The Simpsons must last 20 seasons

[Mowbs]

I know they have a contract for two more seasons, but they have to do one more and make it 20. The reason being?...well, 20 is just an outstanding number of seasons and according to this site: http://homepage.smc.edu/nestler_andrew/sitcoms.htm, The Simpsons will just barely surpass The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet as the longest running comedy (by number of episodes) if they keep it going for that extra season. If they did the 20 seasons and then came out with the movie, that would be a very sweet way to go out.

[Jamie]

The Simpsons must last 20 seasons or else the bus will explode!!!

[Ryan]

A few months back i noticed that if season 17 and 18 were both 22 episodes, the finale of S18 could've been episode 400 (i noticed it before it was on here!!) and i always thought that it would be nice if they ended on that note, but hey, now we're up for at least 422 episodes.

[jems_74]

would you rather quantity or quality?

[Mowbs]

would you rather quantity or quality?

What?...One more season and they would be incapable of quality?

[Nameless]

He meant that it would be better if the Simpsons ended with a 19th season with good, new ideas rather than a 20th season with stale, reused ideas. They can't think of new plots forever.

Why do the Simpsons HAVE to last 20 seasons just to become the longest-running comedy anyway? It's not that important.

[Mowbs]

He meant that it would be better if the Simpsons ended with a 19th season with good, new ideas rather than a 20th season with stale, reused ideas. They can't think of new plots forever.

Why do the Simpsons HAVE to last 20 seasons just to become the longest-running comedy anyway? It's not that important.

You basically said the same thing that Jem did..."If they do a 20th season, it won't be good." But the 19th will have new ideas....?

I'm saying the fact that would simultaneously reach the number 20 and have more episodes and any other comedy is reason enough to do one more season. They have come this far, they might as well do it.

[TransponderHut]

And you all say this as if Saturday Night Live doesn't exist...

[Rowdy]

You must be using a real liberal definition of the word "comedy" if you're describing Ozzie and Harriet as one......

[Mowbs]

You must be using a real liberal definition of the word "comedy" if you're describing Ozzie and Harriet as one......

I don't even know what that show is, haha. And I don't recall saying it was a comedy. I said "according to this site..."

And you all say this as if Saturday Night Live doesn't exist...

Judging by the link I posted, I think it more or less referring to sitcoms.

[TerrorK]

The Simpsons must last 20 seasons or else the bus will explode!!!

Are Mike Scully, Al Jean, and Tim Long on said bus?

[bovine_university]

The Simpsons have already broken plenty of records (topped The Flintstones for prime-time cartoon with the most episodes, topped The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet for prime time comedy series with the most seasons), but they still have a few more that they can shoot for. Ozzie and Harriet still has more episodes (430+ if I can recall correctly), but if The Simpsons does stick around till season 19 like we've heard it will, it will most likely top that. Also, if it lasts till after season 20, it will topple Gunsmoke as the prime-time fictional series with the most seasons. However, beyond all of this is the fact that the show itself is in an unspoken flinching match with Law and Order, which began in 1990 and is just half a season behind the Simpsons in longevity. If The Simpsons leaves the air before Law and Order does, it leaves the door wide open for it's season count to be overtaken by another fictional prime time series.

Anyway, the numbers are amusing, though no one can really say yet if the show has the legs to last that long and stay entertaining.

[Simpsons Forever!]

Realistically, I reckon they will make a 20th season - a nice, round number, the cast/writers enjoy working on the show, MG said they'd keep going until they ran out of ideas, which could mean ages, the ratings are still good on TV, considering it's been on for 17 years, Fox wants 19 seasons, so why would they not want a 20th and after the Movie next year, the popularity of The Simpsons will probably be much higher than its been for years, boosting demand for the show. So, at this point in time, it looks as if we will get a 20th season (unless, of course, the cast strike for more pay again, or the Movie is a complete flop.)

[Generic]

I'd like it to reach the 20 season mark but if 19 and a movie is as far as it goes, so be it. It will have been one hell of a ride.

