Simpsons season 33 promises Gorey Halloween tribute, great guest voices

This year’s San Diego Comic-Con panel for the The Simpsons was substantial, but the most telling moment came in a 20-minute game of “The Simpsons Pictorial. The writers and animators group, led by voice actor Yeardley Smith, were paired up, with the writers tasked with guessing the characters and episode titles from quick sketches by the animators.

The track was cute and a good chance to see the talent of the animation team on display, but there was a presumably unintentional subtext in the second round that became harder and harder to ignore: all episode titles. come from the first six or seven seasons of the series. No answer has been drawn for the past two decades. It has become a cliché with this rag on The simpsons for enjoying their past successes, and maybe it’s petty to be too critical of such a great band, but hey. If the shoe fits you, why not wear it? Even if you bought it in 1993.

The panel spent a considerable amount of time trying to generate excitement for the show’s 33rd year. There was a gag on “streaming wars”, a snippet from the upcoming Halloween episode (writer Al Jean explained, “We have five segments on this year’s Halloween show,” a first time for the series), and some clues as to what to bring in.

Writer Matt Selman enthusiastically explained that “This year’s premiere is the most musical episode we’ve ever done. Music almost wall to wall. It’s like a Broadway musical episode. Kristen Bell will perform Marge’s singing voice, and there was a glimpse of the story panel of Homer singing in her underwear to a disgruntled Marge in the bathroom. There is another love story in Moe’s future, and Al Jean told a story about “the greatest tragedy Homer has ever known,” with Rachel Bloom as a guest.

By far the most significant announcement was what Selman described as “an epic two-part love letter to high-profile crime dramas.” Airing in November, the episodes will feature a guest cast consisting of Timothy Olyphant, Cristin Milioti and Brian Cox; “It’s unlike anything we’ve done before, and I really hope it makes sense,” Selman explained. As to what particular “high-profile criminal drama” history will be speaking on, Selman’s name has been verified. Fargo, prompting longtime host David Silverman to mention how much he loves the series, a micro-example of the general enthusiasm that motivated most of the attendees, be it the The Simpsons, alternative jobs or nicknames.

This enthusiasm is almost enough to cover the fact that the little pieces of modernity The Simpsons shown during the video weren’t that exciting. The panel opened with a gag on a new streaming service called “Simplix” which features The Simpsons characters in popular streaming shows, which has resulted in a rapid succession of posters that do just that, to varying degrees of effect.

The segment of the next Halloween episode had a similar “fruit at hand” vibe, as Maurice Lamarche delivered a handsome Vincent Price impersonation narrating an Edward Gorey-style poem about Bart engaging in shenanigans.

The animation was beautiful, a Simpson version of Gorey’s weird and familiar style, but while the verses were clever at times, there was no construction, no real twists or surprises, and the segment ended in an anti -climax so by heart that it might as well have “beer hour” stamped at the bottom.

The parts of the conversation that aren’t about promoting the upcoming season or the game The Simpsons The charades were approached with questions from fans about the writers and hosts that will be familiar to anyone who has watched this kind of panel before. Yeardley Smith kicked off with her own request: “Can we have an episode where Lisa Simpson befriends The Rock?” The stunt cast isn’t new to the series, and Smith’s obvious excitement was charming; it was mostly a surprise that Dwayne Johnson hadn’t appeared on the show before.

Smith’s plea was followed by a series of upbeat softball prompts: “What show would you like to write about?” (writer Carolyn Omine was in Always sunny in Philadelphia; Selman had great things to say about Bob’s burgers, among others); “What is working on The simpsons does mean to you? Directed at Silverman, who said “It means something amazing has happened to me in my career,” and also mentioned his awareness of how long he was drawing for the show; whether or not animators draw in their spare time (Debbie Mahan has an Instagram account for after-hours work; Mike Anderson apparently scribbles all over the place), and so on. A viewer asked if the show has any plans for a series finale, and while there were some interesting ideas, Selman gave what might be the most apt prediction, with a cheerful, albeit scary, ” In one form or another, Disney will never end the show.

No one seemed particularly embarrassed by the idea, and while it wouldn’t be surprising in the long run The Simpsons vets had more complicated feelings about the longevity of the show, there was no sign of such a feeling here. Perhaps the closest to self-awareness panel was the late arrival of Matt Groening, warmly greeted by all but visibly exhausted, briefly animating himself for a conversation about nicknames (“I won’t even enter in my high school nickname which was ‘Matt Groin-Injury.’ ”), but not really present for anything else, yet a name is a name.

The simpsons is currently broadcast on Hulu and Disney plus

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