The Simpsons Isn’t Ending But This Episode Gave Off Major Series Finale Vibes

The Simpsons pulled the ultimate prank on viewers but with a genius twist. The 1989 animated series aired a ‘final’ episode that was anything but final. On September 29, the long-running series aired an episode titled ‘Bart’s Birthday’ which was shown as the show’s ‘series finale’. Turns out, what appeared like the show’s swansong was actually the first episode of Season 36. The audience was just tricked into thinking that it was the last-ever episode with a tongue-in-cheek twist.

The episode begins with Conan O’Brien hosting a crowd of celebrities and joking that for years Fox tried to cancel the show only for them to finally succeed. Speaking to the observant audience, O’Brien is surrounded by animated representations of celebrities who have made appearances on the show, such as Mr. T and Seth Rogen.

“I knew I was the right man for the job because I’ve hosted the last episode of three of my own shows, and counting,” O’Brien says. “Well, it’s true. Fox has decided to end the Simpsons,” he adds. O’Brien then goes on to humorously carry on the obituary of the beloved Fox sitcom.

Before presenting the ‘final’ episode, which was created by using artificial intelligence, O’Brien showed what he claimed were attempts at a series finale that were never aired, including some comical tries at it as well as others featuring a dramatic attempt such as Moe’s shutting down or Mr Burns dying.

The AI reference seems more like a pun about the technology than an indication that AI actually wrote the episode. It’s unclear if AI was actually used to create the episode.

Bart’s Birthday is done in the same format as the season 7 episode 10 titled ‘The Simpsons 138th Episode Spectacular’ in which O’Brien hosts like Troy McClure’s character by Phil Hartman. The episode is full of references and often repeats different cliches associated with series finales. During the episode, final scenes of shows such as The Sopranos, Breaking Bad, Game of Thrones and Succession were depicted in an animated manner.

At the end of the episode, Bart awakens from his cosmic reverie and realises that it is his 11th birthday. Notably, Bart has been 10 since the series started. He refuses to acknowledge, and Homer chokes him and the show malfunctions and restarts. Thus, with everything back to normal, the ‘series finale’ was no longer the actual end.

Contrary to what was expected by most fans when the episode was presented as the final episode, many responded with confusion but soon found themselves laughing as they realised it was the point of the episode after all. People reacted from surprise to laughter on social media, while many more viewed the trick behind it as quite creative.

A user wrote on X, “I legit thought this was the series finale until I realized it was all a joke.”

Another person said, “I DEFINITELY FELL FOR THAT “SERIES FINALE” ON-SCREEN GRAPHIC.”

The Simpsons continues to be the longest-running animated, comedy, and scripted primetime television program in the United States.