Neverending Television

The Simpsons, 1989
What more is there to say? Now TV's longest-running animated series, longest-running comedy and — thanks to a Feb. 2009 renewal — soon to be the longest-running series ever, The Simpsons was the FOX network's first big hit. Developed from a series of shorts by cartoonist Matt Groening on The Tracy Ullmann Show, it is one of television's great satires, intelligently skewering American politics, society and pop culture through the travails of the yellow-skinned, four-fingered Simpson family. And while nowhere near as popular as it was during its peak in the '90s, the show has now become as comforting and reliable as the oldest of family members.

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