One of the beautiful things about The Simpsons, from a certain perspective, is the characters never age. The years pass and they remain essentially as they were when the show premiered in 1989. They’ve changed in some ways, but they don’t grow older. Homer is still the archetypal middle-aged schlub; Bart is still the ultimate troublemaker. And ever shall it be.

But then you see a tweet like the one posted by The Simpsons longtime producer and writer Al Jean, that reminds you that The Simpsons has now been on the air for over 30 years. And that does screwy things to the timeline originally established by the show in its early days. Then it does screwy things to your mind.

Jean points out that if Homer is 39 years old on the show, then he now must have been born in 1980. But when the show began, Bart was supposedly born in ... 1980.

As a guy who was born in 1980, had a Bart Simpson “Don’t have a cow!” sweater in elementary school, and now is the father of two girls, this is sincerely one of the most upsetting tidbits of information I have come across this year. Bart should be Homer’s age! Remember those episodes The Simpsons would do where they would imagine the future and Bart and Lisa would be all grown up? We’re living in that future now!

Ugh. Please please please, no one tell us how old Maggie should be in 2020.

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