How a season premiere became a series finale.
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After 35 years, TVs longest-running sitcom aired its series finale.
Make that series finale.
Why a finale?
When you write forThe Simpsons, you get asked a lot about what a finale episode might be like.
As a comparison, he points toGroundhog Day, where every episode resets.
It can go on forever because it doesnt have a hard canon or a dense continuity, he says.
More than that,The Simpsonswas meant to reject the notion of corny finales.
So when asked about a possible finale, he would usually say there wasnt really an answer.
And to further the case of the latter, they knew exactly the star to bring in.
This role was always written for Conan, but there was some risk he might be offended.
We got you for scale then; were getting you for free tonight!
However, there was one cameo even Selman and the writers didnt anticipate.
Thursday afternoon, Amy Sedaris came in to record the final version.
AI is good at regurgitating but not at being imaginative, says Selman.
Barts mounting panic in the face of all these endings represents his role as what Selman calls the Simpsonsalpha.
Are the writers trolling?
That we just added pretty late in the game, says Selman.
We were just like,Screw it.
Lets just burn it down.
Lets poke the bear.
By the end of the episode, everything resets and Bart stays 10.
Conan tearfully admits this must actually be the season premiere, leading the celebrities to boo and riot.
While the credits run, eagle-eared (how is eagles hearing?)
But now, he says, were bringing it back and were owning it.
Correction: This article originally misstated the season number of The Simpsons 138th Episode Spectacular.
Were sorry for the clip show error.
