Big Picture
Kate Upton Takes Cover Plus, Nicole Kidman hangs out with her family and Bradley Cooper is a grizzly guy. The latest pics!
MORE PHOTOS +Most Commented
- TV's Top Couples Tournament: Vote in the Final Round! (2036)
- TV's Top Couples Tournament: This Round Is Closed, Please Stand By (974)
- TV's Top Couples Tournament: This Round Is Closed, Please Stand By (693)
- Afternoon Mail! Are Gleeks Having More Sex Than Vamps? (586)
- TV's Top Couple Tournament: And the Winner Is... (488)
- Whitney Houston Dead at 48 (394)
- Beyoncé and Jay-Z Share First Photos of Baby Blue Ivy! (391)
- New Ask Ted Video! Should Kristen Stewart Play Elizabeth Taylor? (290)
- Morning Mail! Is Lea Michele Ready to Walk Like an Egyptian? (286)
- Twilight Director Talks Kristen Stewart and Ex Michael Angarano: "They Were Such a Great Couple" (261)
Top 10 Stories
- Playmate Claire Sinclair Describes Scene of Alleged Domestic Dispute With Marston Hefner
- Glee-Dux: Guess Who's Back?! V-Day Episode Delivers Romance, Smooches and Shockers!
- Blake Lively Gets Restraining Order Against Man Who Wanted to "Guide" Her
- 19 Kids and Counting Alleged Extortion Plot: Singer Laughs Off "Intimate Photos"
- Rumer Willis' Hollywood Hills Home Burglarized
- Whitney Houston and Other Divas Who Died Too Soon
- Chris Brown Tweets to Haters After Grammy Win
- Whitney Houston Tribute: Watch LeAnn Rimes' Emotional Performance of "I Will Always Love You"
- Oprah Twitter Scandal! Winfrey Apologizes After Soliciting Nielsen Viewers to Watch OWN
- Glee Scoop: There's a New Love Triangle Going Down!
Fashion Police
Angelina: Going Grey! Plus, Christina Hendricks, Vanessa Hudgens, Rosie Huntington-Whiteley, Michelle Williams and Kristen Wiig. Rate the highs and lows!
MORE PHOTOS +
Our Partners
Woo-Hoo! "Simpsons" Renewed!
As Monty Burns would say, "Exxxxxxxcellent."
Homer, Bart and the rest of The Simpsons gang will be sticking around the tube for a little bit longer as Fox announced Friday it has reupped the classic cartoon series for two more years.
Dismissing talk that the show, now in its 14th season, has been played out, Fox's move guarantees the 'toon will run through an eye-popping 16th season and rack up at least 360 episodes.
And unless Springfield unexpectedly blows up before then, The Simpsons will surpass The Adventures of Ozzie & Harriet, which tallied 15 season from 1952-66, as the longest running television comedy.
"Watch out, Gunsmoke, you're next," executive producer and show-runner, Al Jean cracked in Variety, referring to the record 20-year run of the western. (CBS' 60 Minutes is the longest running show of any kind, ticking along since 1968.)
For Fox, the move was a no-brainer.
"In its 14th season, the show is doing some of its funniest episodes and best numbers," Fox Entertainment president Gail Berman noted. For the season to date, The Simpsons ranks in the top 20 among total viewers, averaging 14.2 million fans a week.
The Simpsons has also won seven Emmys for Outstanding Animated Series since its 1989 debut and, on Sunday, is up for its first Golden Globe, nominated for Best Musical or Comedy Series.
Not bad for a show that literally jumped the shark 12 seasons ago (when stuntman Lance Murdock splashed down in a shark- and lion-filled tank prompting Bart to launch his own daredevil career) and whose own creator seemed to consign it to the dustbin just a few months ago. In a May interview with London's Financial Times, series mastermind Matt Groening said, "I think we are closer to winding it up."
But fans had such a cow that Groening quickly issued a retraction assuring the faithful that "rumors of The Simpsons demise have been greatly exaggerated" and adding that Homer & Co. will "be having new adventures long after I am in my grave, which is kind of a creepy feeling."
Fox has also decided to grant one more year of life to another 'toon, King of the Hill, Beavis and Butt-head creator Mike Judge's comical look at Texan Hank Hill and his brood.
"This show does anything we ask it to do," Berman told Variety, referring to its mostly successful run in various time slots over the past seven years. "And they consistently put out one of the funniest shows on TV."
In the meantime, Fox will showcase both shows during a sweeps stunt on February 16.
At 7 p.m., Fox will broadcast a new episode of King of the Hill guest-starring Jennifer Aniston to be followed by three new Simpsons installments in a row, with number 300 (featuring Blink-182 and skateboard hero Tony Hawk) airing at 8 p.m.
Fox is also reuniting The Simpsons with their old time-slot neighbors the Bundys.
A special reunion of Married...with Children, which ended its 10-year run in 1997, is slated for the show's former 9 p.m. slot and will bring back original cast members Ed O'Neill, Katey Sagal, Christina Applegate and David Faustino.
The reunion is being timed to overlap with the upcoming release of two DVDs titled Married...with Children: The Most Outrageous Episodes, the first of which hits stores on February 4.
0 Comments
Now loading...