Grammy-winning singer Lizzo will guest-star in the Season 34 finale of the popular, long-running animated sitcom, The Simpsons!
The Simpsons began as a series of short cartoons on The Tracey Ullman Show from 1987 to 1989. They centered on the titular family, consisting of Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa, and Maggie, who live in the fictional American town of Springfield. Creator Matt Groening based the Simpson family on his own, with each member sharing their name with a Groening (sans Bart, whose name is an anagram for “brat”). On December 17, 1989, The Simpsons debuted as an independent series on Fox.
Since its premiere, The Simpsons was a huge hit with audiences, becoming cultural icons in Western animation. The series won numerous awards, including 35 Primetime Emmys, 34 Annies, 2 Peabodys, and even a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. The Simpsons has expanded to a multi-media franchise, spawning comic series, video games, books, and merchandise, along with a feature-length film in 2007. With over 700 episodes and no sign of slowing down, The Simpsons is the longest-running animated series, sitcom, and scripted primetime television series in the United States.
All Singing, All Dancing, All Season 34 of The Simpsons
The Simpsons will conclude its 34th season with the upcoming episode, “Homer’s Adventure Through the Windshield Glass”. It involves Homer going for a drive after getting angry at Marge for keeping a secret from him, only to wind up in an accident. In a break from the series’ conventional formula, the entire episode takes place in the few-second timespan that Homer is sent flying through his car windshield.
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The idea for the episode had been in the planning stages for a long time. The issue was that Homer needed a character to interact with for the story to work. The producers realized that Homer’s messy car would be filled with children’s toys and various paraphernalia. One of the toys is a Happy Little Elf Doll that comes to life and becomes a spirit guide to Homer.
Lizzo will have two roles in the episode, voicing the Happy Little Elf doll as well as the singer’s animated self at the end. Seeing that she was a fan of the show, The Simpsons team reached out to Lizzo to offer her an opportunity for a guest appearance. She will have a musical number called “It Was Marge, Bitch”, written by executive producer Tim Long and composed by Bret McKenzie. Lizzo improvised her lines and played her flute in recording sessions, impressing the writers with her knowledge of The Simpsons.
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The episode takes inspiration from An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge by Ambrose Bierce and The Secret Miracle by Jorge Luis Borges. Both short stories make use of the stream of consciousness, a storytelling technique that depicts the thoughts and feelings within a character’s mind during an instantaneous event (eg. an entire life flashing before one’s eyes). The episode title is also a reference to Troy McClure’s Alice’s Adventures Through the Windshield Glass (mentioned in the Season 4 episode “Duffless”), which itself is a pun on Lewis Carroll’s novels Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking-Glass.
The Simpsons was renewed for Seasons 35 and 36, with new episodes airing on Sundays at 8 p.m. ET.
What are your thoughts on Lizzo’s guest appearance in the upcoming episode? Are you looking forward to “Homer’s Adventure Through the Windshield Glass”? What is your favorite episode of The Simpsons? Let us know in the comments and on social media!
Source: Entertainment Weekly, Twitter
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