I'll Never Report On More Important News

Wojr passes along news of great importance...

Vulture has learned that Fox has renewed The Simpsons for a 23rd season of animated adventures, taking it through its landmark 500th episode (specifically, it takes the show up to episode 515)... Longtime Simpsons show-runner Al Jean, while psyched about the renewal, said he can't claim to be the most excited one about the good news: "The happiest of all was the unicorn who pokes in all our DVDs," Jean told us. "He's getting extra hay out of this."


Fox's last Simpsons renewal, which was for two seasons, came back in February 2009. The show needs the extra lead time owing to its long production timetable, and with the new pickup, it will have enough episodes to air though at least spring 2012; Jean expects the 500th episode to be broadcast in February 2012... (For TV geeks keeping track, Lassie and Gunsmoke are the only prime-time shows that have produced more episodes, with 588 and 635, respectively.)


...For now, the next big event on The Simpsons calendar is the Thanksgiving-night broadcast premiere of The Simpsons Movie. Jean said he'll be watching to see just how Fox's standards and practices department deals with three major gags he says "we wouldn't be able to get away with on the show." The naughty trio: Homer giving a mob the middle finger, Bart exposing his penis, and Marge using the word "goddamn." He's especially curious considering how Fox has gotten more prudish about cartoon obscenity over the years: For example, they can no longer show Homer's bare rear end. "There was a period where we could show Homer's ass," Jean says.

There's several ways to go with this, but we'll refer to one of the classic episodes of the show for the following two quotes... first we have the Simpsons taking square aim at Lassie back in the early 1990's (they knew what the future held) when Smithers uttered this line at Burns' birthday party...

Smithers: "I have some sad news to report: a small puppy, not unlike Lassie, was just run over in the parking lot. [pause as audience gasps] And now it's time for the comedy stylings of Homer Simpson!"

Next, after getting beaten down for opting to moon the audience at said party, Homer promises Lisa he'll "never show his bare butt in public again." She's reluctant to believe him, and moments later, the truth comes out...

Bart: "Dad, I know you're discouraged, but please don't deny the world your fat can."
Homer: "Don't worry, boy, he'll be ready for your Aunt Selma's birthday."
Lisa: "I knew it."

Happy 500, guys.