The Simpsons Unanswered Questions That Need Answers!

The Simpsons Unanswered Questions That Need Answers!

The Simpsons isn’t subject to the regular rules of television. And because of that, a lot of plots and fates are left dangling, never to be resolved. So we’re looking at some big questions that The Simpsons posed over the years, and which it never fully answered.

The Simpsons has been on so long that its opening sequence is almost as famous as the show itself. With more than 600 episodes under its belt, most Simpsons fans could recall it from memory.

We’ve got Bart writing a sentence on a classroom blackboard wall a few dozen times as punishment, Lisa getting kicked out of band practice for playing jazz, Maggie getting picked up with Marge’s groceries and being swiped across a cashier’s barcode scanner, and Homer cutting out of work when he hears the whistle blow, carelessly allowing a nuclear rod to bounce around after him.

Every one of these events warrants some inspection. Bart abandons the chalkboard when he hears a school bell ring, but why does a bell ring when this is obviously his after-school punishment? And why is Lisa’s band class, often depicted as part of her regular school day, being held after class? These events suggest that it’s about three or four o’clock, which seems early for Homer’s nine-to-five gig to end.

As for Maggie getting scanned, a price pops up for the grocery cashier, meaning Maggie is seemingly wearing a barcode. According to The Telegraph, Simpsons creator Matt Groening stated the price that appears on the register is $847.63. It was the cost of raising a child in 1989, when the show first appeared on FOX.

A running gag in The Simpsons wasn’t only hilarious wordplay, but its characterization of Bart Simpson as a rude, cynical troublemaker. Bart would call Moe’s Tavern and ask to speak with someone, and he’d always give a made-up name that was either an insult or a pun. Keep watching the video to see all the huge unanswered questions in The Simpsons.