The Simpsons: 10 Real Unaired Pitches (And What They Could Have Been About)

6. Thirtysimpsons

This idea was originally pitched by David M. Stern and is one of the ideas on this list that reached the draft script stage. The episode was a "thirtysomething" look at Homer and Marge's marriage and contrasting it with the lives of some yuppies who moved in next door and become friends with The Simpsons. It was initially pitched early in the show's life and would have been part of season three had the episode gone ahead into production. Former show runner Mike Reiss discussed the episode idea in the DVD commentary for "Stark Raving Dad" and said that Homer gets a taste for their lifestyle and tries to adopt it, but ultimately realises that his life with Marge and the kids is more than enough for him. Many writers loved the idea and, according to Reiss, Stern developed four or five different draft scripts but it just didn't click and in the end the idea got abandoned. It is hard to speculate further on what the episode could have been about, as it seems the sprouts of this pitch merged into another episode. The episode "The Day The Earth Stood Cool" from season 24, featuring The Simpsons getting new cool neighbours from Portland, seems eerily similar to the Thirtysimpsons pitch. Terrence and Emily live the modern, hipster lifestyle which Homer desperately tries to replicate so he can seem cool, but altercations between the other Simpson family members and the new family cause Homer to be ostracised, leading to a war between him and the new neighbours. All very similar to fans' thoughts about how Thirtysimpsons might have played out.