One would think that after 40 years of complaining about Scratchy’s xylophone ribs producing the same tone on the same bone, Simpsons fans would be used to the show’s many continuity errors. But after the show killed off Marge in last season’s finale, “Estranger Things,” The Simpsons is dealing with a new influx of supposed geniuses at work. Per Variety, executive producer Matt Selman is reminding fans that the show has “no canon” and that Marge is not dead. Unlike the time Maude Flanders died, which directly impacted the show moving forward, Selman said this one doesn’t count because “The Simpsons’ doesn’t even have a canon.”
“Obviously since The Simpsons’ future episodes are all speculative fantasies, they’re all different every time,” Selman said. “Marge will probably never be dead ever again. The only place Marge is dead is in one future episode that aired six weeks ago.”
These imaginary stories indeed do not affect the expanded Simpsons universe. Consider that in the 2000 episode “Bart To The Future,” Lisa grows up to be the President of the United States, and in “Estranger Things,” she becomes the President of the NBA, formerly the WNBA. Sure, the show has portrayed her as President numerous times since 2000, but one of the benefits of a long-running situational comedy is trying out different things, like new jobs for Lisa. (But back to the continuity: Did Mr. Burns’ doctors ever find a cure for 17 stab wounds in the back? By 1995’s count, Professor Frink was up to 15!)
Selman blames clickbait headlines—unlike the cheeky, information-forward headlines at your beloved A.V. Club—for front-loading the Marge obituaries, even though everyone knows when characters die on The Simpsons, it’s not real. “Every single media outlet that ran this story knew that in no way was Marge dead. They all knew it, but they ran the headline anyway.” Still, he admits, “It’s probably good for business even when these ridiculous, misleading stories go viral!” Amen, brother. Now, can you guess which popular Simpsons characters actually stayed dead? If you said, Maude Flanders, Frank Grimes, Bleeding Gums Murphy, Larry Dalrymple, and Dr. Marvin Monroe, you are wrong. They were never popular.
