Top 20 Times The Simpsons Predicted the Future
Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we’re counting down our picks for the Top 20 Times The Simpsons Predicted the Future. For this list, we’ll be looking at times when jokes or scenes from the long running-sitcom played out in real life. Which joke did you think would become reality one day? Let us know in the comments below!
#20: Disney Buys Fox
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“When You Dish Upon a Star” (1998)
This episode from season ten aired on November 8, 1998 - long before Disney and Fox considered an acquisition. At the end of the episode, a sign appears that reads “20th Century Fox, A Division of Walt Disney Co.” According to the episode’s writer, Richard Appel, the joke was written out of “a general sense that soon Disney would own us all.” He definitely wasn’t wrong when it came to Fox. Nearly twenty years later on December 14, 2017, Disney announced that it was buying 21st Century Fox for just over $52 billion. And with that, the Simpsons officially became Disney characters. The 2021 plusaversary short showed just how strange and funny it is to see Springfield residents hang out with mouse house characters.
#19: Smartwatches
“Lisa’s Wedding” (1995)
In the episode “Lisa's Wedding”, we see the titular character prepare for a union in the year 2010. To prove that they’re in the future, her fiance Hugh Parkfield speaks into a wrist device that seemingly functions as both a watch and telephone. Modern audiences would probably think nothing of it today. However, the episode aired in 1995! Smartwatches were still in their infancy then. While similar devices did pop up in mediums like spy movies, the idea that an average citizen would have access to a phone watch was relatively original. It turned out that “The Simpsons” wasn’t far off because the first smartwatch that functioned as a telephone was introduced in 1999.
#18: Really Old Fan Mail
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“Brush with Greatness” (1991)
During season 2’s “Brush with Greatness”, Beatles drummer Ringo Starr appeared as himself and responded to some very old fan mail. This includes finally answering Marge, who had sent him some correspondence all the way back in high school. It turns out that this plot wasn’t that unrealistic. While the real life occurrence didn’t involve Ringo Starr, it did bring in Paul McCartney. The legendary musician learned about a tape that was recorded by two fans back in 1963. Some time after he got it, the BBC helped the older fans get McCartney’s written response. Although it took fifty years, they seemed to appreciate him writing back.
#17: Legalized Marijuana in Canada
“Midnight Rx” (2005)
“The Simpsons” managed to predict the future and take shots at the American healthcare system in one delightful plot. When Mr. Burns cancels the prescription drug plan, many other companies follow suit. After people realize that they can’t afford medication, they hoof it over to Canada to get what they need. The journey paves the way for Ned to meet his Canadian doppelganger. During the encounter, the Springfield native was offered some legal “reeferino.” While the green stuff wasn’t legal in Canada at the time, it didn’t take too long. Reeferino was officially given the OK across Canada in October 2018. That was nearly fourteen years after the episode aired in January 2005.
#16: The Shard
Top 20 Times TV Shows Predicted the Future
“Lisa’s Wedding” (1995)
The writers must have really been looking into a crystal ball when they came up with “Lisa’s Wedding” in the 90s. When they weren’t dreaming up futuristic phone watches, the animators were plopping in buildings that hadn’t existed yet. While Lisa is in London, viewers are given a glimpse of various famous landmarks. It was pretty normal to see Big Ben and the Tower Bridge. However, there’s also a pointy skyscraper. In March 2009, work started on what would eventually become The Shard. It would eventually become the tallest building in the entire country. Not only does the Shard bear a startling resemblance to the tower seen in “The Simpsons,” but it’s even in the right location! Now that’s just eerie.
#15: Autocorrect
“Lisa on Ice” (1994)
When Dolph wrote “beat up Martin” into his Apple Newton in 1994, the phrase hilariously turned into “eat up Martha.” This was a joke aimed at the Apple Newton, which was notoriously bad at recognizing handwriting. But it also predicted the issues that autocorrect would bring to handheld devices. Technically, Autocorrect was around by 1994 in programs like Microsoft Word. However, it wouldn’t be until 2007 that autocorrect became a common and notorious problem for handheld devices. The joke actually did affect real life development as well. Apparently, Apple developers made sure that autocorrect worked as well as it could after being lightly mocked in the episode.
