The Simpsons has the ability to be incredibly scornful and delightfully playful at the same time, even when dealing with some of the darker aspects of American culture, like institutional racism, corrupt politicians and the poverty crisis. It also handles the satiation of popular culture with expertise, as evidenced by the show’s almost perfect homage/jab at Mad Men.

The Simpsons

With AMC’s slick drama set to resume smoothness this weekend, The Simpsons took it upon themselves to mark the occasion with a riff on the ‘next week’ montages used by AMC. It features a host of characters from the legendary cartoon saying ominous/inane things in Mad Men’s typically fast and stylish manner. 

The best part, though, was the ending shot, which features a silhouetted Homer in front of a medley of Simpsons iconography. Duff beer, donuts, pork chops, Barney, bowling and – of course – Marge, feature on a backdrop of swirling 60s flower art. You could make a handsome set of bucks just selling that as a poster, we’d suggest.

More: The Simpsons' 552-episode marathon

And this isn’t the first time that The Simpsons has aknowleged the very existence of Mad Men in popular culture. And just so you know, The Simpsons acknowledging the very existence of any TV show in popular culture means that TV is good. I wanted to write ergo in there somewhere but didn’t structure the sentence properly.

Yes, The Simpsons – in a thinly veiled, if veiled at all – indictment of the advertising culture, used the Mad Men aesthetic  back in 2008 as a title sequence for the segment “How to Get Ahead in Dead-Vertisting” in the episode “Treehouse of Horror XIX.” So there you go. 

Mad Men returns to AMC this Sunday, April 13. Watch it. Watch The Simpsons. Watch it all for Christ’s sake.