When a hit show makes its way to cable, it’s not often an especially exciting announcement on the news front – even though those reruns can be hugely successful, such as The Big Bang Theory on TBS.
However, The Simpsons coming to cable is obviously a big deal, simply because it took 25 years to happen. FXX has acquired the entire library of The Simpsons (so far!), and they’re going to start in a massive way, with a marathon of all 552 episodes that have aired from 1989 until now.
The marathon will begin on August 21st at 10:00am and will conclude September 1st at 12:00am. And yes, it will include The Simpsons Movie, airing in its proper spot, in-between Season 18 and Season 19.
Beginning September 2nd, FXX will then begin regularly airing The Simpsons several times a day. In a notable bit of synergy, there will also be mini-marathons of The Simpsons every Sunday beginning at 4:00pm that lead into the 8:00pm broadcast of the show on FOX. It was revealed at the TCA (Television Critics Association) today that these marathons will be tied into new episodes, such as airing a marathon of Krusty episodes the day a new Krusty episode will debut.
Then in October, the new Simpsons World app will launch. We were given a demonstration of it today at TCA and it looked very, very detailed and impressive. Or as Simpsons executive producer Al Jean joked, “I don’t want to over-promise, but I do think this [App] will provide you with affordable healthcare.”
The rub is you will need to be authenticated as someone who has FXX – and FXX is only available on 60% of cable providers in the US currently, though executives from FX/FXX stressed they are working hard to change that in the next year.
So what’s on the App? First and foremost it will have every single episode of the show available at any time.
In addition, Simpsons World boasts many, many features Simpsons fans will love. The title, Simpsons World, comes from a book Matt Groening did for the show’s 20th anniversary, and like that book, the App will provide detailed information on the show’s episodes and characters. A ton of clips will be a part of the App, which are sharable and viewable by those who don’t have the App (full episodes are only for authenticated users).
FX/FXX CEO John Landgraf acknowledged “the frustrations of a new generation who want to use and share media in a different way than we want to give it to them,” and how he felt Simpsons World was addressing this in a big way. He noted that the entire prolonged negotiation process for The Simpsons with 20th Century Fox involved the App and the access to every single episode and all the clips FXX felt they needed to include.
The character pages are very cleverly designed. The Sideshow Bob one, for instance, included a subsection listing his “Attempted Murders”, showing all the characters he’s tried to kill – which can take you to the page for each of those characters. And throughout is access to audio snippets, clips and episodes tied to these characters.
Other aspects include a randomizer that will play a random episode for you and a counter keeping track of how many of the 552 episodes you’ve watched so far and sections devoted to specifics like collecting all the chalkboard gags. The search engine for Simpsons World is powered by Google.
The Simpsons Movie will be available intermittently on the App with announcements given to App users on when it will be provided
Given how deep the content on the App goes, I asked about the very first Simpsons content – the shorts from The Tracey Ullman Show, and whether they would be available.
While the Tracey Ullman shorts will not initially be part of Simpsons World, it was revealed that adding them to the content was currently being worked on. Matt Groening himself owns the rights to those shorts and Chuck Saftler, President of Program Strategy & COO, FX Networks, said he was “Hopeful a deal can be worked out,” adding, “We’re going in a very positive direction.”
