I guess technically this is a spoiler, so…
The article goes into it a little. It’s a cameo for now. His appearance in this arc is literally 20 seconds of small talk. Gilroy wanted to drop the casting bomb now so people would be over it by the time he has something important to do in the 7-8-9 arc.
An Open Letter to Matt Groening
I may be misremembering, but I could have sworn Groening created the Simpsons for the Tracey Ullman Show specifically because he knew he wouldn’t own them and he didn’t want sign over his Life in Hell characters. They’re sort of just doing what they were created to do. I doubt he could stop the zombie husk of the show if he tried.
Yeah, the dropoff in linear TV viewing is staggering. CBS does the best because their broadcast lineup skews old, not because it’s particularly good. It also makes you understand why the suits sell their souls for live sports (especially gridiron football).
It’s not a super new phenomenon either. The BBT was CBS’s huge comedy hit of the 2010s, but it never had raw numbers that matched “The Single Guy,” a two-season nothingburger that got canceled for not adequately holding onto its Friends lead-in audience.