The Simpsons' 10 Most Desperate Attempts To Boost Ratings
All sizzle and no steak makes Simpsons' ratings something something...
By The Simpsons’ fourteenth season in 2002, the golden years were over. Homer had fully transcended into an inhuman buffoon, and Bart hadn’t been cool since ‘Do the Bartman’ in 1990.
After somewhat recovering from the season eleven trough of 8.8m viewers (the preceding season was closer to the 15 million mark), writers were in search of new ideas. Lisa had become the conscience of the show, Bart was still a tearaway with a heart of gold, Marge was the objector, Homer was now the total, irredeemable idiot, and Maggie still had yet to fully talk.
After the critical peak of Seasons 4 - 9, The Simpsons began to lose a lot of their mainstream appeal. They were still present but were no longer the new kid on the block. New animated shows such as South Park and Family Guy were able to surpass them in terms of pushing the envelope and a lot of The Simpsons’ core audience began looking elsewhere. They needed a new spark.
Many of the classic writers of the show had departed, and new writers were introduced, giving the franchise an opportunity to be looked at it in a different light. The issue was, however, that due to a large number of the audience from previous seasons just weren’t returning. Creative needed to be bold to attempt to get those ratings back to where they once were and at times, they got a little too desperate for the numbers...
10. The Yellow Brick Road - ‘Brick Like Me’ - S25, E20
The Lego / Simpsons crossover episode begins with Homer saying ’it’s not selling out, it’s co-branding.’ While self-referential, this joke falls flat because The Simpsons are a monster media IP owned by Fox. Is it possible for them to even ‘sell-out’? It seems more like an attempt to remain relevant.
The episode, set in a Lego Springfield, focuses on Homer’s relationship with Lisa. He buys her a Perky Patty’s Princess Shop (a Lego-like toy) and builds it with her, prompting Homer to remember his original cartoon form.
Whilst sitting on their shiny plastic bed, Marge tries to console an existential Homer. After the coital consolation, Homer looks in the mirror to see a ‘hideous flesh monster’ feeling he has gone crazy.
Homer then grows ‘real’, yellow fingers and goes in search of answers. Homer gets another flashback of building with Lisa, to only be rejected by her in favour of her new, older friends.
Whilst attending Brick Stock, in the ‘real’ Springfield, Homer feels sad to be without Lisa and begins fantasising about being in the model Springfield so he and Lisa can continue to build together.
Remembering all this in Lego Springfield, Homer now realises he is in paradise. However, he realises that ‘children growing old is what makes time with them so special,’ and so, decides to go back to reality.
Once he goes to see the Comic Book Guy to help him get back to the animated Springfield, Comic Book Guy locks the store inside a Lego castle, preventing Homer from leaving.
Bart saves the day with an amalgamation of Lego parts, and Homer can return to Springfield and wakes to see ‘meat Lisa.’
Released several months after The Lego Movie debuted in cinemas, this episode retold the movie’s plot in a yellow fashion. The cross-promotion between two super brands was not the worst episode ever - in fact, it is one of the better newer episodes - however, it does feel more like The Simpsons were piggybacking on Lego, not the other way around.