Happy 400th, Homer

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Happy 400th, Homer
by Natalie Finn
Fri, 18 May 2007

And to think, Homer once worried that he wouldn't live to see his children die. But here he is, clocking in at 400.

The Simpsons' 399th and 400th episodes air Sunday on Fox, starting at 8 p.m., and the yellow-skinned patriarch, not to mention his blue-haired wife and spiky-headed children, is none the worse for wear.

Over the course of 18 seasons, with at least one more in the works, the 23-time Emmy winner has become both a mainstream hit and a cult classic, pulling in millions of viewers and attracting the sort of fanatical attention to detail that would make any Trekker proud.

The animated sitcom—only the fourth scripted prime-time series in history to reach the 400-episode mark—has spawned reams of episode guides, trivia books, academic studies and treatises on The Simpsons' influence on television, language, philosophy and pop culture in general. And speaking of the national lexicon, "D'oh!" made it into the Oxford English Dictionary in 2001. All told, the franshise has generated a reported $1 billion in revenue.

Plenty has also been written about why this dysfunctional yet inseparable family of five has had such staying power, especially as audiences' attention spans shorten and it becomes increasingly difficult to keep a sitcom on the air for one season, let alone 19.

The Simpsons hasn't made Fox a ratings winner on Sunday nights lately, averaging 8.7 million viewers this season, but more than half of that audience is made up of the coveted 18-49-year-old demographic.

Producers are betting that the town of Springfield has enough juice left to populate a feature film, as well. The Simpsons Movie, the only 2-D film slated for release this year, lands in theaters July 27, long enough after the arrival of Shrek, pirates and Spidey to be a potential hit.

"Our show is parody of what we see in life," supervising director Matt Kirkland told Animation World Magazine recently. "Life keeps changing and moving on. There's always new ideas for us to parody."

More than 90 writers have sit in for The Simpsons over the years to keep the jokes fresh and the series' trademark edge sharp.

Plus, being a cartoon, The Simpsons has been able to get away with more than any live-action show—Homer's eyes crusting over after Lasik surgery, Marge flipping her Canyonero to save her family from a pack of charging rhinos, Mr. Burns having every disease known to man and declaring himself "indestructible"—while still turning an eerily accurate mirror on modern politics, media, celebrity culture, religion, education, economics, family dynamics and every current event in between.

"I love the style that we stumbled into, this high-velocity pacing that allowed us to do every kind of comedy we could think of, from the most highfalutin' literary references to sub-Three Stooges physical abuse," creator Matt Groening told USA Today.

And, of course, The Simpsons, which premiered in 1989, can also boast the most impressive celebrity guest list of any scripted series, a roster comprising hundreds of iconic names from film, television, music, sports and the arts.

For instance, The Krusty the Clown Show would have been canceled for sure back in season four if Lisa hadn't been able to assemble Johnny Carson, Bette Midler, Luke Perry, Barry White, Hugh Hefner and the Red Hot Chili Peppers to fete that crotchety old clown.

On tap for this celebratory weekend is "24 Seconds," a 24-inspired episode (love that Fox synergy) featuring the vocal contributions of Kiefer Sutherland as Jack Bauer and Mary Lynn Rajskub as Chloe O'Brian, and "You Kent Always Say What You Want," in which Springfield's very own Kent Brockman gets in trouble for uttering a swear word on TV. Number 400 features Ludacris as Luda-Crest, a bacteria-fighting tube of toothpaste.