# Simpsons Time Twisting **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [January 28, 2020, 9:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/simpsons-time-twisting/847129 "2020-01-28T21:37:21Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Quimby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/22d042/32.png) [@Quimby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quimby)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2020, 9:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/simpsons-time-twisting/847129/1 "2020-01-28T21:37:21Z")
If Homer is 39 (that’s the age he usually is given), that means he was born in 1980 (unless his birthday is in January) which is the year that Bart was said to be born in the first season of the show. ---
**Author:** ![psychonaut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/psychonaut/32/4655_2.png) [@psychonaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/psychonaut)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2020, 9:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/simpsons-time-twisting/847129/2 "2020-01-28T21:50:09Z")
Yes, it’s called a [floating timeline](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Floating_timeline). _The Simpsons_ isn’t the first long-running serial to make use of it. ---
**Author:** ![Wesley\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wesley_clark/32/20581_2.png) [@Wesley\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wesley_Clark)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2020, 9:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/simpsons-time-twisting/847129/3 "2020-01-28T21:57:11Z")
The first simpsons short was in 1987, the show started in 1989. meaning Homer was born in 1948 of 1950, Bart was born 1977 or 1979. When did they say Bart was born in 1980? I thought Bart was 10 when the show started. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2020, 9:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/simpsons-time-twisting/847129/4 "2020-01-28T21:57:18Z")
Still, “Bart is as old as Homer!” is a notable milestone. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2020, 9:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/simpsons-time-twisting/847129/5 "2020-01-28T21:57:36Z")
[Jon Stewart interviewed Matt Groening back in 2007](http://www.cc.com/video-clips/yf8ip3/the-daily-show-with-jon-stewart-matt-groening) and brought up this point: Stewart: I’ve wanted to ask you this for a while. Homer’s 38? Groening: Yes. S: He had sex with Marge, right out of high school. And knocked her up. G: Yes. S: Why is Bart not 18? [audience laughter] Or 19? Groening started to talk about the frozen timeline of the show and how they didn’t want to make it about Bart’s teen years, but didn’t really address the inconsistency. I think it may have got Groening thinking about it, because a little over a year later, the Simpsons episode “Dangerous Curves” was broadcast and it contains flashbacks to earlier stages of Homer and Marge’s relationship, a few years before and a few years after their marriage, and sort-of tries to reconcile the timeline, with limited success. ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2020, 10:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/simpsons-time-twisting/847129/6 "2020-01-28T22:11:43Z")
Forget about Bart. Maggie is 30 and still in diapers. ---
**Author:** ![WildaBeast](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wildabeast/32/6_2.png) [@WildaBeast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WildaBeast)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2020, 10:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/simpsons-time-twisting/847129/7 "2020-01-28T22:29:40Z")
I’ve always thought that the fact that the characters don’t age has a lot with why The Simpsons has lasted so long. A live action show centered around a family with school aged kids simply couldn’t last that long because the child actors would grow up (See The Cosby Show in its later seasons). But since Bart can remain 10 years old indefinately, the show can last for decades. ---
**Author:** ![Grrr](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/grrr/32/146_2.png) [@Grrr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grrr)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2020, 10:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/simpsons-time-twisting/847129/8 "2020-01-28T22:46:06Z")
Actual Bart Simpson quote; “nineties? Never heard of it!” ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2020, 11:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/simpsons-time-twisting/847129/9 "2020-01-28T23:02:51Z")
They’ve met two then-current first ladies and a president (Clinton). From Barbara Bush to Michelle Obama. Homer was a little thing at Woodstock but was too busy getting groovy on a bean bag chair during the first Moon landing. And there are the long dead folk who they met along the way. E.g., George Harrison has been dead for 18 years. Then there’s the octuplets. Apu’s wife took a shine to little Maggie and wanted a kid. Took a while to conceive them, have them, etc., grew up to be talking little tykes, but Maggie is the same age. ---
**Author:** ![Quimby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/22d042/32.png) [@Quimby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quimby)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2020, 11:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/simpsons-time-twisting/847129/10 "2020-01-28T23:07:39Z")
> [@psychonaut](#): > > Yes, it’s called a [floating timeline](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Floating_timeline). _The Simpsons_ isn’t the first long-running serial to make use of it. You say that like I was trying to.put one over on everyone. I just thought how the years lined up this year was interesting. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2020, 11:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/simpsons-time-twisting/847129/11 "2020-01-28T23:43:35Z")
Given his average life span, Donald Duck should have been dead decades ago. Bugs Bunny had to be dead when _Space Jam_ was filmed. Nancy would be pretty elderly by now. ---
**Author:** ![markn\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f9ae1b/32.png) [@markn\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/markn_1)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2020, 11:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/simpsons-time-twisting/847129/12 "2020-01-28T23:59:19Z")
> [@Loach](#): > > Forget about Bart. Maggie is 30 and still in diapers. Let’s not be judgmental about other people’s lifestyles. ---
**Author:** ![dorvann](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/df705f/32.png) [@dorvann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dorvann)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2020, 1:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/simpsons-time-twisting/847129/13 "2020-01-29T01:06:52Z")
> [@ftg](#): > > Homer was a little thing at Woodstock but was too busy getting groovy on a bean bag chair during the first Moon landing. To clarify that Homer was depicted as a pre-schooler at Woodstock and as a teenager watching the Moon landing even though both events are less than 30 days apart. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2020, 2:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/simpsons-time-twisting/847129/14 "2020-01-29T02:06:07Z")
Another example of the Simpsons being tied to a particular historical event: At the 1992 Republican National Convention, George Bush gave a speech in which he said _“We need a nation closer to the Waltons than to the Simpsons.”_ The series responded by making a quick video (it was broadcast just two days after Bush’s speech) showing the Simpsons watching the speech live and having Bart say _“Hey, we’re just like the Waltons. We’re praying for an end to the depression too.”_ ---
**Author:** ![markn\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f9ae1b/32.png) [@markn\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/markn_1)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2020, 2:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/simpsons-time-twisting/847129/15 "2020-01-29T02:58:30Z")
What I want to know is, how long has the OP been mayor?