Throughout 35 seasons and 768 episodes, Fox’s The Simpsons, whereas serving as the inspiration of recent comedy, has had many moments which have manifested themselves in actual life. In a world the place fact can typically be stranger than fiction, issues that writers pitched as jokes have been capable of, very similar to the late Poochie, elevate out of body and make their technique to a brand new dimension.
The Hollywood Reporter has culled collectively 34 episodes, plotlines and throwaway jokes that got here to fruition in our three-dimensional world. So chill in your Spinemelter 2000, seize your glass of Skittlebrau or Malk and revel in!
The Donald Trump Presidency (Season 11, Episode 17: “Bart to the Future”)
Let’s begin with essentially the most broadly circulated prediction. The second time The Simpsons took a peek into the longer term, Lisa has turn into president of the USA. In a cupboard assembly, she offhandedly mentions, “We inherited fairly the funds crunch from President Trump.” It initially was a reference to Trump making an attempt a run as a Reform Occasion candidate. However the phrases gained far more validity when Trump was elected president in 2016. The week after the election, the recurring chalkboard gag even learn, “Being proper sucks.” The road gained extra consideration when Trump introduced he was working for president but once more in a bid for 2024 — which, by the way, is the 12 months that The Simpsons had initially predicted, as producer Al Jean famous on Twitter.
Kamala Harris’ Purple Pantsuit (Season 11, Episode 17: “Bart to the Future”)
In the identical episode that predicted the Trump presidency, Lisa is displaying carrying an eerily related outfit — purple pantsuit, white pearls — to the one Vice President Kamala Harris wore to the 2021 inaugural. “The pantsuit could have been a nod to Hillary Clinton on the time, or we have been simply going for an influence look,” longtime Simpsons scribe Mike Scully just lately informed The Hollywood Reporter. The colour purple? “That appeared to have been a random alternative. It might have been finished by the animators.” Her pearls, in fact, aren’t any thriller: “Lisa all the time wears them,” Scully added.
Accurately Predicting Tremendous Bowls (Season 3, Episode 14: “Lisa the Greek”)
The preliminary airing of the football-centric episode got here just a few days earlier than Tremendous Bowl XXVI, the place Lisa accurately predicted the Washington Redskins would win. The subsequent 12 months, the employees determined to dub within the names of that 12 months’s competing groups, they usually have been as soon as once more right with their name of the Dallas Cowboys as victors. The redubbings continued with reasonable success over the following few years, ending with one other correct prediction of the San Francisco 49ers over the San Diego Chargers in Tremendous Bowl XXIX.
Disney Buys twentieth Century Fox (Season 10, Episode 5: “When You Dish Upon a Star”)
An establishing shot on the finish of the celebrity-heavy “When You Dish Upon a Star” reveals the twentieth Century Fox emblem with “A Division of Walt Disney Co.” under it. Although it has all the time been fast to poke enjoyable at its father or mother firm, the present actually didn’t anticipate Fox to promote to The Walt Disney Co. in July 2018, now bringing Homer Simpson and Mickey Mouse into the identical home.
Underwater Submersible Emergency Scenario (Season 17, Episode 10: “Homer’s Paternity Coot”)
On this episode, Homer believes a person named Mason Fairbanks to be his long-lost organic father. The 2 embark on an underwater journey in particular person submersibles to attempt to discover the treasure in a sunken ship named “Piso Mojado.” However Homer will get caught in coral and his oxygen ranges hold dipping. He loses consciousness and wakes up three days later in a hospital. In June 2023, many followers famous the parallels with the real-life disappearance of an OceanGate submersible that was carrying 5 passengers who have been on an journey to see the ruins of the Titanic on the backside of the Atlantic Ocean when the ship imploded and everybody on board perished.
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Smartwatches (Season 6, Episode 19: “Lisa’s Marriage ceremony”)
“Lisa’s Marriage ceremony” was the present’s first foray into the longer term, with a number of know-how jokes in tow that ended up coming to fruition. For instance, a botched wedding ceremony proposal from Lisa’s boyfriend Hugh prompts him to name an audible by speaking into his watch. In 2013, smartwatches with voice recognition first got here out, saving relationships all over the world.
Autocorrect (Season 6, Episode 8: “Lisa on Ice”)
This is among the few instances when The Simpsons not solely made a prediction however actively contributed to occasions. A fast gag has bully Dolph writing the memo “Beat up Martin” on his Apple Newton. The textual content then interprets to “Eat up, Martha,” a transparent crack on the PDA’s poor handwriting recognition. Sources allege that years later, when Apple was engaged on the iPhone keyboard, workers knew that was the half they needed to nail. They’d even quote, “Eat up, Martha” to one another to sign the characteristic’s significance.