#14: The Mass of the Higgs Boson
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“The Wizard of Evergreen Terrace” (1998)
The writers of “The Simpsons” are extremely smart. So much so that they pretty much figured out the mass of the Higgs boson particle fourteen years early. In the episode “The Wizard of Evergreen Terrace,” Homer becomes an inventor and writes a complicated math equation on a chalkboard. This complicated series of numbers and symbols was penned by episode writer David X. Cohen and his astronomer friend, David Schiminovich. Physicist Simon Singh later claimed that Homer’s equation closely correlates to the real mass of the Higgs boson particle. While the episode aired in 1997, the mass wasn’t officially discovered until 2012. We guess that Homer is much smarter than we thought. Sometimes.
#13: The Roy Horn Tiger Attack
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“$pringfield” (1993)
When Springfield legalizes gambling, Mr. Burns opens a casino and hires Gunter and Ernst to stage an animal show. In a horrifying turn of events, they are attacked by their white tiger, Anastasia. Even more horrifying is what came after. These two are modeled after Siegfried & Roy. This real life duo formerly ran a highly popular Vegas show at the Mirage Resort and Casino. Around ten years after the episode aired, Roy Horn was attacked by a tiger named Mantacore while performing a show. He unfortunately suffered many serious injuries. While Horn survived the gruesome incident, the performer had to leave show business after the attack.
#12: Lady Gaga’s Halftime Show
“Lisa Goes Gaga” (2012)
As the title suggests, the 2012 “Lisa Goes Gaga” episode sees pop star Lady Gaga visiting Springfield and winning the young simpsons’ heart. During her musical performance, the musician wears a bluish-silver outfit and flies over the crowd on a harness. The scene initially came off as a satirical love letter to Gaga’s outrageous and bombastic style. However, it eventually became a reflection of real life. When Lady Gaga performed the halftime show of Super Bowl LI in 2017, the similarities to the Springfield concert were striking. Lady Gaga wore an outfit very similar to the one seen on the animated show. Additionally, she just so happened to hover over the crowd on a harness.
#11: Airplane Restaurant
“Natural Born Kissers” (1998)
Poor Homer and Marge couldn’t even enjoy a nice night out. Their plans to visit The Gilded Truffle for their wedding anniversary were ruined when Grampa failed to show up to babysit. Eventually, they’re forced to skip out on the fancy restaurant and are taken to visit Up, Up and Buffet! This airplane-themed restaurant simulates turbulence and serves takeaway in “arf bags.” Since the episode aired in 1998, various airplanes have been converted into restaurants. These are located across the globe and serve food ranging from steak to McDonald’s. Hopefully, most of these real restaurants stay stationary.
#10: Nobel Prize Winner Bengt Holmström
“Elementary School Musical” (2010)
A 2010 “Simpsons” story saw Martin, Milhouse, Database, and Lisa bet on the winners of the various Nobel Prizes. When viewers are given a brief glimpse of the betting pool, they see that Milhouse has bet on Bengt Holmström to win Economics. But Martin won the bet by picking Jagdish Bhagwati. However, Milhouse was close! He was just six years off. In 2016, both Holmström and Oliver Hart won Nobel Prizes in Economic Sciences “for their contributions to contract theory.” While we won’t try to explain what that is, we’re sure Milhouse already knows. He’s clearly smart enough to predict the future.
#9: Daenerys Burns King’s Landing
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“The Serfsons” (2017)
“Game of Thrones” had a real stinker of an ending - so bad that it was an actual joke on “The Simpsons.” The Serfsons is the 29th season premiere and takes place in an alternate medieval kingdom called Springfieldia. The end of the episode sees Homer reviving a dragon, which proceeds to rain fire on a nearby village. Look familiar? Nearly two years later, “Game of Thrones” would feature a very similar scene when Daenerys used Drogon to raze King’s Landing. This story development was heavily criticized by fans and critics alike, and it didn’t take social media long to scream “Simpsons did it!”
#8: Yard Work Simulator
“Bart Carny” (1998)
When the Simpson family visits Colonel Tex's Traveling Carnival, Bart is drawn to a virtual reality game called Yard Work Simulator. Marge hilariously informs him that he can do real work like this at home. Naturally, real effort doesn’t seem that appealing to Bart. But things have definitely changed since this episode aired in 1998. Modern gaming is full of “simulator” experiences. Through consoles, pcs, and smartphones, players can do seemingly boring chores digitally. There’s even options to perform these tasks in virtual reality. While the games aren’t for everyone, 90s Bart would be in heaven in the 21st century.
