Is This the Most Polarizing ‘Simpsons’ Couch Gag of All-Time?
One of the hallmarks of The Simpsons’ opening credit sequence is, of course, the climactic couch gag. After each member of the Simpson family races home from their respective weekday activities, they immediately enter the TV room and pile into the couch.
The first season of the show shook things up only very slightly. In the series’ second episode, “Bart the Genius,” Bart gets squeezed off of the sofa and plops onto the floor. In the other episodes, various family members are similarly forced off the furniture and in one opening, the whole couch falls apart.
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But as the show progressed, the couch gags became more and more elaborate, sometimes just because the episode itself was “too short.”
In later years, The Simpsons began inviting guest artists to put their own unique stamps on the couch gags, including Guillermo Del Toro, The Triplets of Belleville director Sylvain Chomet and, perhaps most memorably, Banksy.
But one of the most ambitious couch gags has also turned out to be one of the most divisive. The opening of the season 26 season premiere “Clown in the Dumps” (which famously promised to kill off a main character) featured a couch gag by Don Hertzfeldt, the legendary indie animator behind works such as Rejected, It’s Such a Beautiful Day and the inspiring short film trilogy World of Tomorrow.
Hertzfeldt’s wildly inventive 2014 segment found Homer sitting in front of the TV with some kind of time travelling remote control. But instead of getting into Adam Sandler-esque hijinks, he rewinds to 1987 and transforms himself into the Tracey Ullman Show-era Homer. But then he fast forwards to the distant future, ultimately ending up in “Septembar 36.4, 10,535.”
The Simpsons – make that The “SAMPSONS” – is still on TV in the future, but it’s a little different. The characters are now amorphous blobs spouting catchphrases through a “NEURAL NETWORK” because “AMUSEMENT IS CONTROL.” Also Marge now worships the “Dark Lord of the twin moons.”
Then, in a moment of poignancy, Marge declares, “Still love you Homar,” and stresses, “I will never forget you” as they metamorphose yet again into even less-recognizable characters and dissolve into nothingness.
“It’s definitely the most insane one we’ve ever done,” producer Al Jean told Entertainment Weekly at the time. “And it’s got so many layers. I give (Hertzfeldt) all the credit. What an amazing thing to start the show off with.”
The animation recently resurfaced on social media, thanks to the Out of Context Simpsons Couch Gags account, and the reaction illustrated just how divisive this segment really is. Many people praised the “genius” of Hertzfeldt, noting that the couch gag still “brings tears to my eyes.”
“I’ve been waiting to see you post the best couch gag,” one person commented.
On the other hand, some folks were incredibly negative. “With all due respect to anyone who likes this, but this is my least favourite couch gag,” one person admitted.
Someone else complained that it “fucking sucks” and a number of users recalled that the show gave them nightmares.
Hopefully the viewers who were frightened by the show didn’t also have to spend the night in a clown-shaped bed.