Los Angeles
The makers of The Simpsons have reassured fans that Homer and Marge will get back together following panic over the much-loved couple’s split.
News that one of TV’s longstanding couples would separate in the 27th season had worried fans of the animated hit.
The reaction has led executive producer Al Jean to deny that the split will be permanent, adding that their parting will only last for “an episode or two”.
“My advice to everybody is that we never carry anything longer than an episode or two,” he told the New York Post.
“For some reason, people thought this was going to last forever. Everybody loves Homer and Marge.”
Jean caused alarm when he told Variety that the couple were heading for a split at the start of the new season this fall.
Homer is diagnosed with narcolepsy, putting a strain on the Simpsons’ marriage, while Homer also has his eyes on another woman.
The new apple of Homer’s eye will be one of the upcoming season’s many guest stars, and is coming off of another guest stint, on popular ABC series Scandal.
“Homer and Marge legally separate, and Homer falls in love with his pharmacist, who’s voiced by Lena Dunham,” he said.
Previously, Homer had considered cheating on his longtime spouse in a season five episode titled The Last Temptation of Homer, which first aired in 1993.
Then, the show’s Twitter account tweeted out a picture of Bart Simpson writing the words “Homer and Marge Are Not Breaking Up” on the blackboard featured in every episode, causing more worry over the family’s future.
“I never said the word ‘divorced.’ That implies finality,” Jean said. “I was surprised that people would interpret it as a final move.
He said the outpouring had been a real testament to the show’s enduring popularity.
Lost amid the tizzy over the split of TV’s favourite golden couple is the fact that the Simpsons have been divorced before – for 12 whole seasons — according to various summaries of Simpsons episodes.
In Season 8’s “A Milhouse Divided,” Homer secretly divorces Marge because he believes she deserves better but then quickly remarries her at the end of the episode in a proper ceremony in front of all her friends.
Twelve seasons later, it’s revealed in “Wedding for Disaster” that at the time of their second wedding, the Rev Lovejoy’s license to officiate weddings had expired. So, unbeknown to them, the couple had apparently been divorced that whole time. It was an error they rectified, of course, by the end of the episode.
Marge and Homer’s more minor marital problems are not novel, either. Some examples: Marge’s flirtations with bowling instructor Jacques and Homer’s temptations by country western singer Lurleen Lumpkin and power plant worker Mindy, with whom he shared a kiss. – Daily Mail/LA Times