Throughout the history of Adult Swim, quite a few Fox animated series have made their way to the Cartoon Network programming block. Family Guy, American Dad, Bob’s Burgers, and King of the Hill have all had their time to shine on Adult Swim, though there is one Fox cartoon that has never arrived on the cable network. To this day, The Simpsons has never arrived on Adult Swim, with the animated series remaining a part of the broadcast network for decades. Despite this fact, a recent unexpected crossover between Adult Swim and Springfield has been put to bed in the best way.
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Following the announcement that The Smiling Friends was ending with the final two episodes of its third season, The Simpsons character designer shared a message following the two animated shows’ original spat. In an Instagram post, Andy Manley shared his name placard at his job, sharing the character designs from the Adult Swim series that poked fun at Springfield’s finest family. The animator also shared the message, “Although Smiling Friends is nearing its end, it will live on through my name placard at work.” While it seems highly unlikely that we’ll see an official crossover take place between the two franchises at this point, this heartwarming image makes for a worthy finale to the crossover by putting a nail in the coffin of the original conflict.
The Smiling Simpsons
If you weren’t aware of the Smiling Friends/Simpsons crossover that took place, it first began with the season thirty-six finale of the long-running Fox animated series. During this installment, Bart was witnessed by his mother checking out a show dubbed “The Screaming Friends,” which was clearly a reference to the popular Adult Swim series. Horrified by the scene, Marge expressed her disgust with the show. In retaliation, The Smiling Friends created a parody of The Simpsons of their own.
As for the Adult Swim response, Pim and Charlie got their revenge during the episode “Squim Returns.” In the sixth episode of the third season, Pim is shown watching an unnamed animated series that is clearly parodying Homer, Marge, Lisa, and Bart. After this faux-Homer eats Bart, the pink-skinned Smiling Friend chuckles while stating, “After four hundred and eighty-seven seasons, they still got it.” Considering The Simpsons is already confirmed for forty seasons, poking fun at its longevity is a hilarious knock at the popular animated series.
For those wanting to know more about The Smiling Friends’ finale, the final two episodes are slated to arrive on Cartoon Network on April 12th. While neither of these installments will act as a true finale to the show’s story, since the Adult Swim series had previously been confirmed for seasons four and five, creators Michael Cusack and Zach Hadel are still pulling the plug all the same. In deciding to end the series, the creators stated that they didn’t want Charlie and Pim to overstay their welcome, something that many fans consider Springfield has done throughout its long history.
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Image courtesy of Tor Books/Macmillan -
Official art by Bastien Lecouffe-Deharme
