A Weird Simpsons Spin-Off Parodied Fans' Love For The Early Seasons
The writers of The Simpsons may not have liked it, but the experimental play Mr. Burns: A Post-Electric Play nailed a very real phenomenon among the show’s huge fandom. With over 31 seasons under its belt, it’s hard to overstate the impact that the anarchic family sitcom The Simpsons has had on the cultural landscape of the last few decades.
Going from the crude but cute, cynical stylings of its first episode "Simpsons Roasting On An Open Fire" to the ambitious, layered comedy of Golden Age seasons of The Simpsons, which was known to take an entire season to pay off an ambitious gag, the series is iconic for a reason and remains one of the most influential comedies in TV history. However, recent seasons are almost as hated by fans as early ones are beloved, with many reviewers and casual viewers alike claiming that the series lost its spark long ago.
Anne Washburn’s experimental black comedy play Mr. Burns: A Post-Electric Play, which premiered in 2012, may find its basis in a classic Simpsons outing, but the play takes the story in an entirely new and very strange direction. The play follows a group of apocalypse survivors who remember the plot of The Simpsons' "Cape Feare" and retell it to one another shortly after the end of the world, finding comfort in the familiar. The story then skips seven years ahead, when their memory of the "Cape Feare" Simpsons parody has shifted and changed through retelling, and then again another 75 years, by which point it has become a formative word-of-mouth myth for their new civilization. "Cape Feare" is a clever choice for this theme, as the episode is itself a shot-for-shot parody of Scorsese’s Cape Fear, which is a remake of the '60s thriller of the same name, which, in turn, was based on a novel entitled The Executioners – a string of reinterpretations that mirror the play’s retellings.
The play's message about familiarity and retelling manages to pinpoint exactly what the problem with The Simpsons is now, and it's an issue that had plagued the show for some time. Few viewers are interested in the show's latest outings to anywhere near the extent that they find consistent comfort in the "olden days" vibes of nostalgically re-watching Golden Age Simpsons. The classic Simpsons seasons remain beloved by fans, many of whom re-contextualize the show’s old quotes and use memes to relate them to contemporary events. But precious few viewers care for the new episodes of The Simpsons themselves, usually ignoring or outright dismissing the series post-season 12.
Despite the play’s critical acclaim, some viewers were left less than impressed, including Simpsons writer Mike Reiss, who called it “grim, pretentious, and dull” in his recent memoir. It’s probably no surprise that Reiss didn’t care for Mr. Burns: A Post-Electric Play, as the play touches on a problem The Simpsons seems unlikely to ever overcome – the fact that the show will never be as iconic and impactful as its early years were, thanks to decades of later imitators rendering it increasingly irrelevant.