Art Imitates BlogFreeSpringfield

Readers of this blog who caught last night’s episode of the Simpsons* must be marveling at my prescience.

If you didn’t see it, Marge joined a social organization made up of fun-loving women “of a certain age.” They called themselves the Cheery Red Tomatoes, a thinly veiled nod to the notorious Red Hat Society. And just as I predicted here not long ago, the seemingly jovial and law-abiding bunch had morphed into a syndicate of bandits, coercing a vulnerable and unsuspecting Marge into doing their unlawful bidding.

Granted the Simpsons strayed from my original premise that had the mad hatters adopting a criminal lifestyle as the result of psychological degradation brought about by societal pressures. Perhaps fearing reprisal, Groening and company decided to play it safe and made the group out to be righteous vigilantes attempting to exact revenge on Monty Burns who had reneged on a $1 million pledge to the local children’s hospital. Cowards. It’s easy to always make Burns out as the bad guy. The story would have been much juicier if it would have skewered the seamy and sinister side that we all know pervades the Red Hat Society.

I’d like to think that the show’s writers visit this blog for story ideas, but I’m not that delusional. I’ve read that episodes are written months in advance so that they can be sent off to Chinese sweatshops for the laborious illustration process. But I am delusional enough to think that I’m at least on the same wavelength with the creators of one of the best television shows of all time.

*Correction made. I have only my inattentiveness to blame.