The Simpsons Is Making a Mistake With Its Series Finale (And Fans Deserve a Proper Ending)

The Simpsons has no plans to ever end any time soon, but it would be making a mistake without ending the show with a proper series finale just for the sake of television history. The Simpsons has now officially aired 800 episodes with Fox, and that makes it the longest prime time TV series in history. This is yet another massive record for the long running series earned over its tenure, and it’s still got a long way to go before it even thinks about its final episode with Fox recently renewing it through at least Season 40.

The Simpsons showrunner Matt Selman recently opened up about how the show will potentially end, and revealed that he felt like the show will “never” have a series finale. The series won’t have a final episode where they address the fact that it truly is the final one, and that might sound like a good idea on paper. But after going on for such a long time, and going through multiple eras of different creators, The Simpsons deserves a proper finale just to further cement its place within television history.

Why The Simpsons Needs a Series Finale

The Simpsons Season 36 already made fun of the idea of what a series finale would look like in the episode “Bart’s Birthday.” This saw A.I. combing through famous TV finales and the show itself for a proper way to “wrap up” the series’ long running stories. Characters were getting new jobs and moving away, having babies, and more that signified that The Simpsons was coming to an end. But it was all just a parody meant to call out how ridiculous some TV finales actually are and how those vibes don’t mesh with The Simpsons itself.

The Simpsons ending with such an episode seems like it doesn’t gel with the animated world because of the way it was angled, and its status as a sitcom does likely mean that it will just have a regular episode be the final one. It’s likely just going to be a small episode with a few characters, and will just happen to be the last one aired. But that only can work with the older view of the show. The Simpsons has grown to such a massive scale over the decades that this approach just will not work anymore. It’s too big to just “stop” without an episode addressing the ending.

The Simpsons team has looked at many different phases of the animated series as a potential finale. It could have ended with a Christmas episode bringing it spiritually full circle in “Holidays of Future Passed,” it could have ended with a time loop wrapping it back in with the premiere like previous showrunner Al Jean suggested to fans years ago, and there just seemed to be natural ending points that have since disappeared in the rearview. But when The Simpsons does end, it needs to have a proper goodbye to those fans who have been watching all this time.

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The scope of The Simpsons‘ stories has also gotten too big to not address the final episode. Just look at Episode 800, for instance. It takes Marge and Homer to Philadelphia, and sees them wrapped up in a treasure hunt that leads to a surprising death in the midst of it all. It’s a proper event type of episode for such a special occasion, and that’s just to commemorate this milestone. The series might need a big feeling story like that when it ends.

If it’s not a big story, then it needs to hit emotionally. Part of why TV finales are so special is because they use their final episode to let fans say goodbye. The Simpsons doesn’t even have to openly address the ending outright, but it needs to make sure to have those vibes. It needs to be a proper goodbye to the characters who have lived on far longer than anyone could have expected. Fans deserve a proper end to the series, and The Simpsons would almost be cowardly if it didn’t offer that someday.

The Simpsons has become bigger than the show itself. When that final episode does air in the future, it’s going to be a big event regardless of what those behind the scenes actually want to do. The series is such an icon that when it’s time to say goodbye to that era, it’s going be a goodbye to what television used to be. You can’t skimp on that just because you feel like the show is as small as it once was. The Simpsons deserves a proper ending even if those behind the scenes don’t like doing so.

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