5 Simpsons Episodes That Got the Future Completely Wrong

“The Simpsons” has built its legend on more than just yellow skin and couch gags. The animated sitcom became famous for its biting comedy, especially during its celebrated golden age spanning roughly Seasons 3 through 8. It also stands as one of television’s most enduring shows. And, in one of the strangest twists in pop culture history, Matt Groening’s creation has repeatedly been credited with eerily “predicting” real-world events.

The best-known example may be the 2000 episode “Bart to the Future,” where Lisa Simpson, voiced by Yeardley Smith, becomes president of the United States and references inheriting a financial mess from President Donald Trump. Ever since, fans have searched through “The Simpsons” episodes for moments that appear to line up with actual headlines. In reality, the explanation is far less supernatural. No one in the writers’ room is secretly time-traveling; a series with more than 800 episodes is simply bound to stumble into real-life parallels now and then.

For every uncanny Simpsons prediction that seems to have come true, there are plenty that missed the mark completely. Often, a throwaway gag is just that: a joke. Then again, maybe audiences simply have not waited long enough for “The Simpsons” to eventually forecast every strange development the world has in store.

One standout example comes from “Lemon of Troy,” one of the most endlessly rewatchable episodes of “The Simpsons.” In a memorable sequence, Bart Simpson, voiced by Nancy Cartwright, flees from a group of Shelbyville kids and ends up facing several doors marked with Roman numerals. Door number seven offers a way out, while the others hide man-eating tigers. Because Bart ignored an earlier lesson on Roman numerals, he has to puzzle it out another way, famously reasoning, “So ‘Rocky V’ plus ‘Rocky II’ equals ‘Rocky VII: Adrian’s Revenge!’”

When “Lemon of Troy” aired in 1995, the “Rocky” film series had only reached five installments, making the imaginary “Rocky VII” nothing more than a playful jab at franchise excess. The title “Adrian’s Revenge” is especially funny because Adrian, played by Talia Shire, had been Rocky Balboa’s loyal girlfriend and later wife throughout the movies. It is easy to picture the joke version of the franchise: a dramatic breakup in “Rocky VI,” followed by Adrian stepping into the ring against Rocky, played by Sylvester Stallone, in the next sequel.

The real “Rocky” timeline, however, went in a much more somber direction. Adrian dies of cancer before the events of 2006’s “Rocky Balboa.” The seventh overall entry in the franchise ultimately became “Creed,” a legacy sequel that shifted the spotlight from Rocky to Adonis Creed, played by Michael B. Jordan. In fairness to “The Simpsons” writers, the 1990s had not yet entered the modern era of soft reboots and franchise handoffs, so predicting the true shape of “Rocky VII” would have been a long shot.

Another failed forecast appears in the Season 3 episode “Bart the Murderer,” when police turn to a psychic named Princess Opal, voiced by Jo Ann Harris, to help find Principal Skinner, voiced by Harry Shearer. Her visions are not exactly useful, but they do include a couple of pop culture predictions. Willie Nelson, despite her claim, never swam the English Channel — though that one always seemed more absurd than plausible. She also declares, “I’m afraid it’s splitsville for Delta Burke and Major Dad.”

On paper, guessing that a celebrity marriage might fall apart would seem like an easy bet. Instead, “The Simpsons” got this one charmingly wrong. Delta Burke and Gerald McRaney, the actor best known at the time for “Major Dad,” are still married as of this writing in September 2026. The pair met in the mid-1980s and tied the knot in 1989, the same era when Burke was starring on “Designing Women” and McRaney was leading the sitcom “Major Dad,” which ran from 1989 to 1993.

“Bart the Murderer” aired in 1991, so the writers probably assumed they were safe in predicting the two actors would split in the near future. But astonishingly, the two stayed together for the next several decades. While it’s technically a prediction that didn’t come true, it actually makes the joke even funnier that Princess Opal is, in fact, a terrible psychic who couldn’t get anything right.

“Lisa’s Wedding” is a flash forward episode to when Lisa almost marries a proper British gentleman. As such, the episode has numerous predictions for the future, some of which kind of came true. There are video-based phone machines that resemble FaceTime; and Hugh Parkfield (Mandy Patinkin, an actor you forgot guest starred on “The Simpsons”) speaks into a phone-watch as though it were a modern smartwatch. Naturally, not everything came true. The British still haven’t saved the United States from World War III (yet); but, on a lighter note, we never got 1,500-channel cable tubes connecting TV sets to all kinds of programming.

When Homer (Dan Castellaneta) takes Hugh to Moe’s, there’s a giant cable attached to the TV. This was a joke about how there were coming to be so many cable channels that, pretty soon, there would be thousands of them. As it turns out, the entertainment industry took a different route. In lieu of expanding cable channels, studios pivoted toward streaming services. Now, you can watch whatever show or movie you want, provided it’s in the streamer’s catalog.

However, there’s another prediction within this scene that we pray doesn’t come to fruition. Homer and Hugh are watching a newscast from CNNBCBS: A Division of ABC. This pokes fun at how media companies often merge, monopolizing and cannibalizing one another. The only thing more horrifying than having 1,500 cable channels is if they’re all owned by one single company.

“Bart to the Future” has the infamous Donald Trump prediction mentioned earlier, but not everything in that story ended up being true. Early in the episode, Bart goes to Ned Flanders (Harry Shearer) to borrow money, and he’s blind. “I never should have had that trendy laser surgery,” he said. “It was great at first, but, you know, at the 10-year mark, your eyes fall out.”

Apparently, this is a common occurrence within “The Simpsons” universe, where anyone who had laser eye surgery loses their eyes after 10 years. It makes sense for “The Simpsons” to make fun of it. Laser eye surgery went in vogue in the late 1990s and early 2000s, right around when this episode came out. Having someone shoot lasers at your eyes is a delicate proposition, and there just wasn’t enough data in the ’90s about any potential long-term side effects.

It has now been several decades since “Bart to the Future” came out, and we don’t have people’s eyes falling out en masse. Long-term side effects from the procedure are rare, although they have been known to happen. But overall, it’s something that’s helped a ton of people; and if you think you could benefit, it’s vital to speak to a doctor. Don’t let a one-off joke from “The Simpsons” make you afraid to improve your life.

Sticking with “Bart to the Future,” there’s a prediction “The Simpsons” made that still hasn’t come to fruition. Of course, Lisa Simpson is sworn in as President of the United States in that episode, immediately following up President Donald Trump’s term. But, as of this writing, the U.S. still has never had a female president.

If anything, “The Simpsons” was far more optimistic, since Lisa has a line about being honored to be “America’s first straight female president.” That means she’s at least the second female president, while we haven’t even gotten one in the real world — and many people were optimistic that a certain detail would prove fortuitous. During former President Joe Biden’s inauguration in 2021, then-Vice President Kamala Harris was wearing a purple outfit similar to what Lisa wears in the episode. Some thought that might’ve been a sign of things to come when Harris ran for president in 2024. But it turned out to be one election prediction “The Simpsons” failed to get right.

It’s possible this prediction could still come to pass. A woman follows up Trump’s term, so perhaps we’ll finally get a female president in 2028. That would be an appropriate year, given that “Bart to the Future” came out in 2000 and shows Bart what his life will be like 30 years in the future. In 2030, there may very well be a female president — and maybe we’ll also find Abraham Lincoln’s gold by that time, too.