The Simpsons Creator Matt Groening is a Time Traveler

What do Greece’s economic crisis, Europe’s horsemeat scandal, FIFA corruption, and voting machine malfunction all have in common? They’ve all been referenced in The Simpsons years before they took place. How has The Simpsons accurately predicted the future throughout its 28-year history? There is only one answer… Matt Groening possesses the ability to travel through time.

With Disney’s December acquisition of the FOX movie and TV studio, The Simpsons have done it again, predicting this outcome nearly 20 years in advance. The long-running Fox TV show has been staggeringly accurate in its predictions for the future of the world we live in. These prophecies include Lady Gaga’s aerial performance reflected in the halftime show of Super Bowl LI, smartwatches, the Siegfried & Roy tiger attack of 2003, hamburger earmuffs, autocorrect errors, intercoms that appear suspiciously similar to early-generation iPods, and even the election of President Donald Trump.

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It should come as no surprise that The Simpsons has managed to predict the Disney acquisition of FOX studios with the series’ long standing reputation of successful pop culture predictions. Although The Simpsons have been on-air for nearly 30 years, some of the plotlines demonstrate bizarre similarities to events that have happened throughout the world, including devices we use in our lives each day.

📷The Simpsons has consistently been ahead of its time, commenting on some of the most important historical, cultural, and political events throughout our history. The show touches on themes present in our own day-to-day lives, and with well over 600 episodes under its belt as the longest running sitcom in television history, it can be expected that many of the situations and circumstances presented become a reality.

It was over 19 years ago that The Simpsons predicted that 20th Century Fox would be owned by the Disney Corporation in the season 10 episode “When You Dish Upon a Star” featuring guest stars Alec Baldwin, Kim Basinger, and Ron Howard. Homer begins developing a good relationship while working for the Hollywood stars until he begins revealing their secrets to the Springfield townsfolk. Near the end of the episode, The Simpsons drops the 20th Century Fox: A Division of Walt Disney Co. sight gag.

It wasn’t a particularly odd notion at the time. After all, Disney announced its acquisition of American Broadcasting Company (ABC) just three years prior. Simpsons episodes are written far in advance of their broadcast date in order to accommodate for the animation process. The acquisition was likely still fresh in the minds of the writers when this jest was first invented. However, the squeaky-clean Disney purchasing 20th Century Fox was likely somewhat of a laugh riot in the writer’s room discussion of the idea.

As amazing an idea a TV series that reliably and precisely informs viewers of how their future develops, it unfortunately still resides in fiction. The Simpsons can also be compared to other forms of entertainment like movies and sci-fi that have also prophesied about the future of science and technology. In the case of the yellow-skinned family we love, the winning formula seems to be the employment of satire combined with common sense about America and where the country is heading. Additionally, with the series boasting over 600 episodes featuring countless references and visual japes, there is bound to be some overlap throughout their continuity.

When analyzing our current political and social climates, many Americans are met with feelings of “What the hell is going on?” on a near-daily basis. Coincidences do happen, and when Simpsons writers predicted the Trump ascension to President-elect in the year 2000, the notion certainly seemed so ridiculous that is was funny. It just so happened that our political circumstances changed so much so that an individual like President Donald Trump could be elected.

In addition to the predictions of President Donald Trump and The Walt Disney Company’s acquisition of 20th Century Fox, The Simpsons additionally gained renown for their prognostication regarding the discovery of the Higgs boson particle 14 years prior to its discovery. Surely a coincidence and excellent, educated writing, but nothing necessitating time-travel, witchcraft and the like.

With at least one more season of The Simpsons slated for 2018, who knows what we have left to learn from the show about the year 2038 and beyond. In an interesting twist, Disney’s deal with 20th Century Fox means the show is now a Disney property. As for the future of our favorite Springfieldians? We have to assume that Disney won’t exactly be looking to cancel or offload a show with some of the highest ratings on broadcast television, let alone FOX who still control the actual television network.

There has been an exorbitant amount of rhetoric that the upcoming 30th season of The Simpsons will be its last. We will have to wait until sometime in 2018 to find out where Bart, Lisa, Maggie, Homer, and Marge end up at the close season 30. Though with the final episode on the docket listed as “Treehouse of Horror XXX”, could The Simpsons end their run with yet another installment into the ever-popular Halloween special? Time will tell how many more predictions will come to fruition from television’s longest-running sitcom. In the meantime, we’ll pass the time connecting the dots and stoke the fires in regards to series creator Matt Groening’s time-traveling proclivities.