The Simpsons did it. After 35 years, TV’s longest-running sitcom aired its series finale. Make that “series finale.
” There will still be more episodes — after all, it’s the premiere of the 36th season — but “Bart’s Birthday” is The Simpsons ’ take on what a finale might look like, satirizing not only the idea that the show could ever end but also the concept of series finales in general. It’s proof that, after all these years, The Simpsons can still find new ways to subvert both the sitcom form and viewer expectations. Inspired by the season-ten clip-show parody “The Simpsons 138th Episode Spectacular,” “Bart’s Birthday” is formatted like a hosted special.
But instead of just showing clips from the past and making up fake ones — although there’s some of that — host Conan O’Brien introduces a brand-new, AI-written episode designed to be the series finale. That episode-within-the-episode mostly follows Bart as he watches the show’s characters go through cliché, overly sentimental finale-type story lines with increasing consternation. The result is an irreverent, mega-meta, sneakily touching Simpsons episode that’s both gloriously referential and unlike anything the show’s done before.
Earlier this week, while still tweaking the final version of the episode, showrunner Matt Selman, the person largely responsible for the show’s recent renaissance , explained what the hell the writers were thinking. When you write for The Simpsons .