Longest running scripted show in TV history? Only in America, sorry Xeni. The Simpsons started in 1989, Coronation Street started in 1960 and has run every week (generally 2 or 3 times) since then.
Is it actually a travel inside Homer’s brain or Homer’s body?
Is he thinking about his whole body or they actually traveled across all the organs?
Also, the long-running Japanese cartoon Sazae-san has been going since 1969.
Soaps count as TV shows, right? General Hospital and Days of our Lives have been on since the 60s.
So many superlatives are required to give that title to the Simpsons - Coronation Street, The Wonderful World of Disney, Sooty, Doctor Who and SNL would all seem to be much heavier competitors.
Whenever you see that said about The Simpsons, what they mean is that it’s the longest running PRIMETIME TV show. I don’t know why they always assume people know that.
Much of it seems to be his stomach – which seems appropriate for Homer’s brain…
Except that Coronation Street is a primetime tv show as well and has been since it started in 1960
Even Australia’s Neighbours has been running for longer, in prime time to boot.
The Simpsons only wins at longest running prime time scripted series in the United States.
Actually, not even in USA. There’re a few soaps that have been running longer. Y&R for example.
On another note, in my opinion the scenes in The Simpsons that are hallucinations or dreams are frequently some of the most magical and best pieces of animation you’ll see anywhere.
Homer falling asleep at the wheel is probably my favourite minute or so of animation ever.
The Simpsons has aired since December 1989 for 555 episodes to date. It has run for more seasons than Gunsmoke, but that show aired 635 episodes (a tally The Simpsons will not break unless it runs into Season 27). Lassie also ran for less seasons, but aired 571 episodes.
But these pale in comparison to some other scripted shows:
Coronation Street has been running in the UK since December 1960 (8,371 episodes).
Sazae-san (an animated series) has been running in Japan since 1969, with over 6,900 episodes.
Neighbours has been running in Australia since March 1985 (6,870 episodes).
Zenigata Heiji (a police show) ran from 1958 to 2006 (with breaks) in Japan for over 1,000 episodes.
The original Dr Who ran from 1963 to 1989 in the UK, and with the new series included produced 800 episodes.
Guiding Light ran 1952-2009
I think the missing qualifiers are “primetime American sitcom”
I also wouldn’t call that running, nowadays it’s more like shambling.
There’s also the German Tatort, running since 1970 with around 900 episodes.
Darn tootin’.
I don’t suppose anyone’s made a compilation of such…?
There’s this list: http://www.erowid.org/psychoactives/humor/humor_simpsons1.shtml
Man, first the Chomet version and now this. Kinda makes me wish I could be arsed to download the show from somewhere once a week.
I’d say that the short animation that served as a prototype (“Chick”) was like 10 times better. If Simpsons resort to official fan-art, maybe you’d better off following the authors of said fan-art and not the Simpsons.
