{"id":386172,"date":"2026-04-18T18:00:08","date_gmt":"2026-04-18T18:00:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/386172\/"},"modified":"2026-04-18T18:00:08","modified_gmt":"2026-04-18T18:00:08","slug":"showrunner-explains-why-the-simpsons-has-phased-out-couch-gags","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/386172\/","title":{"rendered":"Showrunner Explains Why The Simpsons Has Phased Out Couch Gags"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>If you\u2019ve been an astute viewer of <a href=\"https:\/\/consequence.net\/tag\/the-simpsons\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">The Simpsons<\/a> the past few seasons, you\u2019ve probably noticed that the long-running TV show\u2019s trademark couch gags are no longer a regular part of the opening credit sequence. Now, a showrunner for the animated series has offered an explanation as to why the once-staple feature is mostly missing from new episodes.<\/p>\n<p>While speaking on the Australian Simpsons-focused podcast Four Finger Discount, showrunner Matt Selman divulged, \u201cI wish we could have the time for a funny couch gag every episode, but I\u2019m not going to cut the storytelling short to do so. I want to tell the best story we can, and to do that, we\u2019re going to need twenty minutes and forty seconds.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>When the podcast host suggested that in this streaming age of \u201cskip intro\u201d it makes sense that the couch and chalkboard gags have been largely cut from The Simpsons, Selman responded, \u201cIf I had infinite money, I would put a couch gag in every episode that would just pop up on streaming, and you\u2019d be surprised by it, but we have to put our money into what\u2019s in the main product first.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Related Video<\/p>\n<p>He added, \u201cBut that \u2018skip intro\u2019 phenomenon you mentioned, we have a joke about that\u2026 in the episode Extreme Makeover: Homer Edition [a special premiering this Sunday, April 19th, on Disney+], so you\u2019re thinking the way we\u2019re thinking.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The Simpsons is currently in Season 37, and has been renewed through Season 40. Watch the aforementioned conversation below.<\/p>\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">The Simpsons are no longer using couch gags. Showrunner <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/mattselman?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">@mattselman<\/a> explains why on our latest podcast: <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/baRqKVCBYY\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">pic.twitter.com\/baRqKVCBYY<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Four Finger Discount (@fourfingerpod) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/fourfingerpod\/status\/2045353774588584301?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">April 18, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"If you\u2019ve been an astute viewer of The Simpsons the past few seasons, you\u2019ve probably noticed that the&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":386173,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[156,111,139,69,437],"class_list":{"0":"post-386172","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-tv","8":"tag-entertainment","9":"tag-new-zealand","10":"tag-newzealand","11":"tag-nz","12":"tag-tv"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/386172","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=386172"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/386172\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/386173"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=386172"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=386172"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=386172"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}