The Simpsons' Fake Series Finale Was Inspired By A Common Fan Question

The season 36 premiere of "The Simpsons" feels a lot like an April Fool's episode, in that its entire premise is a meta joke about the show's longevity. "Bart's Birthday" is framed as a ceremony hosted by "Simpsons" alum Conan O'Brien, which starts off with him explaining how Fox has been trying to cancel "The Simpsons" since day one. He shows us a few potential series finales that supposedly almost happened: one where Homer really does die when falling down the Springfield Gorge, one where a skiing Homer gets brutally split in half when he crashes into a tree, and one where he accidentally blows up the entire town.

The main segment revolves around Conan tasking an AI machine to write the perfect series finale for modern "Simpsons," with terrible results. Almost every character is given a rushed happy ending, most of them with strong spinoff potential, while a confused Bart tries to figure out what's going on. His life has been almost exactly the same for thirty-six years straight, so it's jarring for everything to permanently change so quickly. Things escalate with Bart finding out that it's his 11th birthday, even though he's supposed to stay 10 forever. 

The entire story is the writers responding to a complaint people have been levying at "The Simpsons" for over the 30 years now: when will this show end? As producer/writer Michael Price explained in a recent interview with Cracked, showrunner Matt Selman got the idea for the episode after being asked that question one too many times:

"We were on strike last year for a long time, and during the strike, Matt took a trip overseas. Occasionally, he's stopped by people who always ask, 'How much longer will the show go on?' and 'How will you end it?' So, one of our first days back from being out on strike, Matt basically pitched this idea, saying, 'People keep asking me how we're going to end it. It's always been a big problem, so why don't we just do it now? Do a fake ending, and we'll get that out of the way.'"

Regarding the focus on Bart's eleventh birthday, Price explained, "It hit on that thing of Bart always being 10 and the characters never aging. We talked about 'What could the final scene of The Simpsons ever be?' So we hit on, 'What if it's his birthday?' and he's turning 11. That's when he starts to realize, 'If I turn 11, I don't exist anymore.' It got kind of metaphysical there."

The result is a story that's an existential nightmare, where Bart's fully aware of the nonsensical floating timeline he exists within. It's the show grappling with how, in order for it to continue as it has for the past 36 years, Bart can never grow up; he must always be stuck dealing with school bullies and a father who strangles him. Turning 11 is akin to death as far as Bart's concerned, and the story's "happy ending" has him turning everything back to the never-ending status quo. It makes sense to center this storyline around Bart, not Lisa, because the show has almost always portrayed Bart's future as bleak. Lisa will go on to do great things, but if the show's handful of future-centric episodes are any indication, Bart peaks in fourth grade. 

Making things darker is what this means for all the other characters. "Bart's Birthday" gives us a glimpse of every other Springfieldian finding happiness — Agnes Skinner reunites with her real son, Homer and Marge fix their marital problems for good, Milhouse no longer needs glasses — but it tells us these breakthroughs can only happen if the show ends, which it never will. In other words, by keeping the series going we are guaranteeing that the characters suffer endlessly. The nicest thing we can do for most of them is let the show die, but that's not happening any time soon. Even though the whole segment's a mockery of AI-written stories, this entire concept is fascinating, one that was undeniably written by humans. 

Outside of the existential stuff, "Bart's Birthday" is a fun parody of TV finales. The characters are constantly saying, "I'm gonna miss this place," and turning off the lights as they leave the room, even if people are still in there. Price describes this as a nod to the ending of shows like "Cheers" and "The Mary Tyler Moore Show." 

The episode also throws in a bunch of the show's memorable guest stars; even if they couldn't get the actor themself to come back for a line (like with John Waters, whose one-off season 8 character is briefly seen in Conan's audience), the characters can still stand silently in the background. As the episode's writerJessica Conrad explained, "There's also the idea of the impossibility of wrapping up a show like 'The Simpsons' that's been on for so long. What would fans want out of a 'Simpsons' finale? So we have all of these old guest stars, and everyone is there at the end — even the dead characters."

But as much as we joke about "The Simpsons" going on for the rest of eternity, "Bart's Birthday" reminds us that this show will end eventually. Even if it's not for a hundred years, the day's still coming. Fake-out jokes aside, how will the show choose to finish out such a long run? When asked about it, Price answered:

"Boy, I can't say. Who knows when that would be, or if it will ever be? My only thing would be that it shouldn't be like what we just did. There shouldn't be that closure with a story like 'the Simpsons are moving away' or somebody dying. It should just be a really funny Simpsons episode."