[Rowdy]

bovine_university is right on target. Episodes are never factored into the record books, btw, so The Simpsons passed Ozzie and Harriet's "comedy" record of fourteen seasons a few years ago. If anything, the goal for The Simpsons should be twenty one seasons, which would put it one ahead of Gunsmoke as the longest running fictional series in primetime, ever.

[Rich Uncle Skeleton]

I thought Scooby Doo had like 600 episodes or something?

There are always going to be more records that could be broken. The Simpsons is never going to be the longest running television show. There's no reasons to keep inventing new categories for the show to be the winner in (longest running cartoon, longest running sitcom, longest running show in country X, longest running show with yellow characters.....)

[Number 10767]

^ Well, this is a bit OT, but there were many, many incarnations of Scooby Doo, and there's not a lot of episode information on each show. From the best I can tell, though...

The original TV series Scooby Doo, Where Are You? had 25 episodes...
Which was then followed by The New Scooby-Doo Movies, with 24 episodes...
This was then followed by The Scooby Doo/Dynomutt Hour, which had 16 episodes (although 8 of these just featured Dynomutt and had no Scooby-Doo involved)...
Followed by Scooby-Doo and Scrappy-Doo, which had 16 episodes...
Followed by The Richie Rich/Scooby Doo Hour, with 20 episodes...
And The Scooby and Scrappy Doo Puppy Hour, with 13 episodes...
This was followed by a show that was first called The All-New Scooby and Scrappy Doo Show and then had the name changed to The New Scooby-Doo Mysteries, of which 26 episodes were made...
Followed by The 13 Ghosts of Scooby-Doo (the one with Flim-Flam and Vincent VanGhoul), with (duh) 13 episodes...
Which was then followed by the wacky preteen version A Pup Named Scooby Doo, with 30 episodes...
And of course there's the current show What's New, Scooby Doo?, which so far has 42 episodes and is still being produced.

This does not include 3 TV movies, a handful of direct-to-video movies, two theatrical releases, and the somewhat un-Scooby show, Scooby's All-Star Laff-a-Lympics.

I have heard that 600 episode rumor before, but as you can see, it was just a myth. Scooby Doo-related TV shows tend to be very short-lived. Even if you count all the episodes together as one big franchise, you only get 225 episodes, so Scooby provides little competition for the Simpsons. At this point, Scooby's only at They Saved Lisa's Brain.

Of course, What's New, Scooby Doo? is still being made, so who knows? Maybe Scooby will catch up to Bart and Homer eventually, and with its franchise status, I wouldn't be surprised if Scooby's success gets milked to death. On the other hand, the voice of Scooby, Don Messick, has passed away, and the voice of Shaggy, Casey Kasem, is in his 70s. And also, I wouldn't put it past Fox to do some serious Simpsons milking either. I'm reeeeally looking forward to The Bart Simpson and Ralph Wiggum Comedy Hour...

[SSBOB]

Realistically, I reckon they will make a 20th season - a nice, round number, the cast/writers enjoy working on the show, MG said they'd keep going until they ran out of ideas, which could mean ages, the ratings are still good on TV, considering it's been on for 17 years, Fox wants 19 seasons, so why would they not want a 20th and after the Movie next year, the popularity of The Simpsons will probably be much higher than its been for years, boosting demand for the show. So, at this point in time, it looks as if we will get a 20th season (unless, of course, the cast strike for more pay again, or the Movie is a complete flop.)
I'd have to agree.

[DKsimpson2]

20 years will nice i see it. I would like to see the simpsons show as we know it end at season 20 but then start a new show, where they remake movies but use the simpsons.

It would be cool to see maybe once a year a simpsons parody movie come out. like a mel brooks movie. parody movies are so funny why let Scary Movie be the only parody movie out. the simpsons make parodys every week now do the entire movie.


Just my ideas.

[homerfan27]

20 seasons! 20 seasons!

[Little Kid Lover]

The Simpsons must last 50 seasons.

