Monday, March 20, 2006

In Nail Biter For Fans, "The Simpsons" Is Renewed

Fox sent out a press release this morning announcing that The Simpsons was renewed for two more seasons and King of the Hill renewed for one more season. Both shows are well past their sell-by date, but the TV geek in me can't help finding it exciting. The Simpsons will hit 19 seasons at the end of this renewal and of course it's already the longest running sitcom in history, the longest running animated show in history and the longest running show currently on the air. One more season and it will tie Gunsmoke as the longest running comedy or drama in TV history. (Dick Wolf has been gunning for that title with Law & Order but the yellow Simpsons will beat him to it.) The unheralded KOTH (which wil hit 11 seasons) was at one point the most realistic and touching sitcom on TV but of course those days are long gone. Unlike The Simpsons, they would have been smart to let their characters age a la the comic strip Gasoline Alley. Creatively, like everyone else I wish The Simpsons had called it a day oh a DECADE ago, taken some time off and delivered a really great movie. It bid fair to be considered the greatest sitcom of all time, but ten years of so-so shows tend to dim that legacy.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

D'oh! Now I can sleep at night.

Anonymous said...

Hey, I'd still rather watch the Simpsons than most other sitcoms.

priv8pete said...

Maybe it's not the Simpsons legacy that is dim, but you. I still laugh out loud a couple times during every episode though it's not a must-watch event for me anymore (which may have more to do with now having a job and a kid that I didn't have 10 years ago).

Michael in New York said...

Well, I am dim and the show isn't awful. But clearly it's nowhere near the heights it hit during the third through eighth season in which one show after another was breathtakingly funny. Now you're reduced to laughing out loud "a couple of times." Every sitcom except Mary Tyler Moore has done the same thing by outstaying their welcome. MASH. All in the Family, Seinfeld, Cheers, I Love Lucy. Only quickly cancelled shows like Police Squad and British sitocms like Fawlty Towers escape the curse.