For all you fans of Fox’s popular series, “The Simpsons,” be warned that Homer and Marge will be going their separate ways come September.
Yes, the longest paired couple in TV history – albeit animated ones – will be parting in the show’s Sept. 27 premiere, it was announced by Simpsons executive producer Al Jean in an interview with Variety.
“It’s discovered after all the years Homer has narcolepsy and it’s an incredible strain on the marriage,” Jean said. “Homer and Marge legally separate, and Homer falls in love with his pharmacist, who’s voiced by Lena Dunham [star of the TV show “Girls”].”
After 26 seasons of having to put up with Homer’s often annoying foibles, it’s a wonder that the marriage lasted as long as it did. Still, it was quite apparent that, as happened with that primo TV couple, Ralph and Alice Cramden, in “The Honeymooners,” love always won out.
It sure had to, given that no one ever seems to age or die (they just don’t renew their contract) in the Simpson family so Bart gets to continually find ways to throw more wood on a perennially burning fire, often topping Homer’s crazy stunts.
But there’s a great, mysterious balancing act that Matt Groening’s characters go through every time out and I just can’t imagine how the show would survive if Fox’s First Couple were no longer paired.
What we’re talking about here is not a TV soap with plot twists incorporated just to keep the show moving from one week to the next. It’s about individuals with exaggerated features and with distinct points of view, who speak their mind and don’t mince words while they do it.
And then, just when we think the dippy denizens of Springfield have gone off the deep end with no turning back, someone like Marge or Lisa or even Krusty the Clown provides a way out of the morass and we viewers gratefully follow.
Still, it is Springfield’s most dysfunctional brood we have come to love most and we could not bear to see any sundering – temporary or otherwise – of that family unit. Who would get custody of Bart, Lisa and Maggie? Would Bart be even further traumatized than his normal frenetic state of mind? Would Lisa go sour on life and abandon her creative pursuits? Would Maggie be shocked into speaking? Would Homer’s new obsession lead to further “accidents” at the nuclear plant?
All these possibilities – and more — would, of course, be explored by the show’s writers but we would view these as unnecessary distractions to the thriving misadventures of the populace of Springfield and Shelbyville.
And, after all, let us remember that H & M have split up once before. As noted by TVGuide.com and TVLine, in a Season 8 episode Homer divorced Marge so he could remarry her in a surprise ceremony at home.
In an episode I watched on Fox Sunday night, the couple wrangle over Homer’s expanding waistline and Homer reluctantly visits a therapy place, only to get turned on to a guru who advocates for fat folks.
As usual, the couple work out a compromise resulting in Homer alternating binging and dieting. When Homer asks his life partner why she sticks to her mate despite all his exasperating behavior, Marge says she loves him for his passion: his “100%” dedication to a goal once he sets his mind to achieving it.
Yes, that’s it: commitment. There’s nothing wishy-washy about our Simpson heroes. No doubt they should all be committed … somewhere … but in Springfield they’re free to follow their unbridled passion and we trust that in the end, everything will somehow work out.
Even if it means tieing up the town’s former mayor and sending him skedaddling on a horse for stealing a song that he adapted – like countless other cities – as the Springfield anthem.
– Ron Leir