[caramelbart]

20 years will nice i see it. I would like to see the simpsons show as we know it end at season 20 but then start a new show, where they remake movies but use the simpsons.

It would be cool to see maybe once a year a simpsons parody movie come out. like a mel brooks movie. parody movies are so funny why let Scary Movie be the only parody movie out. the simpsons make parodys every week now do the entire movie.


Just my ideas.Alvin and the Chipmunks did that very thing in 1990 when they were re-drawn with blue eyes.

[DotheBartman]

I for one wouldn't want The Simpsons to just keep coming back and coming back after it ends (like DkSimpsons suggested)....and not just for quality reasons, but for relevance. After a certain point the series and the characters and setup will unavoidably become outdated (which isn't to say that watching classic episodes won't still be entertaining), and I wouldn't want it to become less of a beloved classic and more something that's dragged out past its relevance by hacks who don't know how to write. Just look at comic strips. Is there a single comic strip, other than Doonesbury, that's passed the 20 year mark and remained remotely funny or relevant? The comics pages are practically infested with characters that are retro to a fault; they've been around so long that there are whole generations that don't remember a time when they were remotely funny or relevant, and a lot of them have been handed off after their creators either gave up (Garfield) or even died (Blondie, Dennis the Menace, etc.). I just don't want it to one day be 2050 and for me to have to try to explain to my grandchildren that The Simpsons used to be the most awesome show on earth.

And a movie a year would SUCK. Sorry. They'd never be able to keep the quality up, especcially with an animated series. They'd have to dumb it down below season 11 levels to even keep up a yearly pace. As it is, they really probably shouldn't do more than one movie.

[Mr. Kurns]

Originally Posted by Simpsons Forever!
Realistically, I reckon they will make a 20th season - a nice, round number, the cast/writers enjoy working on the show, MG said they'd keep going until they ran out of ideas, which could mean ages, the ratings are still good on TV, considering it's been on for 17 years, Fox wants 19 seasons, so why would they not want a 20th and after the Movie next year, the popularity of The Simpsons will probably be much higher than its been for years, boosting demand for the show. So, at this point in time, it looks as if we will get a 20th season (unless, of course, the cast strike for more pay again, or the Movie is a complete flop.)

Agreed.

Originally Posted by DotheBartman
I for one wouldn't want The Simpsons to just keep coming back and coming back after it ends (like DkSimpsons suggested)....and not just for quality reasons, but for relevance. After a certain point the series and the characters and setup will unavoidably become outdated (which isn't to say that watching classic episodes won't still be entertaining), and I wouldn't want it to become less of a beloved classic and more something that's dragged out past its relevance by hacks who don't know how to write. Just look at comic strips. Is there a single comic strip, other than Doonesbury, that's passed the 20 year mark and remained remotely funny or relevant? The comics pages are practically infested with characters that are retro to a fault; they've been around so long that there are whole generations that don't remember a time when they were remotely funny or relevant, and a lot of them have been handed off after their creators either gave up (Garfield) or even died (Blondie, Dennis the Menace, etc.). I just don't want it to one day be 2050 and for me to have to try to explain to my grandchildren that The Simpsons used to be the most awesome show on earth.

And a movie a year would SUCK. Sorry. They'd never be able to keep the quality up, especcially with an animated series. They'd have to dumb it down below season 11 levels to even keep up a yearly pace. As it is, they really probably shouldn't do more than one movie.

Agreed. These two guys pretty much summed up everything that needed to be said.

[Red Hot Homer Simpson]

The Simpsons will last 20 years. 19 Years is not good. Cos that is not a good number. But I heard on the radio recently that the Simpsos will go on till at least 2009. That marks 20 years but I must have heard wrong.

[Lardlad!]

they could go past 20

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"oh great i've gone and soiled myself

[H Thompson]

And a movie a year would SUCK. Sorry. They'd never be able to keep the quality up, especcially with an animated series. They'd have to dumb it down below season 11 levels to even keep up a yearly pace. As it is, they really probably shouldn't do more than one movie.

