The Simpsons

There have been a lot of reports recently about the fate of The Simpsons. With Disney acquiring Fox, the longest-running scripted programme in television history is only becoming more prosperous, and it's looking increasingly-likely that the show will continue to run and run well into the next decade. But should it keep going?

The Simpsons is my favourite television programme of all time. That sentence used to be perfectly acceptable, but now it must come with a caveat - a tiny asterisk that won't make people think I'm lying or stupid. Here goes: The Simpsons is my favourite television programme of all time*

*as long as I pretend it ended before the year 2000.

Yes, it's fair to say The Simpsons' classic years came to an end around the year I was born. 1997 saw the premiere of such classic episodes as 'The Itchy & Scratchy & Poochie Show', 'Homer's Phobia', and 'Grade School Confidential'. It also saw the premiere of 'Homer's Enemy', a darkly funny and self-referential episode that some people consider the start of the decline (I'm not one of them; the twisted tale of Frank 'Grimey' Grimes is one of the most transgressive stories the show ever told). From there, each season got progressively worse, reaching mediocrity by Season 13 and hitting an all-time low during the HD era. It's astonishing to think a show as beloved and iconic as The Simpsons has been declining in quality for twenty years now - twice as long as the classic years lasted.

While America's favourite yellow family still has loyal viewers, it's fair to say the audience has decreased steadily. Ten years ago, the show averaged around seven million viewers in the US. Today, that number has dropped to below three million. Streaming and online services may have taken some of the audience, but even taking that into account, modern Simpsons has lost a hell of a lot of viewers. Personally, I haven't regularly watched the antics of Homer and family in nearly fifteen years; once the HD era kicked, any interest I had in the show went out the window. The animation was flat and boring, the voice acting was disinterested, and the stories grew increasingly tedious and repetitive. Truthfully, I couldn't even tell you the last modern Simpsons episode I watched.

All of which brings me back to my original question. Should The Simpsons keep going for years to come?

Surprisingly, I think my answer is still yes.

Putting aside the fact that The Simpsons is still worth more than sense dictatses, I'm also just not sure I want to live in a world without it. No matter how mediocre it gets, there's still something comforting about knowing Bart and Lisa Simpson are still on TV. This is a show that's been on television since 1989. I was born with The Simpsons. Raised on The Simpsons. Got through my awkward teenage years with The Simpsons (admittedly, that wasn't the main activity that got me through my awkward teenage years). The thought of it one day ending still seems impossible.

The future of The Simpsons is far from certain. Will Disney continue to produce it once they've taken over Fox and achieved Hank Scorpio-style world domination? Will the cast still be able to do the voices in a few more years? Julie Kavner is so croaky she's barely audible these days. Now that they've reached thirty seasons, how many more milestones are they prepared to hit? Forty seasons? One-thousand episodes? The last show still being produced on Earth before global warming wipes us out in (insert terrifyingly-soon year here)?

Way back in 2002, the episode 'Gump Roast' ended with the song 'They'll Never Stop the Simpsons', which featured Marge becoming a robot and Bart owning a bear. While the writers haven't quite scraped those barrels, we've had Moe owning a talking dish cloth and a bizarre return to Kamp Krusty, so who knows just how many more stories the writers can squeeze out of everyone's favourite yellow family? I won't be watching, but I'm fully behind The Simpsons carrying on infinitum. After all, in life there are only three uncertainties: Death, taxes, and Homer Simpson injuring himself under wacky circumstances.