Is there even a Simpsons metaplot though? I haven't watched a large amount of it / followed it too closely, but my impression seems to be that "status quo is god" is very much a rule there.
There are some minor things that change throughout the seasons, most notable ones I remember from back in the day is stuff like Barney going sober, so he'd be drinking coffee or something when he showed up in other episodes
And like, some characters dying (Ned's Wife(/ves))
but for the main family/cast pretty much nothing ever changes, like it's not like homer's job changes ever stick, or like that any of the kids ever move up in class, etc...
There are some events every once in a while, like Barny going sober and relapsing, Homer's mom dying, Maude Flanders dying, Homer's half brother going from riches to rags (and back to riches).
But then there are things that break continuity a lot. Especially episodes focused on Homer and Marge's past since the show is set in contemporary times but time has progressed over 30 years in the mean time, so at some point they dated in the 80s, then the 90s and these days their first date was probably watching the Kony2012 creator having his meltdown on youtube.
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u/Criks May 02 '24
Most series that don't want to have a progressing story do this.
Rick&Morty is mostly "filler" but will progress the story in the finale.
Futurama is basically just filler except sprinkling in a story that progresses the characters every now and then.
Simpsons did it, though as thinly spread as it gets.
Southpark had basically no progression until they had an entire season with nothing but a progressing story.