The Simpsons has been a staple on our televisions for nearly four decades, making it hard for many to recall a time it wasn’t part of our lives.
Given its enduring presence, it’s no shock that it ranks among the longest-running TV shows, starting in 1987 with animated shorts and evolving into full-length episodes by 1989.
The series recently marked a milestone by broadcasting its 800th episode. To commemorate this, showrunner Matt Selman has shared insights on how The Simpsons might conclude, should it ever reach an end.
In an interview with The Wrap, Selman stated: “We did an episode about a year-and-a-half ago that was like a parody of the series finale. We jammed every possible series finale concept into one show, so that was sort of my way of saying we’re never going to do a series finale.
“We did a series finale in the middle of the show that made fun of all the ideas of wrapping everything up or ending.”
According to Selman, the show is unlikely to have a conclusive ending. If it does come to a close, it wouldn’t feature a ‘final episode’, nor would there be any farewells.
“The show isn’t supposed to change. The characters reset every week. It’s like Groundhog Day but they don’t know it — and they don’t die that much,” he explained.
“If the show ever did end, there’s no finale, it would just be a regular episode that has the family in it. Probably a little Easter egg here and there, but no ‘I’m going to miss this place.’”
The 800th episode, titled “Irrational Treasure,” was broadcast on Sunday, February 15. In this episode, Marge takes the family dog, Santa’s Little Helper, to a dog competition, while Homer embarks on a treasure hunt with history enthusiasts.
Speaking to Entertainment Weekly, Selman emphasized the episode’s focus on ’embracing the history of the show’.
He remarked: “We have those flashes of Homer as a stone cutter and then the pie man and then he’s in different outfits from famous Homer episodes as we do crazy time jumps over both the one year and 40 years that the show has existed at the same time. Like, the characters are always the same age yet they’ve had almost 40 years of adventures.
“So did it all happen in one crazy year? Did it happen in 40 years? Neither? Both?”
Here’s to The Simpsons remaining a constant in our TV landscape!