Is It Time for ‘The Simpsons’ To Pick a Side Like ‘South Park’?

Those South Park boys are at it again, with Trey Parker and Matt Stone using their highly controversial, yet wildly popular, series to attack Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. It’s the latest in a string of South Park politically-motivated moments that have kept that series in the public eye, for good and for bad. It comes shortly on the heels of the show’s creators missing a deadline for an episode, a problem that surprisingly doesn’t happen more often, given how quickly an episode is created to take advantage of current headlines. The tactic keeps the series relevant, something that other animated series like The Simpsons can’t take advantage of. Which begs the question: Does The Simpsons, too, need to comment on politics to stay relevant?

Showrunner Matt Selman Reveals Why ‘The Simpsons’ Steers Clear of Real-World Politics

Season 37 of The Simpsons is starting off in a world that’s more politically-charged than ever, but, as showrunner Matt Selmanexplains to Entertainment Weekly, it’s business as usual for the long-running series, meaning, unlike their animated kin in South Park, Colorado, politics is largely off the table. Part of that has to do with the logistics around getting an episode from concept to air, a process that takes up to 10 months, and even with their penchant for predicting the future,they couldn’t have known about Jimmy Kimmel‘s suspension, for example. As he explains:

“Well, when you write a show that doesn’t come out until 10 months after you write it, it kind of takes the pressure off, because who knows what the f— we’re gonna be looking at in 10 months. So like South Park, they make their show in a week, and even they can’t stay up to date on things. More crazy s— goes down faster than even they can do it.”

The other part of the reason is more ideological, with Selman explaining that even if they could turn out episodes of The Simpsons in the same timeframe as South Park, the two series have disparate goals. The latter responds to the “crisis of the moment,” where The Simpsons is “more about a town of good-natured dum-dums dealing with a changing world.” The characters don’t change, but the world around them does. Selman, ideally, believes The Simpsons as something that, regardless of where you land on the political spectrum, you can watch without feeling judged, laughing about the bigger truths and trends.

‘The Simpsons’ Has Never Really Tackled Politics, and It Shouldn’t Start Now

Selman is absolutely correct: things change far too quickly in the world, especially concerning politics, for a series with an episode turnaround time that pushes a year to make for any deep, razor-sharp barbs at specific moments. Instead, The Simpsons chooses to aim its satirical wit at broader, relatable, and, most importantly, politically-neutral elements of our society, things like movies that leave theaters for streaming within days of their opening, as the Season 37 premiere, “Thrifty Ways to Thieve Your Mother,” does.

Ironically, by doing so, The Simpsons becomes even more relevant than South Park. By its very nature, South Park alienates half of its potential viewing audience. While the vitriol that comes from the half that they aggravate makes for great publicity – publicity that brings in more viewers from the side they don’t anger – it’s a no-win, vicious circle of sorts where the show has to maintain that high level of crude, satirical bite. If it lets up at all, it’s ceding to the right, and if it ramps it up more, well, the cycle repeats. The Simpsons just has to be funny, period. And by using current events as its fodder, South Park ages itself in a way that The Simpsons never really has (apart from the Apu controversy, that is).

But it’s not like The Simpsons hasn’t ever made political commentary. It just makes broad statements about politics and politicians in general. Mayor Quimby (Dan Castellaneta) is a shady, corrupt, incompetent politician with no political affiliation. In “Treehouse of Horror VII,” Kang (Harry Shearer) and Kodos (Castellaneta) impersonate Bill Clinton and Bob Cole, but even after they’re exposed, they laugh it off, reminding the public that the U.S. is a two-party system, so they have to vote for one of them, a statement that ruffles the feathers of Ross Perot in a funny cutaway (and don’t blame Homer – he voted for Kodos). And Homer (Castellaneta) becomes sanitation commissioner on the strength of outlandish promises, as any politician does, in “Trash of the Titans.”

The Simpsons, however, isn’t completely politically neutral, with a definite leftist bent. In “Sideshow Bob Roberts,” Sideshow Bob (Kelsey Grammer) takes the mayoral election through voter fraud, but only becomes a candidate in the first place thanks to the Springfield Republican Party, an exaggerated collection of Republican stereotypes (Rich Texan, Rainier Wolfcastle, and Mr. Burns, to name a few). And almost everything Lisa (Yearley Smith) does and supports is clearly left-leaning. But it’s teasing, nothing so harsh that it alienates viewers. It certainly could, but a series with a history-making 40th season on the horizon shouldn’t start by alienating viewers now. Just like it never has.