10 Mind-Blowing Facts You Never Knew About The Simpsons
7. The Story Behind Poochie
Over the years, The Simpsons has famously predicted many huge events that have happened in real life, often decades later. Life does sometimes imitate art, but of course this happens in the reverse far more often, when episodes are inspired by real life.
This was the case when Poochie was introduced to The Itchy and Scratchy Show in season 8. Ratings of the Krusty the Clown segment were dipping, and so the producers came to Springfield’s resident celebrity with the idea of introducing a new, exciting character to help boost them. This actually happened in real life.
During season eight’s pre-production, Fox came to the showrunners of The Simpsons suggesting they introduce a new character that would move in and live with the titular family at 742 Evergreen Terrace. The writers saw this as something of a desperation move from the studio and rejected the idea, though it did at least inspire the story of this episode.
Technically, they did still give Fox what they wanted, as this episode saw Roy appear out of nowhere as a new member of the household. This was clearly a hilarious dig at the TV trope, and though he moved out by the end, the writers were able to use both him and Poochie to make their point incredibly effectively.