The Simpsons is one of the longest running animated television shows with over 700 episodes to date. The show first aired on Dec. 17, 1989 and has no intentions of slowing down yet. Creators Matt Groening, James L. Brooks and Sam Simon have down a wonderful job of building in entire world of characters around the Simpsons family with terrific backstory and sometimes prophetic outcomes. Here are 20 times that The Simpsons have predicated the future.
Michelangelo’s “David” Getting Censored
Season 2, Episode 9: “Itchy & Scratchy & Marge”-1990
In this episode due to censorship running wild, the town of Springfield decides to try and censor Michelangelo’s “David” statue due to its nudity. In 2016 Russians actually took a vote to cover the statue up but thankfully it did not go through
Translating Baby Cries
Season 3, Episode 24: “Brother, Can You Spare Two Dimes?”-1992
Danny DeVito plays Homers half-brother, finds a way to translate a baby’s cry using a specially engineered tool. In 2016 there was an app created called “Infant Cries Translator”
Gory Effects Billboard
Season 4, Episode 6: “Itchy & Scratchy: The Movie”-1992
In this early episode of the show, the ultra-violent animated show Itchy & Scratchy has a film coming out. To advertise the film the studio placed a giant billboard showing Scratchy getting his head cut off and blood would splatter on the people walking by. In 2008, a billboard for Kill Bill Vol. 1 had the same effect only the blood splattered on the walkway, not a passerby
All-You-Can-Eat Restaurant Being Sued
Season 4, Episode 8: “New Kid on the Block”-1992
When Homer is kicked out of an all-you-can-eat seafood restaurant for eating too much, he decides to sue the establishment. Years later, once in 2012 and again in 2017 (the later actually being in Springfield, MA) restaurants were sued for the very same reason.
Siegfried and Roy’s Tiger Attacking
Season 5, Episode 10: “$pringfield (Or, How I Learned TO Stop Worrying And Love Legalized Gambling)-1993
In a casino Mr. Burns opens after gambling is legalized in Springfield, two German magicians are attacked by one of their trained tigers. This was an obvious spoof of Siegfried and Roy who was actually attacked by one of their tigers in 2003.
NASA Contest
Season 5, Episode 15: “Deep Space Homer”-1994
In 1994 Homer get the chance to be a normal person who goes to space. In 2013, the UK actually held a contest where a normal person will be able to go into space.
Taco Horse Meat
Season 5, Episode 19: “Sweet Seymour Skinner’s Bassdassss Song”-1994
In this episode we see the lunch lady, Doris, pulling assorted horse parts (now with more testicles) out of a 55gal drum to mix in for the school’s lunch. It seemed funny until in 2013 when multiple companies, including Taco Bell, came under fire for having some horse meat mixed in with their other meat.
Autocorrect
Season 6, Episode 8: “Lisa on Ice”-1994
In an episode that aired in 1994, two bullies are talking when one asks the other to take down a memo to “beat up Martin” on his “Newton” but the digital assistant autocorrects this to “Eat up Martha.” Now, years later, we all get to enjoy autocorrect fails as they are shared on social media.
Video Chat
Season 6, Episode 19: “Lisa’s Wedding”-1995
The Simpsons may not have been the first to show a future where video chat was a possibility, but they at least get to make the list of shows that predicted it. In 1995, five years before FaceTime was a reality, The Simpsons had an episode where they showed the future Lisa’s wedding where she video chats with her mom.
Ebola Outbreak
Season 9, Episode 3: “Lisa’s Sax”-1997
This may be a bit of a stretch, but in 1997 Marge reads Bart a book titled “Curious George and the Ebola Virus.” Although it is not a clear prediction, it is too close for comfort.
Higgs Boson “God Particle”
Season 10, Episode 2: “The Wizard of Evergreen Terrace”-1998
This is one that really blows most people’s minds. In 2012 the existence of the Higgs boson was confirmed helping to explain why everything in the universe has mass. But, in 1998 an episode of The Simpsons has Homer standing in front of a blackboard that actually has an equation that predicted the mass of the particle. This is kind of an amazing breakthrough for an animated television show to have.
Disney Buying Fox
Season 10, Episode 5: “When You Dish Upon A Star”-1998
In 2017 Disney made news when it purchased Fox for $66.1 billion. The Simpsons however predicted this in 1998. When Homer writes a script, Ron Howard pitches it at Fox. When the scene shows the Fox lot there is a sign that reads “A Division of Walt Disney Co.”
Donald Trump Will Be The US President
Season 11, Episode 17 “Bart to the Future”- 2000
In this episode we are shown a future in which Lisa Simpson is now the president. While she is speaking, she says “We inherited quite the budget crunch from President Trump.” This was in the year 2000, 16 years before Trumps 2016 election.
The NSA Spying
The Simpsons Movie-2007
Edward Snowden blew the whistle on the NSA spying on its own citizens in 2013, but The Simpsons seemed to know this all along. In the movie that was released in 2007, Marge makes a remark to Lisa about spy’s which sets off alarms in the NSA building.
US Voting Machines Will Be Faulty
Season 20, Episode 4 “Treehouse of Horror XIX”- 2008
Four years before the Pennsylvania voting machine was found to be fraudulent, Homer votes for Obama but his vote changes to one for McCain.
The US Winning Gold in Curling
Season 21, Episode 12: “Boy Meets Curl”-2010
Somehow, Homer and Marge are part of the U.S Olympics team in which they are teamed up against Sweden and manage to take home the Gold. In 2018 this same match up of countries occurred with the same results.
The Nobel Prize Award
Season 22, Episode 1: “Elementary School Musical”-2010
In this episode Martin and Lisa have a betting pool on who will win the Nobel Prize. When Martin shows his score card, he has MIT professor Bengt Holmsotröm down as a winner. In 2016 this came true when the professor won the Nobel prize in Economics.
Greece’s Debt
Season 23, Episode 10: “Politically Inept, with Homer Simpson”-2012
While Homer is on a cable news show called Head Butt, a banner across the bottom of the screen reads “Europe puts Greece on eBay.” This was three years before the country went completely “broke.”
Lady Gaga Halftime Show
Season 23, Episode 22 “Lisa Goes Gaga”-2012
Five years before Lady Gaga would perform in the 2017 Super Bowl, she played herself on an episode of The Simpsons where she performed her song “Poker Face” with almost the exact same dance routine.
FIFA Scandal
Season 25, Episode 16 “You Don’t Have to Love Like a Referee”-2014
In 2015, many high -ranking officials in FIFA were arrested by the FBI on charges of corruption. While many people all around the world where shocked by this event, The Simpsons kind of predicted it a year before where they show the Vice President of the “World Football Federation” being arrested for corruption.
Written exclusively for TheLastPicture.Show by Jacob Ruble
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