FOX’s animated series “The Simpsons” returns with its 37th season shortly and the premiere episode briefly tackles a topic of interest – streaming vs. cinema.
Specifically, there’s a scene in which the family decides against going to the movies because they know a film they want to see will end up on streaming a few days later.
Speaking with EW, co–showrunner Matt Selman was asked if there was anti-streaming sentiment in the writers’ room on the show and how the joke came about. He says:
“I don’t think it’s anti-streaming. I think it’s more just like: This is what it is now. We do make fun of it — one of the first points the episode makes is about movie theater movies being available on TV within such a short window after they come out.
That has helped degrade this very cool thing from my childhood, which is people going to the movies and having a shared experience without looking at their phones and being captive of a giant story in front of your face instead of half paying attention to a story that’s in your peripheral vision, which is how a lot of people experience TV now.
So I guess I’m saying it sucks that the streaming is so desperate for short-term money that they’re eroding the value of the movie theater experience like that. But we’re not mad at streaming. It just happens, and it’s interesting.”
New episodes will also see Homer getting hooked to a “Reacher”-like series titled “Clincher”. “The Simpsons” season 37 premieres tonight on FOX.
