10 TV Shows That MOCKED Their Rivals
2. The Simpsons Mocked Rick & Morty
When Community creator Dan Harmon created Rick and Morty
for Adult Swim, there was no getting around the fact that the adult animated
sci-fi comedy series owed a debt to the work of Matt Groening. Even with its darker
content and more obvious inspiration as a Back to the Future parody, the show
combined sci-fi satire with a subversive family sitcom, prompting inevitable
comparisons to both Futurama and The Simpsons.
Luckily The Simpsons’ twenty sixth series finale was on hand to address this by letting Rick and Morty take over the phenomenally popular long-running show for a few minutes in a gory, ambitious couch gag which saw the eponymous pair accidentally crash into the Simpsons as they sat together in the living room. What follows was a dark, if loveably silly, vignette wherein Rick and Morty attempted to minimize the damage they done—well, in classic Rick and Morty fashion, Morty does whilst Rick loots the beer and relaxes.
The sequence’s ending featured an exasperated, mutated Bart exclaiming “That’s it—no more guest animators!”, but the sequence was well received by fans of both shows, and remains one of the medium’s best brief cross-overs by virtue of parodying both shows affectionately.