And now some claim they prophesied the coronavirus outbreak that is sweeping its way across the globe and bringing fear and panic in its wake. In the past week stills from old episodes of the animated comedy have been doing the rounds online. The images are believed to come from a 1993 episode and show the inhabitants of Springfield catching and passing on an ominous cloud of germs.
In one still a newscaster reads a report on a “corona virus”, as indicated by a title slide over his shoulder.
Taken together, the evidence seems to cement the programme’s status as TV’s leading oracle of future events, or the new Nostradamus.
According to the Hollywood and media news website Deadline, the stills in question come from an episode in which packagers working in Japan accidentally ship the “Osaka Flu” to Springfield.
“Please don’t tell the supervisor I have the flu,” one of the workers tells his colleague in before coughing into a box addressed to Homer Simpson.
However, although three of the images do indeed come from the same 1993 episode, the one of the newscaster is from a different episode entirely.
And the graphic over his shoulder says “Apocalypse Meow,” not “corona virus.”
Earlier this week the head of the World Health Organisation (WHO) warned world leaders to prepare for a pandemic, as the number of people infected with the deadly virus showed no sign of abating.
Tedros Adhanom Gebreyesus, director-general of the WHO, said that the figures were “deeply concerning”.
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The man, who has not been named, was believed to have had underlying health problems.
Officials are unsure as to how he was exposed to the virus.
Washington state has two other presumed cases at a long-term care facility in Kirkland where more than 50 residents and staff could be showing symptoms, according to Jeffrey Duchin.
Mr Duchin, head of the Washington health department’s communicable disease unit, said: “At this point we do not have widespread community-wide transmission locally.
“We have transmission that’s associated with an outbreak at this long-term care facility.”
On Wednesday, President Trump appointed Vice-President Mike Pence as Coronavirus Czar, who would be responsible for coordinating the administration’s response to the epidemic.
Trump insisted that the US was “very, very ready for anything” and would even put large cities into lockdown if necessary.
He said his administration was prepared to spend whatever it took to stop the virus and had asked Congress for $2.5 billion in extra funding.