After a show has been on air for over a quarter of a century and 552 episodes, how does it remain relevant? With an app of course. But The Simpsons aren’t just creating an app, they’re creating the greatest app ever.
There’s really only one thing you need to know about Simpson World (as the app will be called): it gives you unlimited and instant access to every episode.
That’s right, any time you feel like watching any episode – from season 1 to 25 – just bring up the app. You can select an episode chronologically, or hit the ‘randomiser’ and let the app decide for you.
They are even in talks to acquire the Tracy Ullman Show shorts from the late 80s, which led to the show being created for real.
The app is part of a deal reported to be worth over $1 billion, which saw American cable channel FXX buy the show’s entire back-catalogue.
“Having a space where all of the episodes can be available simultaneously is key,” FX Networks CEO John Landgraf told Quartz.
Along with every episode is an enormous library of clips, all of which are designed to be shareable on social media thanks to a Google-powered search engine which finds quotes and clips. This could change the entire way a generation communicates.
I’ve never particularly understood emoji, but this clip of Ralph Wiggum and ‘Super Nintendo Chalmers’, speaks volumes to me.
Stephanie Gibbons, FX president of marketing and on-air promotions, said the app will also have “the deepest digital archive of any TV show ever”. Essentially, it’s going to have a mind-blowing amount of Simpsons trivia, such as bios for every character, and every chalkboard gag ever.
There’s even a gamification element to the app, in that the more you explore, the more content the app opens up to you.
As Simpsons executive producer Al Jean put it, “I think there’s no reason to do anything else but do this app 24 hours a day.”
Now for the bad news – it’s only available in America, to FXX customers who have cable authentication.
And while it’s crappy we won’t be seeing Simpsons World in Australia, it can’t really be a big surprise, living in a country where streaming video services are already severely hampered by copyright restrictions (and we are punished for breaching these laws by getting kicked in the bum).
The app is expected some time in October, and will continue what’s been a big few weeks for the show. On Sunday night in America, the first episode of their 26th season aired, with an ‘iconic’ character killed off (head here for spoilers as to who died).
Shortly after, the people of Springfield had a starring role in the premiere episode of Family Guy’s 13th season, entitled ‘The Simpsons Guy’.
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