Simpsons Predictions for 2010

Remember that Simpsons episode where the fortune teller shows Lisa her future and she meets that Hugh guy? Well apparently that took place in 2010. Let's see what they got right:

The Simpsons's 2010 Predictions
Simpsons' Prediction	Reality?
Holographic trees in memory of real trees	Nope.
Soy-based snacks (Soy Pops)	Yep.
Robot librarians	Does Kindle count?
Jim Carrey having starred in 40 films	No. Only 33.
Rolling Stones "Steel Wheelchair Tour"	They announced in January 2010 that they would not tour in 2010, despite the rumors.
quint-planes	Nope.
Digitized Big Ben clock (flashing 12:00)	Nope.
Communicator watches	Do smartphones count?
Video phones (rotary)	Yep.
Robotic nuclear power plant employees	Nope.
Digital fridge	Yep.
33% higher nuclear capacity (if the fourth cooling tower at SNPP is indicative of the entire nation)	Surprisingly, kinda. Our nuclear capacity has increased since 2000.
Pepsi-sponsored education	Eh, not really.
Virtual classrooms	Sure. There are online college-level classes.
1500 cable channels	The numbers on my TV go past 1000, so I'd say it's close enough.
Prince had several more name changes	Yes.
Virtual pool/darts	Does Wii count?
Fox became a hardcore sex channel	Close enough.
6-eyed fish	Not yet.

Not bad, TV. Not bad.

Holiday Simpsons Episodes

If Fox ever makes a calendar, I won't buy it. Judging by the dates they air Simpsons episodes, their calendars are all kinds of wrong. Observe the table below:

Holiday	Date of Holiday	Associated Simpsons Holiday Episode	Date Aired	Days from nearest Sunday to Holiday
Halloween	Sun Oct 31, 2010	Treehouse of Horror XXI	Sun Nov 7, 2010	7 days earlier
Xmas	Sat Dec 25, 2010	The Fight Before Christmas	Sun Dec 5, 2010	21 days later
New Year's Day	Sat Jan 1, 2011	Donnie Fatso	Sun Dec 12, 2010	21 days later

The first Simpsons episode ever ("Simpsons Roasting On an Open Fire") was an Xmas episode. It aired 8 days before Xmas 1989.

The first Treehouse of Horror was aired 6 days before Halloween 1991. Airing the Halloween episode 7 days late I could understand if Halloween hadn't fallen on a Sunday (regular air day for The Simpsons) this year! In fact, the Treehouse of Horror episodes have been showing after Halloween for years now! It has to stop.

Furthermore, it's mind-blowing that the Xmas and New Year's episodes are on  3 full weeks before the holiday.

Get your act together, Fox, and stop ruining The Simpsons.

The Simpsons in HD

Why do The Simpsons feel the need to give the finger to me when I've put up with them for so long?



A couple weeks ago, The Simpsons was officially in HD. And, they abandoned the original intro that they've been using for TWO DECADES. It's a little late to start reinventing now, guys.

So why do I feel cheated? The show is in HD (whoopty-fucking do). I don't have an HD TV. Normally this wouldn't be an issue if they were smart enough to broadcast it in letterbox. Instead, half the characters get cut off, often when they're speaking. During last Sunday's episode, several times, the character talking wasn't even on the screen, and a couple times, characters on the screen reached for something off the screen.

This, after I've stuck by them and watched them for 20 years. I even watched all the terrible seasons when they were trying as hard as possible to be Family Guy. (Like for instance that episode where Ralph was playing duck duck goose by himself in a room and it painfully went on for far too long.) I refused to stop watching. How do they reward me? By cutting off charaters. And it's really freakin' distracting.

Put the damn show on in letterbox.

I'll get an HDTV at some point, but until then watching The Simpsons in my living room is just going to irk me.

Update (6/6/09): I recently got an HDTV and now the Simpsons are fucking awesome!