For the first time in almost a decade, “The Simpsons” is relevant. Even without the highly questionable “Family Guy” crossover episode, the “Every Simpsons Ever” marathon on FXX was an unparalleled success, reminding comedy geeks of the ’90s how good they had it on Sunday nights and forcing everyone else to finally figure out where FXX was on their cable packages.
While the reactions to Sunday night’s “Family Guy” crossover ranged from pleasant surprise to outright repulsion, the couch gag for the season premiere of “The Simpsons” is one of the best ever. The gag was animated by Don Hertzfeldt, creator of the Academy Award-nominated cult short “Rejected,” a must-watch for fans of surreal humor and whacked-out animation.
In true Hertzfeldtian form, the couch gag sends Homer and the gang deep into the future — sun-date September 36.4, 2135 to be exact, where episode 164,775.7 of “The Sampsans” follows terrifying amorphous blob versions of the family who repeatedly spout truncated versions of their catchphrases in between not-so-subliminal messages like “BEAM EPASODE NOW INTO EXO-SKULLS AND VIGOROUSLY TOUCH FLIPPERS.” Explaining it any further is pointless, so just watch.
