‘The Simpsons’ showrunner reveals how the sitcom ‘predicts the future’ ahead of new holiday special

nypost.com:

a deep bench of regulars, she said the side characters who get prominence in episodes like this Christmas special are just what feels natural. “When we decided that [Homer as Santa] would have an elf and that it would be Ralph, we weren’t thinking like, ‘Those two haven’t really been together, let’s combine them.’ But then we realized, ‘Wow, these two have never really been a pair.’ So we enjoy it as we’re doing it.”She added, “I feel like if we did it like, ‘What’s a pairing we haven’t done?’ And then we just stick together and then come up with the story, that would feel off.

You just come out with a story, and who would fit best for the story. That’s the great thing, we have these characters that have such a rich backstory.

We could stick them in anywhere.” “The Simpsons” has also frequently been credited with “predicting” the future several times – among pop culture events, it’s seemingly predicted smartwatches, the Trump presidency, the FIFA scandal and more.

Showrunner Matt Selman told The Post, “People really want magic to be real, right?” He joked that they use a cauldron with herbs and do “witch and wizard-type stuff” to predict the future. “We never try to predict anything.