Last night was the big 26th season premiere of The Simpsons, and the show didn't waste any time making this season one for the record books.
Every Simpsons fan knows each episode begins with Homer and the rest of the family taking a seat on the couch and flipping on the television. Over the years these opening gags have been as iconic as the episodes themselves. This season's opening gag is no different, it's just longer, and stranger, than usual. Much longer. You can check it out below:
The sequence takes viewers to the far future, attempting to imagine what The Simpsons would be like thousands of years from now. What we got was a more than two-minute long acid trip, as we see Homer and the rest of the family transformed into all manner of strange creatures and shapes.
Simpsons animator and filmmaker Don Hertzfeldt was responsible for the intro, and says he was told the sequence is the longest in show history. Given how long The Simpsons has been going on for and the huge number of different couch sequences, that is quite an impressive feat.
Last night's episode also saw the death of a recurring character from the series. We won't spoil what happens, but the name of the episode may or may not be "Clown in the Dumps." Take from that what you will.
If that wasn't enough Simpsons for you in one night, last night's Family Guy season 12 premiere took the Griffin family to Springfield in a special Simpsons crossover episode for the ages. The episode is getting some heat for a controversial rape joke that came from the mouth of Stewie, but watching it, no matter how funny or controversial it is, still won't be enough to shake the mental image of tentacle Homer from your mind. One can only imagine what next week's couch gag has in store.
