‘The Simpsons’ producer proves that sometimes fans are just looking too deep into things

Thirty-something seasons deep, The Simpsons golden era is probably 20-something years old now, but that hasn’t stopped fans from theorizing and speculating on the meta commentary of the show. But not all of it is as deep as they think it is.

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The Simpsons revels in its own irreverence, with the biting commentary of the series often being directed inwards. There’s been several episodes of the series which put animation and television itself under the microscope such as “The Itchy & Scratchy & Poochie Show” and “The Day the Violence Died”, and its the latter which has had a common myth debunked by its writer.

During the episode, Bart Simpson obtains an animation cell from The Itchy & Scratchy Show (which humorously ends up being barely an arm). When it is delivered to him, the postman suddenly switches skin tone in between frames, which had been pointed at by fans for years as an example of meta commentary on cheap or lazy animation. Turns out, at least according to writer Josh Weinstein, it was actually just an animation error.

No clever meta commentary, no meta joke, not even a set-up or a punchline as he remembers it. There’s a beautiful irony to this happening, although Weinstein was unable to completely confirm if the animator or showrunner had put this in intentionally.

Fun Simpsons discussion

People think we intentionally miscolored these shots as meta-joke about cruddy animation. We didn't. They're real mistakes

And a great example of seeing extra jokes/references we didn't intend

Got any more examples/questions if something IS a reference?

— Josh Weinstein (@Joshstrangehill) January 2, 2023

Fans responded to this by asking plenty of other questions about potentials gags or references, and it’s ultimately led to new knowledge being released into the atmosphere, as well as revelations on the productions of the series as a whole. Despite being in its glory days, mistakes still happened.

This line is based on a kid I knew who got on schoolbus every morning with a piece of toast with Vaseline on it. And ate it. Apparently inventor of Vaseline recommended eating this in 1870s. Maybe he was just trying to move unsold Vaseline

And now you know the rest of the story

— Josh Weinstein (@Joshstrangehill) January 3, 2023

Gaffes from other episodes of note included the “Larry twins” in one episode, which Weinstein assumes was just never picked up by any editor or showrunner before it aired. Or, perhaps, was left in as a joke.

Whoaaaaaaa! I never noticed that! I think that's just a mistake no one ever caught. There have never been any big plans for Larry, sadly for Larry. Definitely never talk of a Larry twin. Great catch!👍

— Josh Weinstein (@Joshstrangehill) January 2, 2023

Hey Josh! I always assumed Moe actually did send Barney’s bar tab to NASA but recently noticed Moe’s sly grin here when he puts the cash in the register, suggesting he was scamming Barney
Do you remember what the intention was?

— Murph's Tavern (@murphstavernpod) January 2, 2023

And of course, we can all hope someone got fired for that blunder, to quite a very wise man. The entire 34-season run of The Simpsons is available to stream on Disney Plus.