"Bart's Birthday" | |
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The Simpsons episode | |
Episode no. | Season 36 Episode 1 |
Directed by | Rob Oliver |
Written by | Jessica Conrad |
Production code | 35ABF15 |
Original air date | September 29, 2024 |
Guest appearances | |
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"Bart's Birthday", titled onscreen as "The Simpsons Series Finale", is the thirty-sixth season premiere of the American animated television series The Simpsons , and the 769th episode overall. It aired in the United States on Fox on September 29, 2024. The episode was written by Jessica Conrad and directed by Rob Oliver.
In this episode, celebrities attend a presentation of the series finale of The Simpsons in which Bart believes something is changing with his world. The idea for the episode came as a response to people asking executive producer Matt Selman when and how the series would end. John Cena, Danny DeVito, Tom Hanks, Joel McHale, Conan O'Brien, Mark Proksch, Seth Rogen, and Amy Sedaris guest starred. The episode received positive reviews.
At the Dolby-Mucinex Theater, former celebrity guest stars on The Simpsons attend a celebration of the series finale, hosted by former writer Conan O'Brien. O'Brien explains that Fox has been trying to end the series for decades, and shows off alternate versions of classic episodes that would have ended the series by killing off Homer. He then tasks an artificial intelligence chatbot called Hack-GPT to generate a series finale. The plot of the episode revolves around Bart needing to distribute his birthday party invitations after Homer forgets to mail them.
Bart distributes the invitations at a school assembly, where to Bart's delight, Principal Skinner announces he is moving with Groundskeeper Willie to Sacramento for a new job. Meanwhile at the power plant, Homer accidentally kills Mr. Burns, leaving his fortune to the employees.
Bart witnesses John Cena deliver Kumiko and Comic Book Guy's baby and he finds it strange seeing numerous people saying they will "miss this place" before turning off the lights and closing their doors. He discusses this with Milhouse, whose parents announce they are leaving Springfield. Different marriages are seen as Patty and Selma marry Evelyn and the Yes Guy, Ned Flanders marries Ruth Powers, and Duffman marries Ms. Hoover. Raphael even turns off the Springfield Tire Fire.
At home, Homer and Marge announce that they have permanently fixed their relationship, Homer is going on weight loss medication, and that the Simpson family will effectively cease to be a dysfunctional family. As Maggie prepares to say her first words, Bart realizes everything is changing and runs out of the house. In the theater, the studio audience is confused, and Hack-GPT says that Bart has become self-aware and is rejecting the finale.
After seeing more changes around town like Moe's Tavern closing, Nelson's father and the other Seymour Skinner returning, and multiple funerals, Bart goes to a taping of Krusty's show, but even Krusty is filming his series finale with Sideshow Mel while Sideshow Bob is on supervised release. Bart tries to prevent it from airing by mooning the studio audience, which lands him in jail. Bart is bailed out as Chief Wiggum mentions that he is joining the Chicago Police Department.
Bart's family takes him home as Lisa, who has won a scholarship to Juilliard as well as a MacArthur grant, tries to comfort him. The townsfolk throw him a surprise 11th birthday party, horrifying Bart, who has always been 10. Refusing to blow out the birthday cake candles, Bart resists the urges of Herbert Powell and John Cena and insists "happy people don't exist in Springfield", rebuking the characters who have received spinoffs like stating that the Sea Captain isn't TV pretty, Nelson and his friends not being able to raise a baby upon moving in with Hank Scorpio, and that Bleeding Gums Murphy, Frank Grimes, and Rabbi Hyman Krustofsky are supposed to be dead. Bart then provokes Homer into strangling him, which disrupts the finale and changes it to a scene of Bart's 10th birthday party surrounded by his family members.
O'Brien is moved that Bart overcame Hack-GPT's designed finale, resetting the series. O'Brien announces that this is only a season premiere, which angers Tom Hanks who states that he rented a tux for this event. When he asks Hack-GPT if it can create another 800 episodes, it explodes causing the celebrities to flee. O'Brien then puts on his old jacket and leaves stating that he's not really going to miss this place.
