If someone would have asked me in which country were people most fervent about The Simpsons, I probably would have said the U.S. or England, because those just seem like the easiest and most understandable options. But apparently Bolivia is the real center of Simpsons mania, as there was recently a massive series-related protest in the nation. Was it because the show was ending or being censored or something like that? Nope. It was all about a timeslot change.
Apparently Unitel, the network responsible for playing Simpsons repeats in Bolivia, changed the time of day the show aired, and people started having cows, man. A lot of them. Around 2,000 Bolivians from several different cities took to the streets in protest, according to the New York Post. But this wasn’t the kind of pointless savagery that inevitably occurs anytime Americans protest, obviously. Although it seems like Bart and Homer Simpson masks would be good defenses against tear gas.
Never let anyone tell you that some good old fashioned chanting and sign-waving won’t get the job done, either. Because not only did Unitel renege, slotting the long-running animated series right back where it was originally, but they also extended the schedule block from 45 minutes to two full hours. It seems like this news would have spurred the same amount of people to run the streets in celebration, with everyone giving Unitel a big loud Nelson Muntz “Ha Ha!”
Check out a piece of the news footage below, though you might need to be bilingual to catch what’s being said.
If only Bolivia would have access to FXX and their massive Simpsons marathons, this wouldn’t have even been a problem to begin with. Still, getting a 2-hour block of a beloved show is nothing to sneeze at and lose your soul to. (That last part is according to Milhouse.)
Meanwhile, just two months ago here in the U.S., people started a petition to bring a dead TV character back to life. Nobody could be bothered to leave their houses, though, so nothing became of it. Ay caramba!