I wouldn't go that far, Woody Allen pretty much does one film a year and at least in his prime he kept up a high quality. But I still agree with you one is enough.

[Rory Mitch]

20 seems a nice milestone to stop at, but come Season 19 if there not producing half-decent episodes there's no point doing another year for the sake of it.

[Matt B.]

If the seasons continue like season 17 so far(this season has great with the lowest episode being See Homer Run) I don't mind seeing a season 20 or possibly a season 21 or 22.

[Jerry P.]

It doesn't seem realistic to me that the show would end at exactly 20 seasons. The writers have always said that they would stop if they ran out of ideas. I don't see why that would happen at 20. Fox would cancel the series if the ratings were bad, but again, why would this happen at exactly 20?

The only thing that has ever put The Simpsons in danger of ending is contract renegotiations with the cast. If anyone else wants to quit, they can be replaced. The show could have ended at season 9, but the cast agreed to three more years. It could have ended at 12, but the cast agreed to three more years. It almost ended at 15, but the cast agreed to four more years. The show could now end at 19 seasons, but if it goes past that, it will most likely be at least three more years, possibly ending at 22 or 23.

I suppose Groening or Brooks could force the show to end at any given time. But I don't know. 20 just doesn't seem like a likely place for the show to end.

As for when I would like it to end, I'm fine with it going on indefinitely as it is.

[DotheBartman]

I wouldn't go that far, Woody Allen pretty much does one film a year and at least in his prime he kept up a high quality. But I still agree with you one is enough.

He doesn't have to animate his films though....so it's a different situation. If the Simpsons writers just wrote one movie script a year they might be able to make it work, but adding in the animation would kill it (largely because they'd have to rush the script to accomadate the animation process). Plus DKSimpson2 was suggesting they do a "parody" movie ala Scary Movie each year, which would just be even worse and a total waste of the characters.

[Galalimit]

This show will last FAR BEYOND season 20 guys so don't worry. I'd be very surprised if it didn't make it to season 30 actually regardless of how bad it gets because I don't think the writers know when to stop.

[Nameless]

This show will last FAR BEYOND season 20 guys so don't worry. I'd be very surprised if it didn't make it to season 30 actually regardless of how bad it gets because I don't think the writers know when to stop.

the show will not last 30 seasons...that's asking the impossible.

[bluemoose]

yeah, there's no way it's going to 30. I have heard rumors (completely unsubstantiated) that they are planning on doing 20.

[Sarcastic Guy II]

The Simpsons must last 50 seasons.
Good call.

[H Thompson]

THE SIMPSONS MUST LAST FOREVER AND HAVE HUNDREDS OF CRAPPY SPINOFFS LONG AFTER GROENING IS DEAD, THE WRITERS OF WHICH WILL DANCE ON HIS GRAVE.

[Faucet]

I agree with the guy above. But i hope they end at 20 cuz i want it to end soon, but on a good number. Also little simpsons miniseries are inevitable as it has become a huge show.

[Handsome Peter]

I'd like to think that "Lisa's Wedding" is a flash-forward to the end of the series, and that the last episode will air on Sunday, August 1, 2010.

Of course, if it were up to me, the last few episodes would run in September 1999 before the MLB playoffs started and the show would be replaced by Futurama. Thank God the quality didn't drop nearly as much as I thought it would - I was seriously worrying through most of Season 11.

[Homer4President]

^ Well, this is a bit OT, but there were many, many incarnations of Scooby Doo, and there's not a lot of episode information on each show. From the best I can tell, though...

WOW! What are you doing in a Simpsons fan club I'm sure you could give scooby lovers a run fir their money!

[Channel Surfer]

WOW! What are you doing in a Simpsons fan club I'm sure you could give scooby lovers a run fir their money!

You missed his point. Scooby Doo is often credited for having the most episodes of any animated show spread through all of its incarnations. Which just isn't the case if you count them all. A casual look online can easily give you those numbers, fan or not.