#7: Snake Clubbing
“Whacking Day” (1993)
In the fourth season episode “Whacking Day,” the citizens of Springfield get together for an annual event in which they round up snakes and eliminate them in the town square. This was reportedly influenced by real events called rattlesnake rodeos. Those events involve trading, releasing, and occasionally slaying the reptiles. But this episode predicted an even more violent occurrence. In 2013, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission started the Python Challenge. This event calls for Floridians to capture or eliminate as many Burmese pythons as possible for a $10,000 prize. In 2022, a competitor named Matthew Concepcion won by capturing 28 snakes.
#6: The Bloody Billboard
Top 10 Times Cartoons Predicted the Future
“Itchy & Scratchy: The Movie” (1992)
Itchy and Scratchy make their way onto the big screen in this episode from season four. In order to promote their movie, the studio puts out a disgusting interactive billboard. It mainly dumps a red blood-like substance onto passersby (and into their cars). A slight variation on this theme actually played out in 2008 in New Zealand. Back then, the state-owned TVNZ 2 was promoting the television debut of Quentin Tarantino’s “Kill Bill: Volume 1.” A giant billboard was erected in Auckland that saw a giant stream of blood spraying onto nearby prop cars. Luckily, no one in the vicinity reported that they were slathered in the liquid. The same can’t be said for the poor citizens of Springfield.
#5: The Censoring of David
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“Itchy & Scratchy & Marge” (1990)
Few marble sculptures are as popular as Michelangelo’s David. In the second season episode “Itchy & Scratchy & Marge,” David goes on a tour throughout the eastern US and stops at Springfield. Some people take umbrage with the statue’s nudity and attempt to censor it. There are people who even went so far as to cover it with a pair of jeans. With this gag, “The Simpsons” was both satirizing the past and predicting the future. Various campaigns have attempted to “cover up” David since the episode aired. Incidents have arisen in 2001, 2014, and 2016. It’s unknown whether more campaigns to conceal the statue’s natural form will pop up in the future.
#4: Gym Mat Food
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“The PTA Disbands” (1995)
After Principal Skinner makes some massive budget cuts at the school, the kids get really shoddy lunches. The educator and the cafeteria staff even colluded to use shredded newspapers and gym mats as cheap food filler. In 2014, the public learned that many major fast food chains were using azodicarbonamide in their bread. This compound is used as an oxidizing agent with flour. It’s also used to make vinyl foam. Ironically, that’s what gym and yoga mats are made of. So, in an indirect way, real restaurants were taking a page out of Skinner’s playbook. Fortunately, bad publicity caused many of these restaurants to drop azodicarbonamide as an ingredient.
#3: Grease Thefts
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“Lard of the Dance” (1998)
Is there anything that people won’t steal? In “Lard of the Dance,” Homer and Bart conspire to sell grease for a profit. Upon realizing that everyday bacon grease won’t do the trick, the duo start stealing grease from the school and Krusty Burger. The latter attempt even gets them in trouble with the mafia-like Acne Grease and Shovel Company. America saw a spate of grease thefts throughout 2012 when the price of used cooking oil skyrocketed. In one instance, two thieves stole grease from a McDonald’s. Honestly, we do have to wonder if the real thieves got the idea from watching “The Simpsons”.
#2: Blinky the Three-Eyed Fish
“Two Cars in Every Garage and Three Eyes on Every Fish” (1990)
“The Simpsons” finds a source of humor in many things, including nuclear runoff. At the start of this second season episode, Bart catches a three-eyed fish that is named Blinky by the media. The deformed fish was caught near a nuclear power plant that is found to have 342 safety violations worth over $50 million. This remained a silly joke until 2011. During that year, fishermen in Córdoba, Argentina caught a three-eyed wolf fish. Sure enough, the lake was used as a dumping ground for a nuclear power plant facility’s hot water. We wouldn’t recommend making a fillet out of that catch.
#1: President Trump
“Bart to the Future” (2000)
Like “Lisa’s Wedding,” “Bart to the Future” depicts, well, the future. While Bart lives as an aspiring rock star, Lisa is President of the United States. She inherits a massive financial problem that was caused by the last president: real estate mogul Donald Trump. This episode was produced during his presidential campaign of 2000 when his victory seemed extremely unlikely. However, it stopped being a joke when Trump was declared the 45th President of the United States. The first episode following the announcement contained a chalkboard gag that read “Being right sucks.” This drawing showed that the writers aren’t always happy about what they predict.
