‘The Simpsons’ Actually Benefited From a Devastating Natural Disaster

A number of terrifying disasters have threatened the residents of Springfield throughout the course of The Simpsons — from hurricanes, to blizzards, to floods, to monorails (apologies in advance to monorail enthusiasts everywhere). But fans may not be aware that some classic episodes were actually affected by extreme weather — for the better, it turns out.

The sixth season of The Simpsons premiered with “Bart of Darkness,” which begins as a story about a heat wave and a poolmobile, and ends as a parody of Alfred Hitchcock’s suspense classic Rear Window. It’s one of the show’s very best episodes.

But “Bart of Darkness” was originally supposed to come at the end of Season Five — that is until production was delayed by the Northridge Earthquake. On January 17, 1994, the 6.7 magnitude quake hit Los Angeles; 57 people were killed, thousands more were injured, and reportedly $20 billion-worth of residential property was damaged, making it “one of the costliest natural disasters in U.S. history.”

Among the buildings that was rendered “unsafe” was the Film Roman building where The Simpsons animation team worked. The episode’s director, Jim Reardon, explained during the DVD commentary that due to “major structural damage” the staff was forced to relocate. 

Fellow Simpsons director Mark Kirkland recalled that they arrived at the office only to find it “condemned, basically” with tape blocking the entrance. Each director was allowed to enter the building to collect their work, but only for 20 minutes at a time while wearing hardhats. “As a result there was a delay in production,” Reardon noted. “And I think it actually benefited this show. We ended up having about a month longer to do this episode than I was accustomed to.” 

He also claimed that “Bart of Darkness” was “closer to what I was trying to achieve as a director than I had come before, and I realized that having the extra time really (made the difference).”

When questioned as to how exactly the show improved as a result of the extra time, Reardon suggested that it allowed the artists to work on “little details” such as when Bart’s skin sticks to an armchair due to the heat. “So basically whenever there’s a natural disaster in L.A. the animators cheer, right?” Matt Groening joked.

The experience for the writers was slightly different. After the earthquake, David X. Cohen visited the writers’ office, which he described as a “90-year-old decrepit shack.” When a building inspector came by, he asked if it was safe to be in the building. “Well, it’s no more dangerous than it was before the earthquake,” the inspector replied.

The earthquake also broke one of late producer Sam Simon’s nine Emmy awards. Groening suffered a loss too. “I lost a lot of my bootleg Tijuana Bart Sanchez statuettes in the earthquake,” the Simpsons creator revealed. “They can never be replaced.”