A few days back Priyanka Chopra posted a couple of wedding pictures of her and her husband in The Simpsons avatar. Undoubtedly, it felt like an indelible moment for PeeCee. The picture just reminded us of how special and unique The Simpsons is. With a 30-year run and 30 seasons, The Simpsons is not just an animated show on television; it’s a phenomenon. The American sitcom is best known for its wit and satire on politics and pop culture. If there’s another reason The Simpsons and creator Matt Groening take all the public attention, it is their spooky talent to predict events.
The animated series has more than 649 episodes. Matt and his team know the American culture to its deepest nerve, so much so that they have managed to successfully showcase the popular future events – it sounds brilliant but eerie.
While explaining the phenomenon, in his interview with The New York Times, Al Jean, one of the original writers of the show said, “It’s just a sort of frame of mind that we’ve got that we think one year ahead,” as the show airs one year after it is produced. He joked, “I predict people will make too much of our great predictions.”
Mind boggling, right? So, here are a few times The Simpsons made undeniably accurate predictions about future events.
1. Super Bowl XXVI, XXVII, XXVIII
Lisa The Greek (Season 3, Episode 14)
The episode aired in: 1992, 1993, 1994
The event happened in: 1992, 1993, 1994
The Simpsons predicted the NFL winners three years in a row. In the episode, Homer and Lisa start bonding over sports gambling and Lisa enjoys predicting football winners. In doing so, Lisa tells Homer that if Washington Redskins win over Buffalo Bills in the Super Bowl, she would still love him. Washington wins!
Three days after the episode was aired, Washington actually won the game against Buffalo by 37-34.
They reworked on the episode in 1993 and 1994 with the new teams – the Dallas Cowboys and the Buffalo Bills both years. As predicted, in 1993, Dallas won by 52-17 and in 1994, Buffalo won by 30-13.
2. Siegfried and Roy’s Tiger Attack
$pringfield (Season 5, Episode 10)
The episode aired in: 1993
The event happened in: 2003
Mr Burns opens a casino after gambling is legalised by Springfield. In the casino, German magicians Gunter and Ernst perform a routine, which was a spoof of Las Vegas Siegfried and Roy show (entertainers who appeared on stage with tigers and lions). The episode showed their tiger attacking them and the event came true 10 years later. Roy was attacked by a white Bengal tiger and was left paralysed, which ended their long-running show.
3. Autocorrect Fails
Lisa on Ice (Season 6, Episode 8)
The episode aired in: 1994
The event happened in: 2007
During his school assembly, Kearney asks Dolph, who is his fellow bully, to take a memo to “Beat Up Martin” on his “Newton”. However, the machine automatically translates the message to “Eat Up Martha” just like our iPhone’s autocorrect does it.
4. FaceTime
Lisa’s Wedding (Season 6, Episode 19)
The episode aired in: 1995
The event happened in: 2010
In this episode, Lisa speaks to Marge on phone using her phone’s video chat capabilities, which is similar to FaceTime which was launched 15 years later.
5. Smartwatches
Lisa’s Wedding (Season 6, Episode 19)
The episode aired in: 1995
The event happened in: 2014
Lisa visits a fortune-teller at a fair who makes viewers travel 15 years ahead of their time, in 2010 where people use wristwatches for communication. Smartwatches came into the market in 2014.
The Simpsons Smartwatch prediction (1995) via @mashable. lol pic.twitter.com/TmKgiXulxS
— SmartWatch News (@SmartWatchID) March 14, 2014
6. September 11, 2001
The City of New York vs Homer Simpson (Season 9, Episode 1)
The episode aired in: 1997
The event happened in: 2001
One of the moments in this episode alludes 9/11 attack on the World Trade Center. While describing the event in the cartoon, the writer of the show, Al Jean said, “There is a frame where there’s a brochure that says New York at $9 a day, and behind the nine are the twin towers… it looks like ‘9/11’. That one is a completely bizarre, strange thing.”
7. America’s Ebola Outbreak
Lisa’s Sax (Season 9, Episode 3)
The episode aired in: 1997
The event happened in: 2014
Marge offered a depressed Bart a book to read which was titled Curious George and Ebola Virus. This moment gained a lot of attention in 2014 when the outbreak of the Ebola virus was actually happening in America.
8. The God Particle
The Wizard of Evergreen Terrace (Season 10, Episode 2)
The episode aired in: 1998
The event happened in: 2012
The God particle or Higgs Boson is the crust that explains how everything in the universe has mass. This was confirmed by physicists in 2012. But in this episode, after Homer decides to become an inventor, he is seen standing in front of a blackboard which has a formula written on it, which was to calculate the same. Homer predicted it 14 years before it was actually discovered!
Homer discovered the Higgs boson. pic.twitter.com/QAXhNIgMmF
— Michael Schmitt (@MikeyblendswelL) May 21, 2016
9. Disney’s Fox Takeover
When You Dish Upon A Star (Season 10, Episode 5)
The episode aired in: 1998
The event happened in: 2017
In this episode, Homer writes to the producer Brian Glazer of 20th Century Fox. In the beginning of the show, a Fox banner shows up that indicates the ownership of Disney over Fox. After 20 years from then, this sale actually happened on December 14, 2017.
