Listening practice
Vocabulary
Original story
Quiz
Discussion questions
A __________ behind one of America’s most famous and adored TV families for the past three decades has revealed how it will end.
Matt Groening’s Springfield and our favorite family, Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa, and Maggie, first hit our television screens in 1987 as a cartoon short before the __________ comedy started airing regularly from January 1990.
That makes The Simpsons the longest-running __________ TV series in the US, having covered 36 seasons so far in its 36 years.
The show even has an uncanny ability to predict the future as fans have accumulated several __________ from the show over the decades, which have later happened in real life, like Donald Trump’s presidency.
It’s hard to imagine the show ever coming to an end, but fans were left __________ when the first episode of the 36th season seemed to announce it would be the series finale.
However, it was just another infamous __________ by the writers as it was later revealed the storyline of the episode was generated by __________ __________.
The episode, titled ‘Bart’s Birthday,’ explores extreme AI-generated scenarios that would suit a jaw-dropping goodbye, like Mr. Burns’ __________, Moe’s bar shutting down, and Principal Skinner retiring.
It, thankfully, wasn’t the real ending, but __________, Matt Selman, told The Post: “The discussion that it would be so hard to do a last episode is what led to the fake series finale. That it’s sort of an impossible thing.”
“The show isn’t meant to __________,” he continued, “To do a sappy crappo series finale, like most other shows do, would be so lame. So we just did one that was like over the top.”
The executive __________, who joined the writing team in 1997, has now ________ how he would like The Simpsons to end, if the day ever does come.
Selman ______ he would want it to be just a ‘regular episode’ that’s just a ‘really ______ story about the family’.
He added: “The ________ in this crazy show don’t age.
“I think later we’ll just pick an episode and say that was the last one. No self-aware stuff. Or, one self-aware joke.”
A showrunner behind one of America’s most famous and adored TV families for the past three decades has revealed how it will end.
Matt Groening’s Springfield and our favorite family, Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa and Maggie, first hit our television screens in 1987 as a cartoon short before the satirical comedy started airing regularly from January 1990.
That makes The Simpsons the longest-running animated TV series in the US, having covered 36 seasons so far in its 36 years.
The show even has an uncanny ability to predict the future as fans have accumulated several gags from the show over the decades, which have later happened in real life, like Donald Trump’s presidency.
It’s hard to image the show ever coming to an end but fans were left reeling when the first episode of the 36th season seemed to announce it would be the series finale.
However, it was just another infamous gag by the writers as it was later revealed the storyline of the episode was generated by artificial intelligence.
The episode, titled ‘Bart’s Birthday’, explores extreme AI-generated scenarios that would suit a jaw-dropping goodbye, like Mr Burns’ death, Moe’s bar shutting down and Principal Skinner retiring.
It, thankfully, wasn’t the real ending but showrunner, Matt Selman, told The Post: “The discussion that it would be so hard to do a last episode is what led to the fake series finale. That it’s sort of an impossible thing.
“The show isn’t meant to end,” he continued, “To do a sappy crappo series finale, like most other shows do, would be so lame. So we just did one that was like over the top.”
The executive producer, who joined the writing team in 1997, has now revealed how he would like The Simpsons to end, if the day ever does come.
Selman said he would want it to be just a ‘regular episode’ that’s just a ‘really good story about the family’.
He added: “The characters in this crazy show don’t age.
“I think later we’ll just pick an episode and say that was the last one. No self-aware stuff. Or, one self-aware joke.”
Source: Unilad (2024)
