One Joke in ‘The Simpsons’ Season Premiere Was Shockingly Ill-Timed

It’s been four months since The Simpsons wrapped up its 36th season with “Estranger Things,” the episode that ended with a dead Marge Simpson hooking up with the ghost of Ringo Starr (much to the confusion of the general public).

Now the show’s back with its 37th season premiere, “Thrifty Ways to Thieve Your Mother.” Unlike the previous season premiere, there is no meta twist, it’s a mostly straightforward story focusing on Marge and Lisa’s relationship (with a dash of Homer’s obsession over a new Reacher-like TV show).

That’s probably the wisest choice. With the show already renewed for Seasons 38 through 40, proving that The Simpsons still has the juice to tell new stories about the inner workings of its core family is smart. “Thrifty Ways to Thieve Your Mother” is an unambitious, but nonetheless enjoyable, yarn about how Lisa’s interest in Marge’s vintage clothes takes a dark turn. 

That being said, one of the episode’s jokes couldn’t have come at a worse time.

The story begins with Lisa and Marge bonding over a shared love of the barely veiled Dawson’s Creek parody Keagan’s Pond. When the Springfield “Nostalgi-Con” comes to town, Marge wants to go meet the actor who played Keagan, the handsome teen boy who longs to go to film school. 

The event promises “your favorite TV stars from the ‘90s in various degrees of recognizability.” A banner outside reads, “See what time does to people!” Marge does get to meet the older actor, Shawn Garrett Evanson, but it turns out that he’s now a washe- up weirdo who just wants to talk about his “lawsuit against the Keagan’s Pond slot machine.”

Unfortunately, this episode is coming less than a week after the real star of Dawson’s Creek, James Van Der Beek, made headlines for his virtual appearance at a reunion event. Van Der Beek has been battling cancer and was forced to miss the event after contracting two stomach viruses. But he sent in an “emotional” video thanking his co-stars and fans.

Obviously, The Simpsons would have no way of anticipating these events, seeing as how each episode takes months to produce. But it sure isn’t a great week to have a Van Der Beek stand-in act like a total dick at a fan event. Especially because the real actor’s appearance has, understandably, changed in recent years, and the Simpsons episode made multiple jokes about ‘90s stars being unrecognizable today.

While we’re not suggesting that they should have given the episode the “Stark Raving Dad” treatment, could the producers not have swapped around the schedule so that this episode aired at a time when people weren’t quite so concerned about the real-life star?