They’ll Need Stories for Years – The Simpsons Renewed Through Season 36

“Tonight, on Wings… ah, who cares?” – “Brother from the Same Planet”

In developments that are not really significant but still noteworthy, FOX opened up the purse strings again. They renewed a trifecta of animated comedies, including The Simpsons. This will take the longest-running scripted prime-time series on American TV near, if not past, 800 episodes.

It will be on the air until at least 2025. For reference, the Tracey Ullman Show shorts debuted in 1987. For perspective, even if we are just starting in December 1989 when the first full episode aired, this show has surpassed five US presidencies, nine British Premierships (to be fair, the first one was gone a year after the show launched and the last one was turfed after a month in office), six Yankees managers, three Giants Super Bowls, the lifespan of two US Broadcast networks, nine World Cup tournaments, and almost the entire back half of the reign of a Commonwealth Monarch. Seriously, Queen Elizabeth was nearing 38 years on the throne when The Simpsons debuted – she would reign for another 32. And it will keep going for at least two more years. I’ve joked about the show passing Coronation Street‘s record (62 years as of this post), but it’s sounding more and more likely that the venerable British Soap will give up the ghost before The Simpsons. Homer Simpson is written to be in his late 30s – this show is almost as old as the central protagonist.

To be honest, I’m not shocked at this announcement. Not at all.

Dead Homer Society Isn’t Totally Dead Yet!

Time for a mea culpa.

In my last post, I lamented the apparent demise of Dead Homer Society, one of the most (in)famous Simpsons blogs, dedicated to praising the classic seasons while deconstructing what they argued as the subpar quality of the show’s contemporary episodes. Such a blog served as a great resource for that subsection of Simpsons fans that generally reject episodes made after the turn of the millennium, and I credit it in part for renewing my appreciation for the show shortly after I all but gave up hope. Its apparent loss to the dustbin of internet history was rather sobering.

Well, turns out rumors of its death were premature.

Sort of.

It turns out the only thing completely dead was the deadhomersociety.com URL. Apparently, the blogmaster(s) never renewed the domain. If you go to deadhomersociety.wordpress.com, you get the blog dating up to the most recent post, that lamenting the show’s renewal into Season 34. (Screenshot taken below, in case the blog goes down for good.)

Now for the bad news. That most recent post was back in March 2021. The Super League hadn’t been formed and collapsed yet. Even before that, the blog had only become active again for less than two months, having been silent since May 2020… and even then, posts had crawled to a trickle in the two months beforehand.

I’m not saying that Dead Homer Society is dead, but the blog feels like it’s entered a certain stasis. And I know there are probably external reasons for this. (The pandemic has made daily life kind of weird, even for those of us least affected.) I do hope that it is picked up again, however. For there is so much brilliance to dissect in classic Simpsons, and the franchise is still putting out new episodes that are likely worthy of riffing. Hey, any site that can write a book dedicated to dissecting the show’s decline has my respect, even if I don’t agree with everything they say.

TL;DR – The Simpsons hasn’t officially outlived a site dedicated to complaining that the show went on too long. Not yet, at least.

Not Unprofitable Yet – The Simpsons Renewed Through Season 34

Taken from Frinkiac.com

“Yes, the Simpsons have come a long way since an old drunk made humans out of his rabbit characters to pay off his gambling debts. Who knows what adventures they’ll have between now and the time the show becomes unprofitable?” – Troy McClure, “The Simpsons 138th Episode Spectacular”

They’re really going to gun for Coronation Street‘s record, aren’t they?

Alright, here we go. The Simpsons has been renewed for another two seasons. The FOX Network announced that their longest-running TV show will remain on the air for Seasons 33 and 34, meaning that Americans will get to see new Springfield-based adventures until mid-2023, at least.

I’ve said my peace twice before on this matter. To cut a long story short, I’m likely not going to be brought back into viewership, quality control for the new seasons appears suspect at best, yadda yadda yadda. In fact, this time around, there are only a couple of possible quirks that I can bring up that make this particular renewal even slightly interesting. Now, keep in mind, these are just my theories – they might be incorrect. But it does bear some speculation as to how this show keeps going forward.

They Don’t Know The Meaning of The Word Canceled – Simpsons Renewed Through Season 32

Troy McClure: “So join America’s favorite TV family, and a tiny green space alien named Ozmodiar that only Homer can see, on FOX this fall. It’ll be out of this world! Right, Ozmodiar?”
Ozmodiar: “Damn straight, Troy, my man!”
– “The Simpsons Spin-Off Showcase”. Side note, that was one of the last episodes before Mike Scully became the showrunner.

Bucking my prediction from back in the halcyon days of November 2016, FOX has given The Simpsons, surprise, another two-year renewal. Assuming that this is for two full seasons (given that the show often has hangovers aired in the following autumn), this means that the show will continue to take up space on the FOX Network until at least the middle of 2021.

You know, when I joked in that aforementioned prediction that the show could conceivably gun for Coronation Street‘s record of being the longest-running scripted show in terms of years on the air, I didn’t mean it as a challenge!

Composer Alf Clausen (And Orchestra) Sacked from The Simpsons

Taken from the Simpsons wiki.

After 28 years, Alf Clausen has been fired as the composer for The Simpsons.

He confirmed the info to Variety.com on Wednesday night, noting that he was told the show “wanted to move in a different direction” and all that, and learned about his firing via a telephone call. This also brings an end to the show’s use of an orchestra – the compositions will be a one or two person operation (like Brad Breeck from Gravity Falls or Aivi/Surrashu from Steven Universe.)

Speculation from Variety was that the orchestra was costing too much, and the accountants decide to strike and increase profit margins over at Gracie Films or 20th Century Fox, or something.

To be fair, I will give management the benefit of the doubt on a few areas.

"Like The Cleaning of a House…" – The Simpsons Renewed Through Season 30

Taken from frinkiac.com

FOX has given The Simpsons yet another stay of execution – keeping it on the air until Season 30.

The big news out of this is that The Simpsons will beat Gunsmoke in terms of it’s how many episodes it has aired. This makes it, simply put, the longest running primetime scripted show in American history.

My thoughts on the show’s quality have been relatively clear, but just in case you need a refresher, it’s time to bring the curtain down on America’s Favorite Family. The reasons have been listed time and again by fans across the internet, and I agree with at least 90% of them. In fact, animation critic PieGuyRulz actually created a video that sums up the central problem with the show – it’s story engine and time within that have effectively damned it to mediocrity.

Thankfully, I have a hunch that this could be the last time the show gets renewed.