The longest-running sitcom of all time and Emmy Award-winning animated series, The Simpsons surprisingly makes a frequent animation mistake; one you’ve most likely never noticed…
Despite popular belief, animated shows are not just for kids. The Simpsons, Family Guy, Bob’s Burgers – all of which can be watched in their entirety on Disney Plus – Rick and Morty, Archer – which you can find on Netflix – there is an abundance of animated series that are intended for adults.
And most of these animated shows tend to dip into the musical genre; especially The Simpsons. But while the popular show clearly has talented musicians writing and recording the songs (Baby On Board, See My Vest, We Put The Spring In Springfield, They Have The Plant But We Have The Power are ICONIC), the animators must not be able to play the piano.
This is highlighted by the following clip; in the Season 5 episode, Lisa Vs Malibu Stacey (“but she’s got a new hat!”) when the family is at the mall, Homer stumbles upon a giant keyboard on the floor and begins to play it. But what he plays and what we, the audience, hear are two different things.
Youtuber Amosdoll Music regularly calls out animated shows for not animating the piano correctly and makes videos that highlight what the animated piano notes shown on screen actually sound like as well as what keys should’ve been animated for the audio to be correct.
And it turns out The Simpsons is a repeat offender; Amosdoll Music has made many clips that prove The Simpsons doesn’t animate pianos correctly. Other examples of the sitcom getting it wrong include snippets from Season 7’s Bart Sells His Soul and Season 14’s Treehouse of Horror XIII.
At the end of the day, the animators are, well, animators and not musicians, so can we really blame them for these tiny errors? Of course not! Firstly, it’s a cartoon (“Oh Bart, cartoons don’t have to be 100% realistic”) and secondly, the incorrectly animated piano has never detracted from the hilarity The Simpsons is famous for.
Read Next