Simpsons marathon skips Canada
500-plus episodes, online app only for U.S. subscribers
LOS ANGELES — The Simpsons are having big party — but Canadians aren’t invited.
After more than 550 episodes and 25 years on TV, Matt Groening’s animated sitcom is the longest-running scripted program in TV history, having earned 26 Emmys.
In what Fox International Television president Marion G. Edwards calls “perhaps the largest syndication deal ever having been made for any television series in history,” U.S.-based FX Networks has outbid other cable rivals for exclusive rights to the series. The deal with producer Gracie Films Productions and 20th Century Fox Television makes specialty channel FXX the exclusive U.S. cable home for the hit series.
Networks and stations around the world will continue to air some episodes, including broadcaster Global TV in Canada for new episodes and cable channel Comedy for syndication. But FXX will now become the exclusive U.S. cable home for the entire back catalogue.
To celebrate, FXX will air a marathon of the full 25-season run of all Simpsons episodes and The Simpsons Movie, in chronological order, to begin Aug. 21 and air 24 hours a day through Sept. 1.
Beginning on Sept. 2, FXX will regularly air The Simpsons throughout its weekday and weekend schedule, with a Sunday “mini-marathon” of eight episodes. FXX will get future seasons of The Simpsons that air new on Fox.
But since FXX is available only to U.S. subscribers, Canadians won’t be able to watch the marathon.
Nor will Canadian fans have access to a new website and app dubbed Simpsons World, set to launch on Aug. 17, that will allow ondemand access to all episodes of the hit show and enable users to search through the life histories of Homer, Bart, Mr. Burns and other Springfield residents.
SimpsonsWorld.com and content available through FXNOW apps for devices including iPhone, Xbox and smart TVs are set to debut in October. But Canadians will not be able to access either the site or the app. Even U.S. viewers will have to be FXX subscribers to tap into Simpsons World.
Simpsons World, the encyclopedic book by series creator Groening, was the “bible” for the digital content, FX executives said. Fans of Sideshow Bob, for instance, will see “curated” material that includes a list of his attempted murder victims Krusty the Clown and Homer Simpson, among others.
Clips and the treasure trove of Simpsons factoids can be shared through social media.