Oh yes, "The Simpsons"--How on Earth Do They Do It? You Mean They Are Still Making New Episodes??!!

As far as I know, the Simpsons are still going strong, all over the world, --a minor miracle.

In truth, I have not watched any episodes in a while, but not that far back I watched it all the time--  I was amazed after all these years it could still get to me.

An awful lot has been written about Matt Groening and the other creators of their show...people like Hank Azaria, one of the voice actors, appear regularly on late night TV...

I don't want to try and do a big historical story about this show, because so much has been written about it already.

I never saw the original version of the redoubtable Springfield family on the Tracy Ullman show...I just found myself watching it on TV one night in an early episode where Lisa lectures Bart about the "Six stages of a crisis' ( which was very common new pop psychology then, people talked about it on TV with a perfectly straight face) --and how Bart was still "in denial" about his parents being on the edge of getting divorced.

That did it, something that witty and intelligent and up to date on  a CARTOON show on prime time television! I was hooked.

Then all the wonderful characters they introduced so fast, from Apu at the Kwik-E-Mart and the Police Chief Wiggam and his super-nerd son Ralph, Bart's best friend Milhouse, Principal Skinner,  Krusty the Clown, Reverend Lovejoy and the rest...this is the only link/internet information I will give, it has the incredible cavalcade of characters and the gifted voice actors who play them

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_The_Simpsons_charactershttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_The_Simpsons_characters

It seems like I catch episodes of 'Family Guy" sometimes these days, but that is about it ( and of course that reminds me of the one wonderful "couch gag" that ends with the Simpsons finding their places on the couched usurped by the characters of "Family Guy")-- ( speaking of "usurped"-- I loved it when bully Nelson Muntz came out of nowhere on a bicycle and mocked Ned Flanders that since Homer had had a momentary conversion to being a real do-gooder, it let Nelson  say how " You've been USURPED!!" and then reappearing two seconds later to repeat that same taunt to the hapless Flanders).

We keep hearing how THIS season is definitely the final season and then somehow there is another one...unless the end has come in reality and I am just the last to know it.

As I noted, since the animation of "the Simpsons" is pretty elemental, it is the talent of the writers and the voice actors that make the show...(though the visual gags, though sometimes poorly realized when you think about it, are usually hilarious)...

Well, I will be watching Sunday night and find out what has happened..actually I guess I will find out before then because there is usually a posting on Facebook that I see that tells what is coming ( that reminds me of how I have "liked" various links on FB and then cannot remember when I did it)...

Even in re-runs, the Simpsons still rock! I may have just reached a point where I just don't need the show as much as I once did...but thanks for the memories, Simpsons!!