the schmaltzy sentimentality of family sitcoms by mocking Golden Moments. However, despite all this genre deconstruction, The Simpsons still had some internal rules that the show followed until season 34.
The First Simpsons Anthology With Endless Segments
Where there are usually between three and five stories in anthology episodes of the show, The Simpsons season 34, episode 3, "Lisa the Boy Scout," instead had dozens of micro skits. One of many season 34 episodes that messed with The Simpsons' credits, "Lisa the Boy Scout," began like a normal (and pretty uninspired) episode of the show. Then, a pair of masked hackers took control of the broadcast and started airing scenes cut from earlier episodes of The Simpsons for fear of ruining the show's reputation. This meta-setup allowed The Simpsons to mock its zaniest plot lines while also staging sketches that could only have worked as short-form gags.
The problem with splitting anthology episodes into three (or five) short stories is that these stories can sometimes feel too rushed while, at other times, the segments feel like one-note jokes that were stretched beyond their breaking point. However, while "Lisa the Boy Scout" brought back some classic Simpsons gags, the episode never dwelled on one joke for long enough that the scene outstayed its welcome. Instead, the chaotic, overstuffed outing constantly leaped from one minor character to another, using the absurd framing device to limit the runtime of each segment and thus ensure that none of their central gags were extended past their prime.
Two Treehouse Of Horror Halloween Specials In One Season
While The Simpsons has changed the formula for its annual Halloween episodes before (with later Treehouse of Horror episodes featuring four or five segments instead of three), the long-running series never aired two in one season. However, season 34 changed this. The Simpsons season 34, episode 5,' Not IT," and episode 6,' Treehouse of Horror XXXIII,' were released under the Treehouse of Horror banner. This proved that two Halloween specials in one season were not overkill, with the superb Stephen King parody 'Not IT' and the next week's "Treehouse of Horror XXXIII" receiving better reviews than most of the show's recent Treehouse of Horror specials.
The First Full-Length Treehouse Of Horror Parody
Staging two Treehouse of Horror Halloween specials in one season was not the only way that The Simpsons season 34 changed the annual tradition. 'Not IT' revolutionized the Treehouse of Horror format as the entire episode was one extended spoof of Stephen King's legendary killer clown novel IT. Since IT runs over 1000 pages long (and even its truncated blockbuster movie adaptations lasted a whopping five hours), 'Not IT' had more than enough material for its twenty-minute runtime. However, focusing on one story and fleshing out its characters for a whole episode meant that season 34's IT parody ended up being one of the best Treehouse of Horror episodes in years.
The Simpsons' First Screenlife Episode
Later, The Simpsons season 34, episode 11,' My Life as a Vlog,' saw the show stage another impressive first. Although the screenlife format has been around for some time, The Simpsons has never made an episode whose story was told entirely via computer screens. However, that changed with the satirical' My Life as a Vlog,' wherein the family became a viral sensation, cashed in on their newfound fame, and soon found that celebrity came with a downside. The entire outing was told via a series of videos as an unseen protagonist clicked through from one tab to another, making this episode the latest Simpsons outing to break another TV rule.
The Simpsons Changed Lisa's Future
The creators of The Simpsons have never claimed that the series has a straightforward canon, and this has never been more obvious than when viewers look at the future of the titular family. For example, according to various episodes set in the future, Lisa could grow up to be a successful businesswoman or the President of the United States. However, even within these changing timelines, some recurring elements of the future consistently reappear in the fates of the show's main characters. For example, even in Bart's most optimistic future, he is a burn-out and deadbeat dad. Similarly, Lisa always had one fate set in stone until now.
In every earlier future episode where Lisa has a partner, it is Milhouse. From The Simpsons' best Christmas future to its parody of Boyhood, Lisa's fate always sees her end up with Milhouse one way or another, but season 34 changed this with a surprising twist. In The Simpsons season 34, episode 9, "When Nelson Met Lisa," it was Nelson who Lisa ended up happily ever after with after a failed marriage to Hubert Wong. This surprising twist brought back the pair's sweet childhood romance and paid off a cute Golden Age episode wherein the unlikely duo dated, but it was still a surprise for longtime fans.
With this twist, The Simpsons season 34 proved that the show was still committed to surprising viewers. Nothing is set in stone for these characters despite how long the series has been on the air. Whether by changing its format, staging more Simpsons holiday specials, or twisting the futures of its heroes, the show can still innovate despite its advancing age. However, only time will tell if The Simpsons season 34 can continue to break the show's rules heading into its latter half.