Entertainment
The Simpsons messes with beloved timeline again as show suggests Marge attended high school in 2000
Marge went to school in the 70s…and apparently 2000 (Picture: Fox)
Just months after executive producer Matt Selman hit back at critics of the apparently-fluid timeline of The Simpsons, it’s been revealed a new episode has Marge attending high school in 2000.
Throughout its thirty-year-plus history fans of the Fox series have come to understand Homer and Marge attended school in the 70s, with Marge a bra-burning feminist who fell in love with unpopular Homer. In fact, season four’s episode The Front was set at the pair’s Class of 1974 reunion. So forgive us if we find it hard to bend our feeble minds.
Teasing the upcoming series, Selman revealed Marge was the stage manager of a production about the Millennium Bug, which the world feared as the ball dropped and we entered 2000.
He told Entertainment Weekly of the new episode: ‘Marge has amazing memories of being the stage manager of her high school musical, Y2K: The Millennium Bug, and decides to restage it with everyone 20 years later for one last show.
‘But when her old high school nemesis comes to town, she realises that her high school memories aren’t what she thought they were.’
Because they were set 26 years after she actually graduated?
Fans feel strong about a timeline (Picture: Fox)
The episode is an all-singing fiesta and features Kristen Bell and while that’s all well and good, previous shifting of the canon has had punters up in arms over the years, despite Selman insisting this timeline doesn’t exist no matter how much fans go on about it.
Most recently, viewers of the long-running animation couldn’t get on board the idea Homer attended high school in the 90s after an episode’s flashback.
Some critics pointed out the warped timeline would now make Homer younger than his son, Bart, you know, even though we celebrate his birthday each year as May 12, 1956 (with Marge believed to be around the same age).
Selman previously blasted critics who felt the show couldn’t deviate from its original timeline, insisting it was merely re-interpreting it.
He wrote on Twitter in March: ‘Continuity Alert: Sunday’s @TheSimpsons playfully re-interprets the show’s timeline to allow Homer to be a teenager in the early ‘90s,’ he wrote.
‘The Simpsons is a 32-year-old series where the characters do not age, so the “canon” must be elastic / contradictory / silly.
More: The Simpsons
‘This does not mean other beloved classic @TheSimpsons flashback shows didn’t happen. None of this happened. It’s all made up. Every episode is its own Groundhog Day that only has [to] make sense for that story (if that).’
He added: ‘There is no @TheSimpsons “canon” or “non-canon.” There are only stories. If all these crazy things really happened to one family the characters would be in a mental hospital.’
The Simpsons is available to stream on Disney Plus.
MORE : The Simpsons star and comedian Jackie Mason dies aged 93 after ‘trouble breathing’
Got a story?
If you’ve got a celebrity story, video or pictures get in touch with the Metro.co.uk entertainment team by emailing us celebtips@metro.co.uk, calling 020 3615 2145 or by visiting our Submit Stuff page – we’d love to hear from you.
