The Simpsons Takes a Shot at Disney+ and Streaming’s Biggest Problem

Streaming has come across a major problem in recent years, and The Simpsons took a shot at one of Disney+’s biggest issues with the Season 37 premiere. As the media landscape continues to change, the movie industry has been hit in some of the most noticeable ways. Not only do many new releases come to streaming platforms at a much faster rate than they used to, but now it’s gotten to the point where there are many potential viewers deciding to wait it out and watch a new movie at home instead of going to theaters (much to the chagrin of movie studios).

The Simpsons naturally has decided to comment on this trend with its own take on the idea, and Season 37’s premiere hilariously takes it to the extreme. When the Simpsons decide to wait a three day window before they can watch a new movie rather than seeing it theaters during its “opening/closing weekend,” it’s a perfect commentary on how this has really become the norm. Even if the home watching experience is decidedly worse than going to see it in theaters.

The Simpsons Tackles Streaming’s Biggest Problem

As seen with streaming platforms like Disney+ since the COVID-19 pandemic, theatrical feature films have been increasingly made available for streaming at home. While it started out by charging an extra premium to see a new film on the same weekend it arrived in theaters, it has since evolved to the point where a film will hit Disney+ after a 45-60 day window. Audiences have become accustomed to waiting out a movie’s theatrical run for their chance to watch it at their convenience at a cheaper cost, and that’s what The Simpsons pokes fun at as Bart says, “Just think of all the chumps out there waiting three days until this movie’s free on streaming.”

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The family immediately decides to stop going to theater to then watch “Hungry Hungry Hippos: Multiverse of Munching” three days later. Homer jokes that it’s still a better experience, “Now to watch this movie the way God intended, on a small screen and riddled with ads.” But this is just the nature of streaming and theatrical releases now. That’s something co-showrunner Matt Selman explained to Entertainment Weekly when talking about this joke in the premiere in particular as well. That the sentiment is not exactly anti-streaming, but just pointing out what it is.

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“I don’t think it’s anti-streaming. I think it’s more just like: This is what it is now,” Selman explained. “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.” 

As Selman continued, he noted how it’s eroding the value of the movie theater experience overall and it’s something interesting that they wanted to point out, “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.” As The Simpsons has cemented its own place in the streaming world, it really is an interesting commentary of how the rest of the industry has begun to change around it.

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HT – Entertainment Weekly