The Simpsons reaches 700th episode, but is there an end in sight?
Los Angeles, California - The legendary series The Simpsons hit another milestone on Sunday with Manger Things, the animated comedy's 700th episode. While executive producer Al Jean laughs at the possibility of reaching 1,000 episodes one day, he doesn't deny it.
TV's longest-running primetime series made its debut in 1989.
But even after more than 30 years, the show's creator Matt Groening (67) keeps surprising the family's fans season after season. And fans can't seem to get enough.
The iconic Fox series, currently airing its 32nd season, hit the 700 episode-milestone Sunday with a Christmas-themed episode.
Fox recently renewed the show for another two seasons, which would bring it to 34 seasons and a whopping 757 episodes by 2023. But is that the end?
"We’re going to definitely do 757," producer Al Jean told Variety. "I wouldn’t say that’s the end but I don’t know how much further we can go."
When asked if The Simpsons would ever cross the 1,000 episode-mark, he laughed at first.
It would take another twelve years to reach that milestone, he said, but he didn't rule out the possibility.
The Simpsons team has been working on Zoom for a year
Jean doesn't think The Simpsons will never completely disappear from the small screen, even after production eventually gets halted.
"As soon as they cancel us, they’ll reboot us," he said, adding that "it’s too ubiquitous to think that it’ll just disappear."
Homer is in his late 30s in the most recent episodes, which means he should have been a child when the show premiered in 1990.
But Jean has defended the show's decision to keep the characters' ages frozen, saying the alternative would be for the series to always be set in the 1990s.
"They wouldn’t have cell phones, it would be a different life. I don’t think that people watching it would relate to them as a family that lives in the present."
The Simpsons team has been working relentlessly over Zoom during the pandemic, having set up "mini studios" in each actor's house.
"If you listen to the audio on the show, I don’t think anybody notices a difference. The ones we’re in now were all pandemic-produced, not a single line was recorded in studio," Jean said.
Episode 700, Manger Things, aired on Sunday on Fox, and is now available to watch on Disney Plus.
Cover photo: IMAGO / Cinema Publishers Collection