Executive producer Matt Selman thought that The Simpsons could not have a series finale because the show reset at the end of each episode and does not have canon or continuity. As a result, when asked about it by the press, he could not give an answer. However, when asked this question while in Australia, he thought about an episode with a fake finale and developed the idea with episode co-showrunner Michael Price and writer Jessica Conrad. They considered what Fox would do for a real finale and conceived a celebration with celebrities in attendance. The episode was inspired by the seventh season episode "The Simpsons 138th Episode Spectacular". [1] Selman also compared the episode to the thirty-fourth season episode "Lisa the Boy Scout", [2] and Price compared it with the eighth season episode "The Simpsons Spin-Off Showcase". [3] The creators also used the episode to comment on art generated from artificial intelligence, which was a topic of concern during the 2023 Hollywood labor disputes. The original artificial intelligence generated finale episode was going to have Bart performing the greatest prank, but executive producer James L. Brooks suggested a birthday party. [1]
The creators wanted to mock fans by including a scene with the real Seymour Skinner from the ninth season episode "The Principal and the Pauper" and to also mock the media, who now only discuss the series for think pieces, by having Homer strangle Bart, which became a topic after the episode "McMansion & Wife" aired the previous season. [1] The script called for the strangling scene to be animated in the violent style of the early seasons as done by David Silverman, so he animated the scene himself. [3]
Former series writer Conan O'Brien appeared as himself. The writers wanted someone who could "poke fun" at fans from the early seasons of the show who would serve the same role that Troy McClure filled in "The Simpsons 138th Episode Spectacular". The host role was written for O'Brien, and Selman said he was "smart enough and funny enough" to know why he was chosen. [1] O'Brien previously appeared as himself in the fifth season episode "Bart Gets Famous". [4]
Amy Sedaris voiced Maggie Simpson. Nancy Cartwright originally voiced her for the episode, but when Selman saw an opportunity for another joke, Sedaris was brought in, and she recorded the line on the Thursday before the episode aired. [1] Mark Proksch voiced the artificial intelligence Hack-GPT. He also recorded his role the week before the episode aired. [5]
Actor Tom Hanks reprised his role as himself from The Simpsons Movie . Hanks ad-libbed his line where he tells Ron Howard to move. [1] [6] Danny DeVito reprised his role as Herb Powell. [7] DeVito originated his role in the second season episode "Oh Brother, Where Art Thou?". [8] Actor John Cena appeared as himself. Selman said his appearance is the type of stunt casting that a finale would have. [1] Actor Joel McHale also appeared as himself. [7]
Actor Seth Rogen reprised his role as himself, reusing a recorded laugh from a previous episode that required clearance. [1] Rogen previously appeared as himself in the twenty-fifth season episode "Steal This Episode". [9] The other non-speaking celebrities appeared without permission and were not paid, and Fox's legal department had the writers give O'Brien a line explaining this. [1]
A part was also written for former President of the United States Barack Obama where he would make a tribute to the series by joking about how the show feels like being president with all the "bad stuff" that follows it, but he was not available due to being busy with his support to Kamala Harris during the 2024 United States presidential election. [3]
The depiction of characters turning off the lights and leaving a room is a reference to the ending of the television series The Mary Tyler Moore Show where Mary does the same thing as well as the ending of the television series Cheers . [1] [3]
The end credits feature images parodying the series finales of The Sopranos , M*A*S*H , Mad Men , The Mary Tyler Moore Show , Breaking Bad, Frasier , Succession , Newhart , and Game of Thrones . [10] [11] In the Frasier parody Sideshow Bob has taken the place of Frasier Crane played by Kelsey Grammer who is also the voice of Sideshow Bob on The Simpsons. [12] The montage includes an instrumental version of "They'll Never Stop the Simpsons", which was written by Selman, from the thirteenth season episode "Gump Roast", which is a parody of the Billy Joel song "We Didn't Start the Fire". [1]
Tom Hanks addresses Ron Howard as Opie, his character from The Andy Griffith Show . [6]
The episode contains many references to O'Brien's career and his programs Late Night , The Tonight Show , and Conan , as well as to current Fox shows Animal Control , The Masked Singer , and Farmer Wants a Wife .[ citation needed ]
Hack-GPT is a parody of artificial intelligence chatbot ChatGPT. Series mentioned as having good finales include Breaking Bad and Mad Men, while shows with poorly received finales include Seinfeld and Lost . The divisive finale to The Sopranos is described as both good and bad. A ride called "Homer Simpson's Claim-Jumping, Yukon-Rumbling Rock-N-Rollercoaster" is mentioned as being planned at Disneyland Shanghai.[ citation needed ]
Bart mentions that the Sea Captain is trying to get cast on a revival of The Love Boat . O'Brien refers to Hanks as his "bosom buddy".[ citation needed ]
The episode earned a 0.33 rating and was watched by 1.08 million viewers, the most-watched show on Fox that night. [13]
John Schwarz of Bubbleblabber gave the episode a 7.5 out of 10. He liked the premise of the show making fun of "everyone and everything", including the entertainment industry. However, he felt that the commentary could have been sharper if the series was not owned by Disney. [14]
Mike Celestino of Laughing Place called the episode "a pretty clever way to hang a lampshade" on how anyone involved with the series will be able to end the show. [15]
Robert Underdunk Terwilliger Jr., PhD, better known as Sideshow Bob, is a recurring character in the animated television series The Simpsons. He is voiced by Kelsey Grammer and first appeared in the episode "The Telltale Head". Bob is a self-proclaimed genius who is a graduate of Yale University and a champion of high culture, including the adoption of a transatlantic accent, similar to that of Grammer's portrayal of Dr. Frasier Crane from the sitcoms Cheers and Frasier. He began his career as a sidekick on Krusty the Clown's television show, but after enduring constant abuse, Bob framed his employer for armed robbery in "Krusty Gets Busted", only to be foiled by Bart Simpson, and sent to prison. Bob started seeking revenge against Bart while in prison, and the two became feuding arch-enemies.
