Whether or not you are in the camp that has given up on the Simpsons or still think it is the best thig on TV,the truth is it will end someday and it will almost certainly end on it’s own terms, i.e. not just cancelled without being able to end the series appropriately. So how do you see the final episode of the Simpsns?
I see it as an hour long episode in which they basically show everyone aging through the twenty years or so that the show has been on. Like Lisa they would show growing up and going to college and getting a job and becoing a Senator or something like that. It could basically be in the style of “22 Short Stories About Springfield” along with kind of the time condensing seen in the episode where Lisa goes to Washington (speech, sting, bill passed, Senator indicted all in the space of one afternoon), albeit a large prortion of focusing on the Simpsons themselves.
That’s not a bad idea. On the other hand, I can’t help thinking they’ll do something completely out of left field. If it’s doing something that’s the way a normal TV show might end, then it’s not really The Simpsons.
I have no idea. I trust that whatever idea Groening et others come up with will be better than anything I’ll have to offer.
I think the best final episodes are the ones that don’t try to summarize too much (Seinfeld comes to mind). Having a final check on all side characters might be a bit too sentimental.
The final Futurama episode before the cancellation, “the Devil’s hands are idle playthings”, was a great ending and completely worthy. It was very well written and highly enjoyable as a stand-alone episode, but it also had a conclosure on the relationship between Fry and Leela. Although the Simpsons don’t have plot lines still hanging loose (probably the reason why they were able to keep the series floating for so long), I would like to see a finale in the same vein as Futurama’s.
We see Homer at Moe’s, which is closing up shop forever, where she has a few drinks and cigars with Lenny, Moe, Barney and Carl. Then they all leave, and Moe turns off the lights.
Then the whole series turns out to be the fantasy of an autistic Maggie.
In reality Maggie’s actually the eldest child, Bart’s a baby, and Homer died of a heart attack years ago.
Which, in turn, turns out to be a dream Leela had after being married to Frye for years.
Then we see a shot of the Planet Express building, as the ship takes off, with GOODBYE spelled out on the roof (in owl corpses, say).
A minor modification of my suggestion from the previous thread, thanks to Miller and Neidhart:
All the major stars of “The Simpsons Show” quit or are fired in a salary dispute, and the show has to be renamed and rebuilt around three minor walk-on characters, plus Homer’s cousin Bill who’s just moved to town. They could call it “The Springfield Arms”.
Or, for a “breaking the fourth wall” ending, the view could pull back and we see that The Simpsons is a television show being watched by Binky, Bongo, Jeff, and Akbar.
I think they should make the last episode just a regular episode, only use replace the characters with crude, anthropomorphic rabbits. Bart should have but one ear.
or, have the camera pan back from the show to a row of theatre seats, Frank “Grimey” Grimes is watching the movie with an Itchy robot and a Scratchy robot, they proceed to riff and make fun of the final episode, at the end of the show, they go out of the theatre, revealing they are in a dog-bone shaped sattelite orbiting Earth, Doctor Frinkester and TV’s Mel are watching Grimey, trying to drive him insane, by sending him the Worst…Episode…Ever, and have failed, as usual…
Or, ala Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, the show ends like any other episode, then instead of the standard closing shot of the theater and the shhh noise, Homer walks out of the bathroom wearing a towel with another towel wrapped around his head and says “you’re still watching? The series is over. Change channels.” and then he walks away, looking over his shoulder once and saying “go on.” Then the screen goes black.
Although I personally vote for it just ending without any dramatic conclusion, just as though there would be another episode on the next week.
I’d feel let down if they finished the series with an episode just like any other. After a bazillion million seasons, there’s got to be some payoff at the end.
I really do like how they did it with Futurama, though. Sweet without being too sentimental, a nice sendoff.
