Disney+’s ‘Simpsons’ Specials Don’t Feel So Special

Disney+ just released their final “exclusive” episode of The Simpsons — for this season at least. “Yellow Planet,” a parody of National Geographic-type nature documentaries, features a number of familiar Simpsons characters as animals, but not in an Island of Doctor Moreau way.

Now that all three episodes have finally been released, we can’t help but wonder: What was the point of this exactly? 

After this strategy was officially announced last August, some folks theorized that the specials were a way for Disney to dip its toe into releasing The Simpsons via streaming, rather than broadcast television. But the series was recently renewed for four more seasons on Fox, so that clearly isn’t going to happen. 

It should be said that Disney+ was already releasing some exclusive Simpsons content in the form of several synergistic shorts, which found Lisa palling around with Billie Eilish, Maggie visiting the Star Wars universe and Homer getting shitfaced with Goofy.

In many ways, Disney+’s full-length episodes feel like a missed opportunity for The Simpsons. Although clearly concocted as a way for the Walt Disney Company to maintain a tight grip on our collective finances, releasing Simpsons episodes directly to streaming wasn’t necessarily a bad idea. For one thing, since they’re free from the constraints of network television, the Disney+ episodes could have boasted less-conventional run times. And they could have pushed the boundaries of what Fox censors typically allow on the air, as The Simpsons Movie did with its PG-13 rating. 

Instead we got three episodes (one being a two-parter) that very easily could have aired on TV. The big problem with these much-hyped specials is that there was nothing to differentiate them from the average Simpsons episode. That is, except for the fact that “Yellow Planet” and “The Past and the Furious” began with parody streaming service interfaces (“Disney Plus Size” and “Wuhu”).

Even that amusing joke makes the Disney+ endeavor’s lack of cohesion all the more glaring, seeing as how the Christmas special “O C’Mon All Ye Faithful” didn’t begin with the same gag. And it wasn’t an alternate reality episode like the other two. Come to think of it, there was really nothing linking all three stories other than the fact that they were plopped onto Disney+.

The episodes weren’t bad, but the rest of the season has been noticeably strong, with some of the standouts including the wonderfully inventive season premiere, “Bart’s Birthday,” and the recent “P.S. I Hate You.” Shouldn’t the episodes that cost viewers extra to access feel more substantive than the ones we get on TV? 

Obviously we don’t want to get into a situation where the best episodes of the show are put behind a subscription paywall, but it would have been nice if these episodes felt unique in some way — other than the fact that they’ve been relegated to the “exclusives” section of Disney+’s Simpsons roster, much to the confusion of fans.