"The Dad Who Knew Too Little" is the eighth episode of the fourteenth season of the American animated television series The Simpsons. It originally aired on the Fox network in the United States on January 12, 2003. In the episode, Homer disappoints Lisa on her birthday when he gives her a thoughtless present. He realizes that he knows little about her and decides to hire private detective Dexter Colt to spy on her.
"Cape Feare" is the second episode of the fifth season of the American animated television series The Simpsons. It originally aired on the Fox network in the United States on October 7, 1993. The episode features guest star Kelsey Grammer in his third major appearance as Sideshow Bob, who attempts to kill Bart Simpson again after getting out of jail, spoofing the 1962 film Cape Fear and its 1991 remake. Both films are based on John D. MacDonald's 1957 novel The Executioners and allude to other horror films such as Psycho.
"Homer Goes to College" is the third episode of the fifth season of the American animated television series The Simpsons. It originally aired on the Fox network in the United States on October 14, 1993. In the episode, Homer causes a nuclear meltdown during a plant inspection and is required to study nuclear physics at college. When Homer neglects his studies, the college dean has three nerds tutor him. Homer enlists the nerds' help in playing a prank on a rival college, leading to their expulsion. Homer invites them to live with the Simpsons, who soon grow tired of their new housemates.
"Day of the Jackanapes" is the thirteenth episode of the twelfth season of the American animated television series The Simpsons. It first aired on the Fox network in the United States on February 18, 2001. In the episode, Krusty announces his retirement due to interference from network executives and the growing popularity of the game show Me Wantee. When Krusty reveals that all of the episodes featuring Sideshow Bob have been erased, Bob decides to murder Bart again by hypnotizing him into murdering Krusty during his farewell show.
"It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad Marge" is the twenty-first and penultimate episode of the eleventh season of the American animated television series The Simpsons. It first aired in the United States on the Fox network on May 14, 2000. After a failed marriage attempt with Otto, Becky stays with the Simpson family. However, Marge begins to get paranoid at her family's newfound love of Becky, and begins to think that she is seducing Homer.
"The Great Louse Detective" is the sixth episode of the fourteenth season of the American animated television series The Simpsons. It originally aired on the Fox network in the United States on December 15, 2002. In the episode, the Simpson family wins a free spa weekend, and Homer is nearly killed when a mysterious figure locks him in a sauna. Chief Wiggum decides to hire someone who can think like a murderer in order to find the mystery assailant. Bart's arch-enemy Sideshow Bob is sent to live with the Simpsons so he can help find Homer's attempted killer, who turns out to be the son of the late Frank Grimes.
"Bart Gets Famous" is the twelfth episode of the fifth season of the American animated television series The Simpsons. It originally aired on the Fox network in the United States on February 3, 1994. In the episode, Bart gets a job as Krusty the Clown's production assistant. He replaces Sideshow Mel in one of Krusty's skits and accidentally destroys the stage props. When Bart says "I didn't do it," he instantly becomes famous for his catchphrase.
Jon Vitti is an American writer best known for his work on the television series The Simpsons. He has also written for King of the Hill, The Critic and The Office, and has served as a screenwriter or consultant for several animated and live-action movies, including Ice Age (2002), Robots (2005), and Horton Hears a Who! (2008). He is one of the eleven writers of The Simpsons Movie and also wrote the screenplays for the film adaptations Alvin and the Chipmunks, its sequel; and The Angry Birds Movie.
Conan Christopher O'Brien is an American television host, comedian, writer, and producer. He is best known for having hosted late-night talk shows, beginning with Late Night with Conan O'Brien (1993–2009) and The Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien (2009–2010) on the NBC television network, and Conan (2010–2021) on the cable channel TBS. Before his hosting career, O'Brien was a writer for the NBC sketch comedy series Saturday Night Live from 1988 to 1991, and the Fox animated sitcom The Simpsons from 1991 to 1993. He has also been host of the podcast series Conan O'Brien Needs a Friend since 2018 and starred in the 2024 travel show Conan O'Brien Must Go on Max.
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