After 37 Seasons, ‘The Simpsons’ Still Has 1 Advantage No Other TV Show Can Match
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Published Feb 23, 2026, 5:41 PM EST
Billy is a Senior Features Author for Collider. Having written over 300 articles in just over a year, Billy regularly covers the biggest TV shows and films releasing while also analysing some of the most underrated properties that may slip your attention.
Having studied for an MA in Screenwriting at UAL in 2023, Billy honed his writing skills and also developed his ability to critique the work of other creative minds.
Before that, Billy studied politics at the University of Nottingham, which helped him to bring nuanced and scholarly analysis to the frameworks within which filmmakers and writers have framed their thematic messages.
Without question, The Simpsons is the most iconic animated sitcom of all time, with a run of over 35 years, drawing in different generations of audiences and constantly adapting to changing landscapes while never losing its core comedic style. Some may prefer Family Guy or Bob's Burgers, as is their right, but it cannot be ignored that these shows would not exist without The Simpsons' trailblazing success. Despite the exponential increase in animated sitcoms since The Simpsons' debut in 1989, Matt Groening's show has always felt unique, beyond the art style that is now instantly recognizable, and critics and audiences have always scratched their heads trying to pin down just what it is that The Simpsons has that other shows cannot replicate. During an interview with Collider's Tania Hussain, Mike Price, executive producer on The Simpsons, gave his answer about what makes The Simpsons such a one-of-a-kind show, and it reflects the show's depth and versatility, arguably giving it cause to go on forever.
During his sit-down with Collider, which covered a myriad of topics, Price was asked, "Is there one honest thing you think that the show does that no other show has been able to do?" and while he went into detail, his essential answer was that “we’ve been on for long enough, and have so many great characters,” which allows The Simpsons to take entire episodes to focus on characters "who, on any other show, would be the fourteenth character on the cast list." Price used Kirk Van Houten (Hank Azaria) and Mayor Quimby (Dan Castellaneta), and even Principal Skinner (Harry Shearer), as key examples of when an episode has focused on the backstories of characters who have mostly played a supporting, comedic role in the past, exploring things from Kirk's bipolar disorder to Quimby's ancestry.
Bart Simpson said "eat my shorts," and the rest was history.
Price's answer is incredibly illuminating because of how it exemplifies the depth of characters that The Simpsons can develop compared to other shows. While most sitcoms will have a core cast of characters and rarely venture out of them when creating intricate motivations and backstories, The Simpsons can do so naturally, as audiences are already familiar with the characters enough, making a deeper look at them feel earned after so many seasons. In doing so, The Simpsons adds a new layer to these characters that recontextualizes them for the audience, making something that is old feel new again. In the case of Kirk, for example, the most recent Season finale, "Homer? A Cracker Bro?" The Simpsons took a character often seen as a soft-spoken butt of a joke, and made him incredibly sympathetic and complex, showing both his manic side when his crumbless cracker business takes off, and his depressed side once his mania subsides.
Mike Price's Answer Explains 'The Simpsons's Unparalleled Longevity
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When it comes to deciding how long a show can run, the general measure is how much story it has to tell. If it is a focused, narrative-based drama, then once the plot is finished, so is the show, with Chernobyl, Game of Thrones, and Breaking Bad being examples of stories that, even when stretched out over several seasons, have a specific end goal in mind. For sitcoms, the plug is often pulled when no more comedy can be squeezed from the cast of characters the show originally set up, leading to more seasons, but also a risk of the show plodding on longer than it should.
In The Simpsons' case, the sitcom has been a masterpiece at adapting to find different angles to explore, and Price's answer reflects this longevity. If the show was still focusing solely on Homer (Dan Castellaneta) and his family, there is only a finite amount of story and development that can be squeezed from them. But by allowing Homer to be an audience surrogate for a side character’s story, like he is for Kirk’s bipolar disorder, it gives him something new to do, and opens the audience up to learning more about the side characters.
Mike Price's interview with Collider revealed many things about the behind-the-scenes of the legendary sitcom, but, for fans, perhaps the best takeaway is the fact that there seems to be no end in sight for the creatives behind The Simpsons. The storytelling is still finding exciting ways to tackle characters and breathe new life into the show. With a sequel to The Simpsons Movie in the works and three more seasons to come, the question of when The Simpsons will end feels increasingly like "if" rather than "when".
Release Date
December 17, 1989
Network
FOX
Directors
Steven Dean Moore, Mark Kirkland, Rob Oliver, Michael Polcino, Mike B. Anderson, Chris Clements, Wes Archer, Timothy Bailey, Lance Kramer, Nancy Kruse, Matthew Faughnan, Chuck Sheetz, Rich Moore, Jeffrey Lynch, Pete Michels, Susie Dietter, Raymond S. Persi, Carlos Baeza, Dominic Polcino, Lauren MacMullan, Michael Marcantel, Neil Affleck, Swinton O. Scott III, Jennifer Moeller
Writers
J. Stewart Burns, Michael Price, Brian Kelley, Bill Odenkirk, Dan Vebber, Kevin Curran, Stephanie Gillis, Dan Castellaneta, Deb Lacusta, Billy Kimball, Jessica Conrad, Cesar Mazariegos, Daniel Chun, Jennifer Crittenden, Conan O'Brien, Valentina Garza, Elisabeth Kiernan Averick, Christine Nangle, Broti Gupta, Loni Steele Sosthand, Megan Amram, Bob Kushell, David Isaacs, David Mandel
Image via FOX
Image via Fox
English (US) ·