'The Simpsons' to Celebrate the Oscars With 2-Day Marathon
The Simpsons will help celebrate the Oscars this year with a special two-day marathon on FXX. ABC [...]
The Simpsons will help celebrate the Oscars this year with a special two-day marathon on FXX. ABC is hosting the Academy Awards this weekend, and its parent company Disney is pulling out all the stops for maximum synergy. That includes an Oscars-themed marathon of its long-running animated sitcom.
Disney is injecting a little Oscars hype into all of its programming this week, according to a report by Variety. It begins with a special episode of American Idol on ABC on Monday, but it will jump quickly to FX, FXM and FXX. The "Week of Oscars" lineup will peak with a 48-hour Simpsons marathon starting on Saturday, April 24. The marathon will include the show's most popular Oscar-related episodes, including its parodies of Oscar-nominated films and red carpet moments.
In its three decades on the air, The Simpsons have done send-ups and parodies of many of the most iconic films ever made, including Oscars winners and nominees. The specific episode selections for the marathon have not yet been revealed, but the big finale has — the 2012 Simpsons animated short The Longest Daycare, which premiered in 2012 and was nominated for an Oscar in 2013.
The Longest Daycare originally premiered in theaters preceding screenings of Ice Age: Continental Drift. It follows the titular family's youngest child, Maggie Simpson on her first day at a new daycare — the "Ayn Rand School for Tots." She has a handful of adventures in the dreary daycare before Marge picks her up.
The short is only about five minutes long, but it's a fitting crescendo for the Simpsons' Oscar marathon since it did technically get the show a nomination. Disney will capitalize on its other Oscar winners and nominees over on Freeform, where a simultaneous 2-day marathon will show some of the Disney and Pixar Oscar nominees from over the years, including Lilo & Stich, Finding Nemo, Up, Marry Poppins, Toy Story 3, Coco and Monsters Inc.
This over-the-top promotional strategy is reportedly a part of Disney's bid to make the Oscars an exciting TV event again. According to Variety, award shows have done poorly this year with 50 to 60-percent lower ratings than usual. The Oscars also have a particularly difficult battle since their season was disrupted by COVID-19 and the wait for the ceremony has dragged on longer than normal.
The Simpsons Oscar marathon begins on Saturday, April 24 on FXX. The Academy Awards ceremony itself begins on Sunday, April 25 at 8 p.m. ET on ABC. You can stream every episode of The Simpsons now on Disney+, with a free trial here.