The Simpsons renewed for 2 more seasons, will pass 700 episodes
The Simpsons will remain on television — a.k.a. teacher, mother, secret lover — for a few more years. At least.
The legendary animated family comedy, which boasts the claim of being the longest-running prime time scripted series ever, has received a two-season renewal from Fox, the network announced Wednesday at the Television Critics Association Winter Press Tour in Pasadena. Currently in its 30th season, the show will pass the 700-episode milestone in season 32, and the new deal takes the show through 713 episodes.
The renewal also ends speculation for now that the show might be headed to a new home. Disney, which owns ABC, recently acquired 21st Century Fox, which includes 20th Century Fox TV, the studio that producers The Simpsons.
The Simpsons — which has nabbed 33 Emmy Awards and spawned a massively successful movie in 2007 — began way back in 1987 as a series of shorts on The Tracey Ullman Show before being enlarged into a weekly series at the end of 1989. Last season, the Matt Groening-created series unveiled its 637th episode, passing western Gunsmoke to become the longest-running scripted series in TV history. (Episode 666, by the way, just happens to be season 31’s Halloween episode, “Treehouse of Horror XXX.”)
The show — whose voice cast includes Dan Castellaneta, Julie Kavner, Yeardley Smith, Nancy Cartwright, Harry Shearer and Hank Azaria — has a season 30 guest roster that includes Gal Gadot, Will Forte, J.K. Simmons, Dave Matthews, Ken Burns, and Awkwafina. The Simpsons is currently averaging a 1.9 in the 18-to-49-year-old demographic and 4.8 million viewers per episode.