Stealing Cooking Grease for Money (Season 10, Episode 1: “Lard of the Dance”)
One among Homer’s many get-rich-quick schemes concerned siphoning grease from varied institutions and promoting it at a revenue. It was a plan so prolific that “entrepreneurs” have been utilizing it in actual life, because it was reported that thieves have been stealing grease from eating places round New York Metropolis to promote to producers of biodiesel.
FIFA’s Corruption Scandal and World Cup Outcomes (Season 25, Episode 16: “You Don’t Should Stay Like a Referee”)
The Simpsons’ tackle the World Cup entails Homer being introduced into the world of refereeing, primarily as a result of FIFA group having a scarcity from huge corruption. Although he will get the temptation, he decides to name the large recreation pretty, resulting in Germany successful the World Cup. The present loved a one-two punch (or kick) of precognition. First, Germany did find yourself successful the title that very same 12 months. However what adopted in 2015 was not as joyous, as FIFA headquarters was raided by police amid accusations of bribery, fraud and cash laundering.
The Beatles Sending Belated Fan Mail (Season 2, Episode 18: “Brush With Greatness”)
Within the second season, Marge Simpson reveals in highschool she despatched movie star crush Ringo Starr a portray. After many years move, Ringo lastly sends again a response, fulfilling a vow to return all fan mail. The prediction appeared to move between the dwelling Beatles, as, in 2013, two girls from Essex acquired a reply from Sir Paul McCartney after sending him a mixtape 50 years earlier.
Siegfried and Roy Tiger Assault (Season 5, Episode 10: “$pringfield”)
Mr. Burns decides to construct a on line casino in Springfield, with Vegas references abounding. One such was Gunter and Ernst, a transparent Siegfried and Roy analog whose act ends in tragedy when their white tiger, Anastasia, assaults them. Although this one is a little more comprehensible given the risks of working with wild animals, Roy Horn was additionally attacked 10 years after the episode aired.
Video Chats (Season 6, Episode 19: “Lisa’s Marriage ceremony”)
Going again to “Lisa’s Marriage ceremony,” the episode offhandedly options one of many extra important elements of the 2010s and particularly 2020s amid the pandemic: video chat. The model of communication all through the episode is visible by way of a display, not by telephone. In a world that runs on Zoom, Skype, Google Hangout and FaceTime, that is one prediction the writers needed to see to consider.
The U.S. Wins Gold in Curling (Season 21, Episode 12: “Boy Meets Curl”)
In one of many present’s many worldwide journeys, Homer and Marge get drafted into the U.S. curling group for the 2010 Winter Olympics. Regardless of the chances towards them, they can sweep Sweden and win the gold medal. It took eight years earlier than this stone reached its goal, because the latest 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang featured the identical match-up and end result.
An “Common Joe” Goes Into House (Season 5, Episode 15: “Deep House Homer”)
In a well-known Simpsons storyline, NASA elects to ship a mean particular person into house to extend rankings for shuttle launches. In 2013, the UK held a contest to show an odd particular person into an astronaut, which consisted of a number of interviews and rigorous testing in Cape Canaveral. The winner was 25-year-old Oliver Knight, who beat greater than 250 candidates to make a journey into house with 23 different winners. It’s protected to say NASA discovered from their supply materials and selected to not inventory potato chips or ants on the shuttle. Since then, many extra “common” of us, and celebrities from William Shatner to Michael Strahan, even have taken flight.
Girl Gaga’s Tremendous Bowl Efficiency (Season 23, Episode 22: “Lisa Goes Gaga”)
Considered one of many worst episodes of the present to date, “Lisa Goes Gaga” featured the eponymous pop star visiting Springfield and aiding Lisa’s shallowness points. When Gaga carried out on the Tremendous Bowl halftime present in 2017, many observed her wire-based, spark-laden stunt bore an uncanny resemblance to one in every of her many outfits throughout the episode.
Masking up Michelangelo’s “David” (Season 2, Episode 9: “Itchy & Scratchy & Marge”)
In an early episode, Marge tried to get the hyper-violent cartoon pairing Itchy and Scratchy to be extra docile. She then realized how censorship might minimize each methods when the city tried to protest the nudity of Michelangelo’s David, which made a cease in Springfield on its coast-to-coast tour. However the state of David additionally turned a hot-button challenge in 2016, when Russians voted on whether or not or to not cowl a duplicate of the famed statue with garments. Fortunately, it didn’t make them query the fabric from their very own beloved cartoon duo, Employee and Parasite.
