Apparently, the feud between Family Guy and The Simpsons is good and buried, because according to Entertainment Weekly, Fox is working on a crossover special between the two shows. Man, this is even weirder than the time Fran Drescher did something something joke completely unrelated to everything I just wrote because apparently that’s how comedy works now.
Simpsons castmembers Dan Castellaneta, Julie Kavner, Nancy Cartwright, Yeardley Smith and Hank Azaria will lend their voices to the installment, in which Peter and the rest of the Griffins embark on a road trip and wind up in Springfield. There, they cross paths with Homer, who graciously greets his new “albino” visitors, and the two families become fast friends. Stewie is impressed with Bart and his assortment of pranks, Lisa tries to figure out exactly what it is that she’s good at, and Marge and Lois do some bonding. Meanwhile, Peter and Homer argue over which beer is better: Pawtucket or Duff.
While the two animated Fox comedies, which both air on Sunday night, have taken shots at each other over the years, the rivalry has grown friendlier more recently. Castellaneta had a one-line voice cameo in an October 2012 episode of Family Guy, and back in May, Family Guy creator Seth MacFarlane had a prominent guest role on The Simpsons‘ season 24 finale. “FOX hasn’t spent this much money since they took Simon Cowell tight T-shirt shopping,” said Peter in a statement, while Homer added: “Finally I can get my hands on this guy!”
All right, here’s the best case/worst case scenario. The best case scenario is that the special finds a balance between the two shows, and combines Family Guy‘s ambition and subversiveness with The Simpsons‘ grounded world-building and relatable characters. The worse case scenario is that the show just turns into fan-bait, which even then would still be pretty entertaining as long as they don’t include Herbert the creepy old guy. Seriously, it’s like Seth MacFarlane set out to create a character that would grind every scene to a horrific halt.