10 TV Moments We Waited Years To See (That Didn't Live Up To Expectations)
1. Smithers Comes Out - The Simpsons
Perhaps the longest running joke in TV history was the sexuality of The Simpsons' Waylon Smithers (Harry Shearer), who has been heavily implied to be a closeted gay man throughout the show's run, even though the show's producers have simply referred to him as "Burns-sexual."
Fans had been waiting for years - decades, even - to see Smithers step out of the closet, and it finally happened in 2016's season 27 episode "The Burns Cage."
After having his declaration of love for Mr. Burns (Harry Shearer) cruelly rejected, Smithers is taken to a gay men's singles party by Homer (Dan Castellaneta), where he meets a man and enters a brief relationship with him.
Though the episode was broadly praised for finally resolving Smithers' long-standing arc, it was also criticised in LGBT circles for not bringing Smithers out of the closet in a more explicit way.
Many felt that not having Smithers address his sexuality personally, rather than it simply being implied by what we saw on screen, was a timid cop-out from a TV network well-known for its conservative values.
After almost three decades of repression, it's probably fair to say that Smithers deserved to be able to shout "I'm gay! from the rooftops. Instead, the long-hyped event was weirdly low-key.