Defective Voter Machines (Season 20, Episode 4: “Treehouse of Horror XIX”)
Within the chilly open of the nineteenth installment of “Treehouse of Horror,” (linked to the 2008 presidential election) Homer goes right into a sales space to try to vote for Barack Obama, just for the computerized machines to depend it for John McCain. It took a full election cycle for this one to happen, as a 2012 viral video depicted a voting sales space in Pennsylvania doing the identical factor with Obama and Mitt Romney.
Mutant Tomatoes (Season 11, Episode 5: “E-I-E-I-D’oh!”)
Homer’s try at farming led him to supply “tomacco,” a tomato/tobacco hybrid, using some nuclear supplies from his day job on the plant (although that job is wont to vary, relying on the episode). In 2013, satire mutated into actuality, as vegatables and fruits close to the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear energy plant become hybridized horrors.
The Higgs-Boson Particle (Season 10, Episode 2: “The Wizard of Evergreen Terrace”)
Impressed by the work of Thomas Edison, Homer turns into an aspirational inventor within the present’s tenth season. One cutaway gag entails Homer scribbling profusely on a chalkboard, the underside of which reveals a math equation. Greater than a decade later, scientists found the Higgs-Boson particle (also referred to as the “God particle”), startled to seek out its mass was just like Homer’s calculation.
The Albuquerque Isotopes (Season 12, Episode 15: “Hungry, Hungry Homer”)
This one is much less so a prediction, however extra the present inspiring a real-life occasion. “Hungry, Hungry Homer” entails Homer occurring a starvation strike to protest his baseball group the Springfield Isotopes’ transfer to Albuquerque. Solely a few 12 months later, the Calgary Cannons minor league group relocated to New Mexico, and the Albuquerque Tribune ran a ballot for the brand new group title. The followers got here out in droves and, a lot to Homer’s chagrin, the Albuquerque Isotopes turned a group.
Ebola Outbreak (Season 9, Episode 3: “Lisa’s Sax”)
In an episode primarily set in 1990, Marge tried to cheer up a forlorn Bart with a studying of Curious George and the Ebola Virus. Although the illness had existed earlier than the episode, Ebola had its largest outbreak on report in 2014 and 2015, affecting greater than only a curious little monkey.
The Shard (Season 6, Episode 19: “Lisa’s Marriage ceremony”)
Right here’s a “too eerie to be a coincidence” prediction. The episode featured an establishing shot of Large Ben with the joke thrown in of it now having a digital face. However for those who look on the lefthand aspect, you’ll see a pointed spire that doesn’t appear to slot in with the actual London skyline. Development of the Shard accomplished in 2012, and the skyscraper not solely has the same form to the mysterious constructing but in addition sits in the identical place compared to Large Ben.
Bengt R. Holmstrom Wins Nobel Prize in Economics (Season 22, Episode 1: “Elementary Faculty Musical”)
The Simpsons is understood for creating so-called “freeze body gags,” visible references that will go almost unnoticed with no pause button on the prepared. Within the season 22 premiere, Lisa and her group of pals have logged a predictions sheet for the Nobel Prize bulletins. Although Milhouse would lose out on his prediction that Bengt R. Holmstrom would win in economics, every part could be developing him in 2016 when Holmstrom ended up incomes the honour.
Promoting Ferrets as Toy Poodles (Season 13, Episode 22: “Papa’s Acquired a Model New Badge”)
One among many schemes from Fats Tony, the authority on organized crime in Springfield, entails gluing cotton balls to ferrets to move them off as toy poodles. In one more occasion of criminals taking their plans from tv, an Argentinean man acquired a shock when he purchased what he thought was a toy poodle, solely to seek out out it was a groomed ferret.
Three-Eyed Fish (Season 2, Episode 4: “Two Automobiles in Each Storage and Three Eyes on Each Fish”)
Blinky, the episode’s well-known three-eyed fish, has been utilized by main information publications and linked to commentary on nuclear waste and mutation. However these messages turned prescient in 2011, when fishermen caught a three-eyed wolf fish in a reservoir that feeds close to a nuclear plant in Argentina.
Placing Horse Meat in Meals (Season 5, Episode 19: “Candy Seymour Skinner’s Baadasssss Music”)
A fast visible within the fifth season reveals Lunchlady Doris including horse elements to a typical Springfield Elementary lunch. Little did she know the way a lot of a trailblazer she could be, as, in 2013, well being officers found that a number of beef merchandise contained horse meat.
Suing an All-You-Can-Eat Restaurant (Season 4, Episode 8: “New Child on the Block”)
Homer’s starvation is cartoonishly insatiable, a lot in order that in a single episode he will get kicked out of a seafood restaurant after pursuing an “all you possibly can eat” deal, solely to sue for false promoting. This authorized idea was examined in courts in 2012 and 2017. Paradoxically sufficient, the latter even occurred in Springfield, Massachusetts.
