I saw the Christmas show on my DVR last night where Bart, Lisa, and Maggie were grown up and was wondering what the creators ever allow some of the main characters to age for future seasons?

It has been around for so long and I know it is a cartoon but it could reinvigorate the series with new ideas and storylines or would this piss off the loyal fan base and be the equivalent of new Coke in 1985?

I always thought that King of the Hill would have been the perfect animated show to do this since it was pretty closely rooted in reality. They did age them a little bit. Joseph started getting facial hair.

It didn't work for THE FLINTSTONES, so it probably wouldn't work for THE SIMPSONS. One of the joys about animation is that your characters stay eternally young.

Final episode perhaps?

I remember South Park aged the kids by one year. Put them in a new class, and teacher. I thought that was pretty unique to animation.

But the Simpsons has character changes from time to time. Millhouses parents divorcing, Apu getting married and having kids, Skinner and Krabapple hooking up and Lisa becoming a Vegetarian. Last season they should age the characters one year each episode. That would be pretty interesting.

They occasionally do flash forwards, like in the episode where it's revealed that Bart becomes Chief Justice.

Which ones are Lisa and Maggie?

Maggie is the one kneeling by the baby. Lisa is next to Marge. The girl with the blue in her hair is Lisa & Milhouse's daughter.

How the hell is Grandpa still alive in that picture?

Shouldn't you know this answer by now?

The pic didn't seem to age Homer, Marge or Grandpa like they did for Homer and Marge on that flash-forward episode where Lisa was getting married.

They haven't done aged the kids so far (other than those special episodes), so there's no point in doing it now. They shouldn't even do it on the finale. The should end the series how we always knew the characters.

With that said, the time for this series to end was years ago. I've only watched a handful of new episodes in the last 4 or 5 years and it's just not very good. They've lost their zing, and it's probably due to the lack of fresh quality storylines. The next time I watch a new episode will be the finale.

That episode was treated more as Treehouse of Horror episode by the writers, from what I recall. Nothing in that was canon.

The reason Grandpa didn't age (if anyone was actually serious) is because he was frozen.

I don't mean this to sound like a thread crap, but is anyone actually still watching The Simpons? I figured Fox just keeps renewing it because it's their network darling and having a 20-year+ running show gives them a certain historical cachet. But I didn't think the show had much of an audience anymore.

It's the wrong question to ask. Would the owners of the Simpsons allow them to permanently age? The answer to that question is no, Fox would not allow it unless the show severely dropped in ratings and they needed another season.

Thanks!

I'm pretty sure major networks don't keep shows on their prime-time schedule out of loyalty or nostalgia.

The Simpsons isn't an expensive show to produce. I bet a few years back when they were on season 16 or 17, Fox was absolutely coveting that 20th season milestone. It was a first for their network, so I'd bet money that they were willing to carry it the last few seasons. That might not have been an issue though...I don't know. If the ratings are still decent then it's a moot point.

I've wondered what the ratings for THE SIMPSONS have been now compared to 10 or 15 years ago. I imagine Fox makes more off the enourmous licensing of The Simpsons for commericials, products, theme park stuff. At this point the show could work for them as an informercial that keeps The Simpson brand relevant.

If you subscribe to Entertainment Weekly you would know it's actually the actors and creators of the shows kept it alive. Fox was not going to renew it last year because the costs were getting too high. All the actors and creators agree to take a paycut to keep the show going. Google it, the news should be still pretty recent.

Back to the original question, I seriously doubt Fox has any say in logistic or operational decisions of the show. Sure Fox can provide revision notes if the story got too offensive and ask the writers to rewrite, but questions whether they'll age is very much a creators and writers decide.

Who's/Where's the mom of Bart's kids in that pic?

they were divorced in the episode.

Wrong. The longer a show goes on, the MORE expensive it becomes to produce. Don't people know this by now?

And networks don't give a shit about milestones. NBC's history with Law & Order alone should've clued people into that.

Did they at least say who she was?

as I recall - no - the kids just "teleport" into Bart's apartment and say "were here for our weekend with you"