The Simpsons still just about turns a profit for Fox (and provides new content for Disney +, which holds streaming rights). Alas, audiences have long since fled. Season 12 drew a US viewership of 15 million. Last year, it was a paltry 3.5 million. Enough to justify its continuation if one sets aside the moral imperative to finally put it out of its misery. It isn’t true to say that The Simpsons no longer engages with the zeitgeist. Every so often it rises up from obscurity and grabs a headline or two. Unfortunately these moments in the sun tend to be connected to its history of racial insensitivity.