Simpsons Renewed Until 2005

[Wedgecon]

There will be a 15 and 16 season...

http://www.cnn.com/2003/SHOWBIZ/TV/01/17/television.simpsons.reut/index.html

[Mark Holtz]

...and yet Bart and Lisa are still stuck in elementary school.... and Maggie is still a baby....

[pez2002]

Originally posted by Z'Loth
...and yet Bart and Lisa are still stuck in elementary school.... and Maggie is still a baby....



So what its a cartoon :)

[Jacob S]

It would be an interesting turn if on the last episodes it shows what becomes of them when they do get older, and the family the children have of their own. They could even make a new cartoon out of that in itself.

I am glad to see that they are still making more episodes. Are they definitely going to end it after 2005 or is this at least until 2005?

[Kevin]

Originally posted by Wedgecon
There will be a 15 and 16 season...Woohoo!! :D

[James_F]

Thank God! I was worried this would be the last season.

[dtcarson]

Originally posted by Z'Loth
...and yet Bart and Lisa are still stuck in elementary school.... and Maggie is still a baby....

That's one of the things I like best about the show--that the characters are 'frozen in time' [apart from some flashback episodes, and a few future ones.]

You really get to know the characters, their personalities do evolve and grow, but there's something nostalgic and safe about them staying roughly the same age.

Plus, even more than 'cute kid' shows/movies, I despise 'cute kid' shows/movies five years later....one of the most horrible things I remember on TV was Home Improvement as the kids were growing from cute lil' kid [which I don't like] to cute lil'/slightly spunky teenager [which is even worse].  All IMHO of course.  Many of those shows jump the shark when kid goes to high school, or college, or hits puberty, etc...

[motjes2]

Great! I love the show. I wish they will broadcast some episode in HD!

[Mike123abc]

Originally posted by motjes2
Great! I love the show. I wish they will broadcast some episode in HD!

Unlikely Fox does not believe in HDTV... they might do it in widescreen low res one day, but that is as close as they get.

[Dgenx321]

Awesome news!!

They really need to speed the DVD sets up. One season a year isn't cutting it. Let see, 16 seasons, would mean the last season would come out in 14 years since two are already out.

Woo Hoo 2017 here I come :)

[AJ2086]

This show will never end, its Fox's best and oldest show and it does great in the ratings. Its also heading towards some record for longest running show.

[TNGTony]

The simpsons has a LOOOOOOOOONG way to go to be the longest running show on TV.

Gunsmoke, the longest running prime time fiction network show, ran on TV from 1955 to 1975 and had a total of 630-some-odd episodes. The simpsons are just approaching 300 episodes right now.

The longest running prime time non-fiction network show is "60 Minutes". It started airing episodes in 1968 and is still going. 35 years later. I think they are close to 1500 episodes.

The longest running show on TV Period is "Meet the Press". It started running in November 1947 and hasn't stopped since.

The Lawrence Welk Show ran a total of 27 years on TV. (16 years on Network TV (1955-1971) and another 11 years in new syndicated series (1971-1982)). It's the longest running entertainment show on TV. ABC cancelled the show in 71 because it was "too old for its advertisers". The syndicated series ended up beating the ABC in its time slot for 9 of the 11 years in syndication. And some ABC stations "defected" and ran the syndicated LW show in its old ABC time slot pre-empting ABC programming.

"Hee Haw" ran for 23 years (1969-1992). Most of that time (I think 21 years) on CBS then moved to syndication with new episodes for a few years. It just beat out "Gunsmoke" for the longest running network show, though Hee Haw did not air in Prime Time for most of its run.

"This is the Life" is, I think, the longest running syndicated-only TV show. I can't find the exact info on it since it's a religious, anthology show. But I beleive it started running in 1952 and finally stopped producing new episodes in 1984.

I think that The Simpsons just entered the top 10 in most episodes in a NETWORK prime time fiction show. And is by far the longest running animated series. The Flintstones is a distant second. It ran for 7 years (1960-1966) and produced 166 episodes.

See ya
Tony

[Mike123abc]

Simpsons have the advantage of no big stars to pay. They can have the animation drawn on the cheap. This show is a goldmine for Fox.

[Dennis]

The Simpsons will set the record for the longest running sitcom----assuming that you caount it as one. That was held by Ozzie and Harriet. As of now they hold the record for longest running cartoon.

While they will perhaps never break Gunsmoke's record (although in one episode of Futurama they are watching the Simpsons so who knows) they might break it for number of seasons. As it is I am sure there were more episodes of Ozzie and Harriet although it would have been nice if they had one episode where Ozzie went to work.

He Haw BTW ran only a few seasons on CBS it was cancelled along with Green Acres, Mayberry RFD, and Petticoat Junction when CBS decided to go for a younger more urban ausience in the early 70s.

[Mark Holtz]

Gunsmoke also ran as a radio series as well as a TV series. You can catch an occassional episode on Yesterday USA (http://www.yesterdayusa.com). (Yesterday USA is a Free audio service that is also carries on the same bird as Superatation WGN. Dish should carry it. :) )

Also, there is the British science fiction series Doctor Who which ran on British TV from 1963 until 1989. However, because of BBC's archival system at the time, there are episodes missing from 1963-1969. Not sure on the number of episodes.

[TNGTony]

Dennis,

Thanks for letting me know the correct category. :)

For those interested:

Ozzie and Harriet ran on TV from 1952 to 1966 and they produced 435 episodes.

The TV series was a continuation of the radio show that started in 1944.

See ya
Tony

[Steve Mehs]

Glad to see The Simpsons keep on living. I used to watch them all the time, the moved onto South Park. I catch a few repeat episodes a week.

[Jacob S]

Do you think King of the Hill will last a while or just come and go like some other ones have? I remember Futurama a while back but it must had just gone away. Maybe King of the Hill would replace Simpsons in airtime if they go away?

[TNGTony]

There was a "new" (leftover) Futurama on last week!

See ya
Tony

[Dennis]

Sorry Tony if my remarks appeared offensive. I jsut wasted to point out that the Simpsons "Crown" is based on years not number of episodes.

Tried to poat yesterday but I do not see it.