Child Translator (Season 3, Episode 24: “Brother, Can You Spare Two Dimes?”)
The Simpsons was onto the app recreation again within the early Nineteen Nineties. Homer’s seldom-seen half-brother Herb, voiced by Danny DeVito, ascended from poor to affluent, creating an invention that interprets gibberish from infants into full sentences. Years later, the “Cry Translator” app would come out, which additionally analyzes a child’s cry to translate wants.
Bloody Billboard (Season 4, Episode 6: “Itchy & Scratchy: The Film”)
In step with the gory nature of the show-within-a-show, a billboard promoting Itchy and Scratchy’s first film featured Scratchy getting his head minimize off and spurting a blood-like liquid into unsuspecting open automobiles. TVNZ used the identical impact to advertise Kill Invoice Vol. 1 in 2008, spattering the pavement with remnants from Beatrix Kiddo’s newest kill.
Whacking Day (Season 4, Episode 14: “Whacking Day”)
The eponymous vacation, which entails killing as many snakes as attainable, slithered its manner into the actual world. The Python Problem is an annual occasion the place individuals wade into the Florida Everglades to skinny the inhabitants of invasive Burmese pythons, whose overpopulation endangers the various native ecosystem.
Doughnut-Formed Universe (Season 10, Episode 22: “They Saved Lisa’s Mind”)
When celebrated cosmologist Stephen Hawking made his first look on The Simpsons, the writers couldn’t resist the chance to place the world’s smartest man and the world’s stupidest man in a single room. Sharing discourse over beers at Moe’s Tavern, Hawking says, “Your idea of a doughnut-shaped universe is intriguing. I’ll should steal it.” Although there was a real idea that the universe is formed like a donut, or “torus,” because the ’80s, it has resurged in reputation within the new millennium.
NSA Spying Scandal (The Simpsons Film)
In 2007, The Simpsons leaped to the large display, with its penchant for predictions intact. When Marge mentioned her plan to out authorities secrets and techniques, we have been taken to the headquarters of the Nationwide Safety Company. Inside, there’s a room stuffed with displays, with a complete employees listening to telephone calls within the hopes of catching America’s most needed. It was nearly as if the actual NSA have been listening in on the movie, as in 2013 Edward Snowden revealed to the general public quite a few secret surveillance applications the company was working.
Cypress Hill Performs With the London Symphony Orchestra (Season 7, Episode 24: “Homerpalooza”)
Just like the Albuquerque Isotopes, that is much less of a prediction and extra of a manifestation. However, it occurred in actual life, so we’re together with it right here. On this episode, Cypress Hill carried out a classical model of their hit “Insane within the Mind” with the London Symphony Orchestra. On July 10, 2024, this scene turned a actuality when Cypress Hill took the stage at London’s prestigious Royal Albert Corridor backed by the complete LSO. The rappers carried out a number of of their hits, together with “Insane within the Mind.” “It’s been one thing that we’ve talked about for a few years since The Simpsons episode first aired,” Cypress Hill rapper B-Actual informed the BBC. “So it’s very particular for us.” He added, “We’ve performed quite a lot of historic venues all through our profession and stuff like that, however nothing as prestigious as this.”
A COVID-Like Flu Spreads From Asia (Season 4, Episode 21: “Marge in Chains”)
The plot of this 1993 episode kicks off in Japan, the place a sick manufacturing unit employee coughs into bins which might be getting used to ship juicers to Springfield. The city’s residents — together with the Simpson household — turn into ailing with what’s known as the “Osaka Flu.” When COVID-19 started spreading and shutting down faculties, companies and different establishments in March 2020, “Coronavirus” changed “Osaka Flu” in memes on-line, whereas trolls started utilizing the episode for racist propaganda in response to the outbreak. Invoice Oakley, co-writer of the episode, informed THR that he didn’t “prefer it getting used for nefarious functions. The concept that anybody misappropriates it to make coronavirus appear to be an Asian plot is horrible. When it comes to attempting to position blame on Asia — I believe that’s gross.” He added: “It was meant to be absurd that somebody might cough right into a field and the virus would survive for six to eight weeks within the field. It’s cartoonish. We deliberately made it cartoonish as a result of we needed it to be foolish and never scary.”
Up to date 9:39 a.m. Nov. 16, 2022: Added information about Trump’s presidential bid.
Up to date 10:38 a.m. June 22, 2023: Added information in regards to the lacking OceanGate submersible.
Up to date 7:45 p.m. August 25, 2024: Added the purple pantsuit and Cypress Hill episodes.
Abid Rahman and Alex Weprin contributed to this report.