Simpsons fans up in arms after new episode casts Homer as a teenager in the 90s

The latest attempt to rewrite the Simpsons’ family history is turning out to be controversial with fans of the long-running show.

Ever since it first aired in 1989, the cartoon sitcom has operated with a loose constantly-shifting timeline that allows the characters to be basically the same age at all times.

For example, Homer and Marge are in their mid-to-late 30s, while Bart and Lisa are approximately 10 and 8 years old respectively.

The shifting timeline was somewhat necessary to allow the show to continue to comment on current events as it moved through the 90s into the 00s but it has also created jarring continuity issues.

One of the worst examples of this came over the weekend, when it was revealed that a new episode would show Homer as a teenager in the 1990s…

This is obviously confusing for fans who remember the original story of how Homer and Marge met in the mid-70s or the classic episode where Homer finds fame performing in a barbershop quartet in the 1980s.

However, this isn’t the first time that this has happened, as the show’s writers significantly rewrote the family’s history about 10 years ago when they depicted Homer meeting Marge at university and starting a grunge band in the 90s.

The show’s lack of continuity is not a secret but it can sometimes be frustrating for fans of the show’s “golden age” (roughly the first 10 seasons) who would like to see it come to an end.

For fans of the show’s earlier seasons, stuff like this is just another painful reminder that The Simpsons is still on TV despite a clear drop in quality over the past two decades.

Of course, as other users noted, it is just a cartoon so maybe this isn’t worth getting angry about…

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