Simpsons fans, find somewhere to sit down before you read this. Anywhere. And probably make sure you’re holding on to something solid too. American cable channel FXX – a subsidiary of the Fox Network – won the extremely hotly contested battle to secure the rights to syndication of all 522 episodes of the iconic animated series The Simpsons last November. Since then speculation has been rife as to what they would do with the episodes. Creating a channel that just showed The Simpsons and nothing else was rumoured, but the reality of what’s actually going to happen is so far and beyond your wildest dreams you’re going to have trouble comprehending it.
And it’s probably only going to be available in sodding America. Bastards.
FXX unveiled plans for Simpsons World, a Netflix-like on-demand service dedicated specifically to The Simpsons and only The Simpsons. But far beyond just whacking the episodes up online and letting you go for it, there’s a whole heap of extra features planned on being packed in. FOR EXAMPLE:
– A “Simpsons Heartbeat” offers a scrolling graph of every episode based on air date and audience popularity.
– Script View will place the scripts for each episode simultaneously on-screen with the episode, unspooling as it goes.
– A Movie Moments will explain in-episode references, including some you may have missed previously, including in-jokes and vague references.
– Simpsons TV will curate playlists based on themes – eg Treehouse of Horror or sports-themed episodes.
– A randomiser button will start playing a random episode, from any season, with one button push.
– An episode database with previously unseen notes and insight (if that were somehow at all possible) from Matt Groening.
And the whole thing is designed to be inherently shareable. Through social media connectivity, viewers will be able to bring up the script mode and select a quote, or take clips from episodes, and share them instantly across your social networks whilst in the middle of watching the episode.
The whole thing is scheduled to be rolled out in October. Again, in America, to subscribers of the FXNow on-demand service, which is kind of like HBOGo.
But, as with all these things, there are ways around the geoblocks and restrictions and such if you’re SMRT enough.
