The episode of “The Simpsons” was titled innocently enough:
But that’s not all viewers got when they tuned in for the season 36 premiere Sunday.
There was a “Sopranos” tribute, among many other bells and whistles.
The episode opened on a star-studded ceremony hosted by the Springfield version of former “Simpsons” writer Conan O’Brien.
The occasion: The series finale of “The Simpsons.”
In the episode, O’Brien explains that Fox has long tried to end the show, which premiered in 1989, but they just don’t know how. So to assist them, he consults “Hack-GPT” AI to come up with some ideas.
This is how we get to the “Bart’s Birthday” premise. In the resulting episode, everyone in Springfield, including Homer Simpson, proclaims they are changed, violating a fundamental rule of Springfield — no one ever really changes.
Bart, for example, is never older than 10 years old. He knows this, so when he’s presented with a birthday cake with candles that spell out “11,” he’s distressed.
He knows the true Springfield can’t be this way, so, in true Bart form — the AI didn’t get to him, it seems — he rebels.
In addition to O’Brien, the episode features guest voices John Cena, Asbury Park’s Danny DeVito, Joel McHale, Seth Rogen, Mark Proksch and Amy Sedaris.
Another guest, Tom Hanks, becomes enraged when he realizes he’s gotten dressed up in a tux for the series finale of “The Simpsons” only to realize it’s not the series finale at all.
But when we get to the episode’s end, where all is well and “Springfield” is again filled with people who don’t change, we see a tribute to various series finales from some of the most iconic TV shows.
“The Sopranos” is the first one.
Bart is pictured dining at Holsten’s, as the Soprano family did in 2007, with a Carmela-looking Marge and a Tony Soprano’d Homer, complete with menu, jukebox and onion rings.
There’s also one of the final scenes from “Game of Thrones” — Ralph Wiggum is crowned king, naturally.
MORE: “The Simpsons” pays homage to “The Sopranos” with Fat Tony episode
And Milhouse’s parents fill in for Shiv Roy and Tom Wambsgans in a tribute to the “Succession” series finale.
Joining them are other Simpsonized scenes from TV finales, like “Frasier,” “Breaking Bad,” “Mad Men” and “Newhart.”
In 2019, “The Simpsons” paid homage to “The Sopranos” with an episode dedicated to Springfield mobster Fat Tony, voiced by Joe Mantegna.
At the end of the episode, Homer, Marge, Bart and Lisa have dinner in a diner as Journey’s “Don’t Stop Believin’” plays.
Maggie is outside, trying to parallel park her toy car.
But, no, they didn’t whack “The Simpsons” … not this time.
(It goes on and on and on and on.)
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Amy Kuperinsky may be reached at [email protected] and followed at @AmyKup.