Disney announces it has reached a deal to acquire 21st Century Fox, as predicted by a Simpsons episode that first aired on November 8, 1998. pic.twitter.com/kzloJQHeM8
— Darren Rovell (@darrenrovell) December 14, 2017
10. Donald Trump’s Presidency
Bart to the Future (Season 11, Episode 17)
The episode aired in: 2000
The event happened in: 2016
In this episode, Bart is seen fast forwarding to adulthood, where Lisa becomes the president and inherits a budget crunch from her predecessor Donald Trump. In one scene, Lisa says, “The country is broke? How can that be?” Trump became the president 16 years later, but in an interview, the writer Dan Greaney explained that it was a warning for the whole country.
This is a direct Simpsons quote from March 2000 in a future where Lisa was president
Once again, The Simpsons is always right pic.twitter.com/992UUp8bI6
— Mike w/ #MFL10 Meow (@MikeMarFF) December 8, 2016
11. NSA Spying Scandal
The Simpsons Movie
The episode aired in: 2007
The event happened in: 2013
The Simpson family was asked to go in hiding, but the NSA located Marge and the kids by listening to their conversations. However, it was six years after the movie’s onscreen release that Edward Snowden made the agenda of the government open to the public by revealing their mass surveillance of phones and the internet.
The NSA as portrayed in The Simpsons Movie (2007) pic.twitter.com/7g8piC7x7H
— Asher Wolf (@Asher_Wolf) February 8, 2015
12. Faulty Voter Machine
Treehouse of Horror XIX (Season 20, Episode 4)
The episode aired in: 2008
The event happened in: 2012
This episode showed the American election from 2008 which were similar to the one that actually happened in 2012. Homer tries to vote for Barack Obama, but the voting machine records the selection as John McCain many times. When Obama was running for the presidency in 2012, a video of the similar event surfaced from Pennsylvania, where the machine was recording the votes on the name of his Republican opponent Mitt Romney.
13. Team USA Olympic Curling Win
Boy Meets Curl (Season 21, Episode 12)
The episode aired in: 2010
The event happened in: 2018
In 2018 Olympics, Team USA’s men’s curling team defeated Sweden. The episode for this event aired in 2010 showing Homer and Marge as viewers of the game.
14. The Nobel Prize
Elementary School Musical (Season 22, Episode 1)
The episode aired in: 2010
The event happened in: 2016
In a scene of this episode, Martin holds up a scorecard depicting his Nobel Prize, betting pool with Millhouse, Lisa and Database. Six years later, Millhouse’s prediction came true and Bengt Holmström won the Nobel Prize in Economics. Talk about accuracy, huh?
Fun fact: @TheSimpsons‘ Milhouse once predicted MIT Prof. Holmström would win a #NobelPrize. Today, he was right! https://t.co/CC0LRk1avy pic.twitter.com/syhMiJBK2A
— Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) (@MIT) October 10, 2016
15. Greece’s Debt Default
Politically Inept, with Thomas Simpson (Season 23, Episode 10)
The episode aired in: 2012
The event happened in: 2015
Homer appeared as a guest commentator on the news show Head Butt, which shows a ticker on the screen saying, “Europe puts Greece on eBay.” The episode aired three years before Greece became the first developed country to default to International Monetary Fund, which led it to more severe economic crisis.
“Europe puts Greece on eBay”… seems The Simpsons had it right all along! #GreeceCrisis #EU pic.twitter.com/MvjYkWMQID
— Aaron Richardson (@Richardson_AJ) July 13, 2015
16. Lady Gaga’s Halftime show
Lisa Goes Gaga (Season 23, Episode 22)
The episode aired in: 2012
The event happened in: 2017
Five years before Lady Gaga performed at Super Bowl by descending from the roof of Houston’s NRG stadium, her Simpson-doppelganger performed it for the residents of Springfield. Their silver outfits were similar and Gaga’s performance was talked about globally.
The Simpsons predicted Lady Gaga’s #PepsiHalftime show. Im so shook! #Superbowl pic.twitter.com/Wfp4NuGqLz
— Jonathan (@YaManJonathan) February 6, 2017
17. FIFA’s Corruption Scandal
You Don’t Have To Live Like A Referee (Season 25, Episode 16)
The episode aired in: 2014
The event happened in: 2015
In the episode, the world football federation representative asks Homer for help to repair the organisation’s image. Although it was nowhere said that he was representing FIFA, his arrest was similar to the real-life FIFA official’s arrest who was charged for corruption. The same episode predicted Germany’s defeated in 2014 World Cup.
Unbelievable, right?
POPxo is now available in six languages: English, Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, Marathi and Bangla.
AWESOME NEWS! POPxo SHOP is now Open! Get 25% off on all the super fun mugs, phone covers, cushions, laptop sleeves, and more! Use coupon code POPXOFIRST. Online shopping for women never looked better!
