Top 10 Plot Holes in 'The Simpsons' You Never Noticed

Over the course of hundreds of episodes, there are bound to be a few contradictions. Welcome to WatchMojo.com, and today we’re counting down the "Top 10 Plot Holes in The Simpsons That You Probably Never Noticed."

For this list, we’re looking at plot holes, inconsistencies, or unexplained occurrences that have happened throughout the long-running animated sitcom. However, we won’t be including “Treehouse of Horror” episodes or The Simpsons Movie, nor will we be including anything that’s intentionally inconsistent, such as the location of Springfield or Mr. Burns’ age. We’re also not saying that these plot holes make the episodes or series bad, but that they just plain don’t make sense.

It’s no secret that the Simpsons cause more than just a little trouble wherever they go. While on a trip to Florida, Homer appears to have killed the state’s pride and joy, an alligator by the name of Captain Jack. As a result, the family is banned from the entire state of Florida, and the final joke indicates that the family is banned from all states aside from North Dakota and Arizona. It's funny, but considering how the family would continue to travel all over the United States in later seasons, it makes this one a bit of a disparity.

#9: Locations in Springfield Various Episodes

Places like Moe’s Tavern, Springfield Elementary and the Kwik-E-Mart have become almost as iconic as the town of Springfield itself. However, depending on the script and plot lines, the locations of these places are subject to change. One episode shows Moe’s to be a short walk away from the Simpson home, though this is never again the case. Another episode shows the power plant infecting fish in a nearby river, which we also never see again. While the opening credits give us a brief tour of Springfield, the layout we see doesn't seem to hold up in the show.

When Homer misses out on a day off from work due to his lack of an e-mail address, he was quick to fix the problem by getting the family a computer. He's completely hopeless with it, of course. However, an earlier episode called “Das Bus” showed Homer achieving the not-so-simple task of starting his own Internet business—even attracting the attention of Bill Gates. It’s possible that all the beer damaged his memory, but considering that the episode ends with the family trapped on a mysterious island, maybe we shouldn’t pay too much attention to its continuity.

#7: The Old Simpson Farm “E-I-E-I-(Annoyed Grunt)”

Homer spent his youngest years with his parents on a quaint farm just outside of Springfield, until he traumatized the cows out of producing milk by yelling at them. After a fight in season six, Homer and Abe return to the abandoned farm, and accidentally burn it to the ground. But by season 11, the farm somehow returns to play a large role in an episode, as the Simpsons invent a lucrative crop called tomacco. Obviously, for this to work out by the show’s admittedly loose chronological logic, the farm would have needed to be rebuilt, or never burned down in the first place.

A major plot point in the episode “Please Homer, Don’t Hammer ‘Em,” is Skinner using Bart’s shrimp allergy against him. It was an odd choice to make shrimp his weakness, since several seasons earlier, he had bragged about devouring the shellfish. Strangely, this isn’t his only inconsistent food allergy. In season two, Marge mentions that Bart is allergic to butterscotch, despite the fact that he’s never shown restraint around candy. Marge would even mention several seasons later that his favorite dish is butterscotch chicken. Mmm... Still, any excuse to stage a battle to “Duel of the Fates,” right?

#5: The Whereabouts of Dr. Marvin Monroe “Diatribe of a Mad Housewife”

Several Springfield residents have passed away throughout the series. However, though many believed therapist Marvin Monroe to be dead, the show has indicated he may not be. Season seven appeared to confirm his death twice, with a trivia question and a memorial hospital named after him, while a season 11 episode clearly showed his tombstone. But, after not appearing on the show for several seasons, Monroe returns to buy Marge’s romance novel, where he explains that he had apparently just been very sick. The show would later poke fun at this plot hole by hinting that he even wrote a book about it.

The Simpsons have had adventures all over the world, from Australia to Itchy and Scratchy Land. That’s what makes this season six episode, which focuses on Marge’s fear of flying, so odd. It would be one thing if it was a mild fear, but we discover that it’s a deep-seated fear stemming from childhood trauma—which isn’t really fixed by the episode’s end. Additionally, a season three episode featured the family flying to Washington, D.C., during which her fear was never brought up. Though it’s one of the best Marge-centric episodes, there’s a laundry list of other episodes this one contradicts.

#3: Why Did Homer Lose His Hair? “Simpson and Delilah,” “And Maggie Makes Three,” & “Marge on the Lam”

The cause of Homer’s hair loss has been a subject of debate since the show’s earliest seasons. In the second season, Homer yells at Bart that losing hair is hereditary—the explanation that makes the most sense. However, in season five, it’s indicated that a medical experiment had the unintended side effect of hair loss. To further complicate the matter, a season six flashback shows a stressed Homer ripping more of his hair out every time Marge announces a pregnancy. In other episodes, it’s been assumed that it was due to radiation from the power plant. Maybe it’s a combination of each?

It’s widely known that the Simpsons live on Evergreen Terrace. Where exactly on Evergreen Terrace, however, is a subject of debate. Most fans agree that 742 Evergreen Terrace is the address, though several other numbers have been thrown around, including 94, 555, 723, 1094, and once even 430 Spalding Way. Even more confusingly, 742 Evergreen Terrace has also been shown to be a different house entirely in “Homer’s Triple Bypass.” We’ve already mentioned that locations in Springfield rarely stay in the same place, but in the case of the most important one on the show, it seems like a major oversight.

Before we unveil our top pick, here are a few honourable mentions

• Fat Tony’s First Name, Various episodes
• Everyone Was at Church…Except Ned? “Homer the Heretic”
• Nelson’s Father Abandoned Him…Or Not “Bart’s Girlfriend” & “Brother from the Same Planet”

#1: Homer and Marge’s Backstory “I Married Marge,” “That ‘90s Show” & “3 Scenes Plus a Tag from a Marriage”

Due to the agelessness of the characters, the story of Homer and Marge has played out multiple times in multiple eras. In one episode, it appears that Bart was conceived after the two see The Empire Strikes Back in 1980, while a later episode indicates that he was conceived in the late 90s after Homer’s grunge band disbanded. A more recent episode even portrayed their young, carefree life in the mid-2000s being disrupted by the pregnancy. Though a consistent backstory is tough to keep for characters who live in a time vacuum, it’s hard to know what we should believe about this beloved TV couple.