So how long is too long when it comes to series television? Is 23 seasons too long? Should 'The Simpsons' finally be put to rest? Whatever your feelings, they don't matter to Fox, which has renewed the long-running animated sitcom for a 23rd season.

With this renewal, the show will be able to hit the very rare 500-episode mark, approaching 'Lassie' and 'Gunsmoke' for the record of aired episodes. This might be one of Fox's goals: Imagine the feather in the network's cap from owning the longest-running television program ever. Mind you, to beat that record, we're looking at an additional five to six seasons of the show.

Seriously, what else can be done with the show? This family has done everything. They've traveled in space. They've traveled in time and dimensions (thanks to the Halloween episodes). They've parodied everything there is to parody. After creating their own formula, they've become formulaic (although apparently the creators have been banned from showing any of the characters nude, a staple of earlier episodes).

That being said, the show is still enjoyable to watch. If formulas didn't work so well, many televisions shows we know and love would have died out long ago. While there have been many episodic duds along the way, the creators behind 'The Simpsons' can still find something new to satirize. It will probably last until the voice actors die of old age, and even then maybe not ('The Muppets' continued after Jim Henson, after all).

And even if there ever is a final episode of this series, it will probably be followed by a wave of nostalgia, which would then be followed by 'The Simpsons: The Next Generation.'