A part of me is still kind of floored that The Simpsons is still going strong after 27 seasons on FOX. For a show to last that long, continually coming up with new ideas for the cast of characters, all while keeping old fans happy and attracting new ones is quite a feat. I still remember when The Simpsons first launched and how huge it was with kids at the time. Drawing Bart Simpson became an important life skill while being a kid during the initial Simpsons fervor, although the captions would have to be done carefully to avoid getting grounded.
Throughout all of those episodes one thing has remained the same; the iconic opening couch sequence that always left viewers guessing. Each and every week there would be some sort of new gag, some more subtle than others. At times the only change would be whatever Bart was writing on the chalk board, while other times it would be completely redone. In an effort to keep The Simpsons fresh the creators have been farming out the couch gag to new animators to see what they come up with.
The latest is done by Polish animator Michal Socha, although it’s not his first. This new one, instead of being quite so abstract, instead pays homage to famous Swedish furniture-seller IKEA. The frames are done in the style of IKEA manuals and, well, Homer putting together IKEA furniture goes exactly as you’d expect it to.
