'The Simpsons' turns 700 episodes old Sunday

FOX(LOS ANGELES) -- Sunday's episode of The Simpsons marks its 700th, further cementing Matt Groening's animated creation as the the longest-running scripted series in TV history.

The show was recently renewed for seasons 33 and 34, which would bring the total number of episodes to 757 by 2023. But could it crack 1,000 episodes? At that question, executive producer and showrunner Al Jean laughed, considering it would take another 11 years to reach that milestone. 

"We’re going to definitely do 757," Jean told Variety. "I wouldn’t say that’s the end but I don't know how much further we can go."

However, with reboots of shows like Frasier and even Beavis and Butt-Head on the horizon, Jean allows anything is possible. "As soon as they cancel us, they’ll reboot us," he predicted. "I'm confident, after I'm gone, there'll be some sort of Simpsons coming. It's too ubiquitous to think that it'll just disappear."

The Simpsons episode 700, "Manger Things" -- which kicks off with a Bill Plympton-animated take on the show's weekly "couch gag" -- debuts Sunday night at 9 p.m. on Fox.

By Stephen Iervolino
Copyright © 2021, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.