The Simpsons renewed for ANOTHER two years.

[Kevin]

I guess Groening needed another rocket car and solid gold mansion, but there comes a time when something's creator should have the decency to take it to the shed out back and put it out of it's misery. They really are just going to keep making new seasons until it finally becomes totally unprofitable.

In the end this show is going to die like Disco died, with all it's former fans violently rebelling against it and burying it alive. The Simpsons has been robed of any opportunity to go out with class or dignity.

[BrettCullum]

Is anybody even still watching? Wow! It's a feat that it has lasted so damn long. Much longer than disco! Yikes!

[cdouglas]

Perhaps they'll talking Conan into writing the last few episodes so the show can go out strong.

I still tune into the Simpsons when I get a chance. It's far past it's prime, but I still enjoy it, and it's better than a pretty significant chunk of the comedy that's on tv these days (I still maintain that it's stronger than any of Seth McFarlane's shows).

[Boba Fett]

Wow, it's been a good decade since I actually watched a full season of the show. I think they'll push the show so they can get 500 episodes out of it and then pull the plug.

[erich]

Can you blame them for trying for another two years? They only just made the switch to HD.

I still watch The Simpsons every week it's new (granted, that's mostly 'cause I'm covering it for tvverdict, but still). It's not what it was, but it's also not as awful as people like to say it is. It hit a low point back in season 18, but it's recovered pretty well since. At this point, I think of it the same way I do SNL. As long as they've got the same person/people at the top making the big calls, they can keep cycling in new writers to do better or worse jobs than the last crew pretty much forever. I wonder how many people watching the show now are the same people who watched back in '89 – '90 anyway.

[mkiker2089]

Think of the Simpsons like McDonalds. It's safe and quick. They know they have an audience and the audience knows what to expect. I could think of much worse.

[barnaclelapse]

I agree, and I'm personally happy they're coming back for two more years.

The show's dropped in quality, but it's still funnier (to me) than a lot of the so-called comedy on network TV right now.

I'm just surprised (or perhaps, I shouldn't be) that Harry Shearer keeps coming back, as much as he complains.

[Eric Profancik]

I still DVR it every week and have noticed that it "feels" different this year. Outside of a new opening (finally), the characters are starting to break outside of their shell - not entirely, but it appears that they start trying new things with the characters. Besides, what else is on Sunday nights at 8?

[Stubblecat]

I think it's amazing that I was in the 11th grade when The Simpsons debuted, and now I'm closing in on 40 with two kids.

I'll catch an episode if I happen upon it on a sunday evening, but I've basically tuned out over the last couple of years. Too much emphasis on the celebrity guest of the week cheapened the storylines a few years back.

[Kevin]

I swear the only reason why they keep producing episodes is that they don't know how to end it properly (or at all).

[Steve T Power]

Maybe it has something to do with the fact that a ton of people who aren't us still WATCH the show.

maybe.

It might be a stretch to think it. But sometimes the truth is stranger than fiction.

[Dan Mancini]

Maybe it has something to do with the fact that a ton of people who aren't us still WATCH the show.

If not, then the next time advertisers come bitching to Joss Whedon that they're not seeing a return on their marketing investments (it won't be long, I'm sure), he should just tell them that he doesn't know how to end the show properly.

[Steve T Power]

Maybe it has something to do with the fact that a ton of people who aren't us still WATCH the show.

If not, then the next time advertisers come bitching to Joss Whedon that they're not seeing a return on their marketing investments (it won't be long, I'm sure), he should just tell them that he doesn't know how to end the show properly.

SKABOW!

[jcankerhuxley]

Is anybody even still watching? Wow! It's a feat that it has lasted so damn long. Much longer than disco! Yikes!

A habit that I have had since my law school days is to make time on Sundays to watch the Simpsons. I still watch it and it is still funny. Granted, anything that has gone nearly 500 episodes has a few bombs. (Except for "Oh that Rusty!" but that's another story for another time).

As I have said before, it does have a lot of competition since the start of season seven (King of the Hill, South Park) and later it had blatent ripp offs for the single and double digit IQ set (Family Guy).

What is surprising is that many do not count the legacies of the Simpsons (King of the Hill, The Goode Family, and South Park) or the z-level ripoffs (Family Guy, American Dad, and soon, Cleveland). Some such as King of the Hill and South Park have lasted past a Decade and even tripe like Family Guy has gone over 100 episodes.

[Ash22]

Maybe it has something to do with the fact that a ton of people who aren't us still WATCH the show.

If not, then the next time advertisers come bitching to Joss Whedon that they're not seeing a return on their marketing investments (it won't be long, I'm sure), he should just tell them that he doesn't know how to end the show properly.

Fox just wanted to see The Simpsons surpass Gunsmoke as the longest running tv show.

[Zanarkand]

I have not seen an episode since I was in high school. Anybody know how they get around the fact that the kids have not aged since 1990?

[Dan Mancini]

I have not seen an episode since I was in high school. Anybody know how they get around the fact that the kids have not aged since 1990?

It's a cartoon?

[Zanarkand]

What I was getting at is, how the show has managed to squeeze nealry 20 years worth of shows out
of one year of the charachters lives. What sort of things go on in Springfeild these days?
I really can't figure what could not have been done by now. And do they still have the Indian store clerk? I always liked that guy.
Last I heard about this franchise, there was a site where you could have a photo of yourself in Simpsonesque.
They gave you facial features to choose from and so forth, and you could create yourself--as a citizen of Springfield.

[Stubblecat]

Yeah, that was around when the movie came out. It was fun for a lark.

But Zark did hit on something that I noticed a bunch of years back: They did start stuffing some odd continuity into the show. Apu getting married and having octuplets, Milhouse's parents' divorce, even the revamped Marge & Homer backstory. Odd for a non-sequential cartoon to have to do that. Probably did it because the damned thing's been on so long and they needed fresh ideas...