10 Changes The Simpsons Hoped You Wouldn’t Notice

Mr. Burns' age is one of the ongoing jokes in the Simpsons, with many different takes on how old he really is. Lisa once finds an image of a Colonel Burns during the American Civil War, to which he responds that he hasn't heard his father's name in years. He was also represented on an old wood carving, terrifying young children, sometime in the 19th Century.

He is frequently called Springfield's oldest citizen, with an entire episode based around the fact (warding off a kiss from Britney Spears while he's at it).

So, with this being the case, the fact that he made a point of telling Homer in season two's Samson and Delilah seems to have been quietly ignored and forgotten by the writers. 81, in today's society, is not the truly ancient age that we might have thought it was when we were but toddlers, so for him to be only 81, it doesn't really fit with all of the old age jokes bandied about.

On top of this, he wouldn't be nearly old enough to have appeared in all of the different time frames that he's been depicted in. If anything, the man is a vampire - immortal, if frail, and will probably go on long after the town is reduced to dust! That statement about him being 81? Chalk that up to senility!