3 'The Simpsons' Crossovers That Are Certifiably Cursed
Welcome to ComedyNerd, Cracked's daily comedy vertical. For more ComedyNerd content, and ongoing coverage of the Iran/Contra Affair, please sign up for the ComedyNerd newsletter below.
Sign up for the Cracked Newsletter
Get the best of Cracked sent directly to your inbox!
Well, folks, it seems the day we've been dreading since 2019 has finally arrived. After two-ish years, a global pandemic, and a Benedict Cumberbatch-starring spoof that really pissed-off Morrissey, it seems we're finally getting the cursed Disney animation x Simpsons crossover we've known would eventually happen since the company snapped up Fox and all of its sweet, sweet IP. Yep, In honor of Disney+ day on November 12, an event we definitely knew existed before like, 10 minutes ago, the mouse decided to announce their new ultra-cursed sketch featuring Goofy and everyone's favorite beer-chugging, nuclear power plant-working Springfielder, Homer Simpson.
While Disney has remained tight-lipped about what, weirdly-sober hijinks the beloved children's character and perpetually hammered adult animation icon will get up to in their bizarre rendevous, it seems that it will most likely involve meeting up to discuss some topic that manages to make both of their eyes glaze over in apparent apathy while enjoying what appears to be a glass of sparkling water and a bowl of peanuts. Sexy.
Move over, Super Bowl LV, the Keeping Up With The Kardashians series finale, and the Real Housewives of Salt Lake City's highly-anticipated Shah-rrest episode, it seems the must-see TV event of 2021 is going down next week!
Anyways, in honor of what will definitely be an ultra-cursed meeting of the minds, we've decided to reflect on some of The Simpsons' weirdest crossovers, from Family Guy to Kesha.
Futurama
Back in 2014, Matt Groeings's bank account team of hard-working animators had a field day during the crossover event of the century – the hand-drawn cast of The Simpsons and Futurama meeting in an episode aptly titled “Simpsorama.” Although the installment wasn't bad per-se, it seems the bizarre time-travel/snot-related premise had critics scratching their heads about why someone thought this would be a good idea – well, besides well, Groening for fairly obvious reasons
“There's no reason for this episode to exist, at least not in terms of storytelling,” The AV Club's Zack Handlen wrote of the episode. "Seeing the Simpsons family interact with Bender, Fry, Leela, Professor Farnsworth, and the rest has a certain automatic thrill to it, like any half-assed Internet mash-up (that thing I like is in the same place as that other thing I like! THIS CHANGES EVERYTHING), but that thrill never deepens or enriches our understanding of these disparate groups."
Kesha
Before there was TikTok, the cursed app filled with teens dancing to Morrissey and using a pug's structural stability to determine what kind of day they'll have there was “Tik Tok”, a glorious 2010 banger from a then-unknown artist by the name of Kesha (a.k.a. Ke$ha). One of the biggest songs of 2010, The Simpsons jumped on the Jack-Daniels-tooth-brushing bandwagon,creating an homage to "Tik Tok" in one of the series' intros.
Although not an episode per-se, this introductory crossover was the highlight of my high-school years, which makes it both incredible and ultra cringe-worthy.
Family Guy
Almost as inevitable as a Goofy x Homer Simpson crossover was that the characters of The Simpsons's biggest adult animation competitor, Family Guy, would someday take a trip from the cutaway-filled confines of Quahog, Rhode Island to Springfield, whatever the hell state The Simpsons is set in. Taking the worst of both series and running with it like a cocky high school quarterback, the episode featured one of Family Guy's signature minutes-long fight sequences between Homer and Peter Griffin, racist jokes about Apu, and several shots at their other major competitor, Bob's Burgers. This cursed combo garnered mixed reviews from critics, including one scathing analysis that dubbed the entire affair a “blight on humanity.”
“Look. Nobody was expecting the Simpsons/Family Guy crossover that aired last night to be any good,” wrote Vox's Emily VanDerWerff. “For one thing, it was technically an episode of Family Guy, and whatever spirit or creativity that show had was long ago wrung dry. For another, when was the last time you saw a crossover event that was anything other than a cheap cash-in? The odds were against this from the first," she continued.
“What could be expected here was mostly just a weird mediocrity, a blip of a footnote in both shows' histories. What nobody could have expected was a blight on humanity itself. But that's what we got.” Ouch. I bet that hurt more than getting punched in the face by a vengeful chicken.
For more internet nonsense, follow Carly on Instagram @HuntressThompson_ on TikTok as @HuntressThompson_, and on Twitter @TennesAnyone.
