¡Ay caramba! It may soon be time to say good-bye to 'The Simpsons.' Edge of the seat contract negotiations are nothing new for the show, but now Fox has reportedly upped the ante, telling cast and crew to settle or lose their jobs.

According to 'The Wrap,' Fox has said that if no agreement is reached in the ongoing contract dispute the show will be cancelled at the end of the current 23rd season.

And, even if the dispute is settled before tomorrow's deadline, the network will only air one more season of the show.

It's not uncommon to watch an episode of 'South Park' and wonder, how the heck did they get away with that? What would it take for the show to get censored? Well, it happens every so often, and Sunday, the biggest, longest-running cartoon franchise on TV showed 'South Park' its support.

In the opening credits of last night's 'Simpsons,' Bart wrote "South Park -- We'd stand beside you if we weren't so scared" on the chalkboard (check out the Hollywood Reporter's Live Feed blog for the pic). 'The Simpsons' has taken its share of swipes at political and cultural targets in the past. So what could make Matt Groening and company so scared?

(S21E18) Homer Simpson and Clancy Wiggum becoming BFFs should have been comedy gold; instead, this episode of 'The Simpsons' was a colossal bore. It seems like everything hilarious you can do with the Springfield police -- high-speed car chases, putting squirrels down your pants for the purpose of gambling -- has already been done. They never even go out for donuts!

(S21E17) A pleasant enough episode of 'The Simpsons' made better by the presence of C. Montgomery Burns. Even Smithers upped his game, bringing the funny this week. The usual set-up of nonsense events leading to the real point of the episode involved the factory workers putting on a stage production for Mr. Burns' amusement at his mansion, followed by the boys getting drunk in his wine cellar and wrecking his art gallery.

What followed was an unexpected trip to jail, and a completely random side story involving Lisa, Bart and an ant farm. Oh, and lest we forget, Santa's Little Helper had a huge role to play in this particular bonding experience.

(S21E15) Our overly litigious society comes under fire in this week's installment of 'The Simpsons,' when a first kiss leads to zero tolerance on touching of any kind at the school. The new policy led to some pretty hilariously awkward moments later in the episode.

Bart learned the complexities of women and relationships while Lisa got a major boost in her self-esteem from Flotus1, a commenter on her gardening blog who was revealed to be someone everyone knows: the First Lady of the United States. The episode focused almost entirely on the school, and was incredibly entertaining throughout; definitely one of the strongest installments of the season so far.

So many of the gags and little jokes worked, like Lisa's teacher deriding her overachiever tendencies, Nelson taking a blind kid under his wing and even Bart and Nikki's discussion on proper vampires.

(S21E14) I bet the newspaper industry was thrilled with this episode. While we're living in an era where the daily print newspaper is on the decline, we learned that in the future, people will get six daily editions of the newspaper -- and yet the fashions of the 1950s and early 1960s will still be all the rage, including dutiful wives and chain-smoking.

The opening and closing segments of this episode, which only tangentially had anything to do with the real plot of the episode, reminded me a lot of the old Warner Bros. shorts where they would take a look into a speculative future based on 1940s ideals and values. This interlude was every bit as fun as those, and I found myself disappointed when it ended as a video shown in Mrs. Krabappel's class that even she didn't understand.

Once we got into the meat of the episode, it actually touched on an issue that's pretty serious for most parents: what happens when the two of you disagree on how to deal with a child disciplinary issue.

'Futurama' fans rejoice -- it will soon be time to return to ol' New New York.

Entertainment Weekly brings news that Philip J. Fry, Turanga Leela, Professor Hubert J. Farnsworth and, of course, Bender Bending Rodriguez will return in brand new episodes on Comedy Central this summer. The network will air the first of 12 new episodes on Thursday, June 24 at 10PM.

I've been holding this interview for almost six months, but I think it was worth it. When I was in Pasadena last summer for the TCA press tour (whose winter edition I'll be leaving for on Friday morning... eep!), I spoke to Morgan Spurlock about the 20th anniversary film he was making about The Simpsons. FOX has finally decided to air that film, entitled The Simpsons 20th Anniversary Special -- In 3-D! On Ice!, on January 10, along with the venerable cartoon's 450th episode.

Spurlock was just in the initial stages of filming the documentary when I talked to him, but his views on the show, how it and the perception of it has changed over the years, and some of the interesting things he learned about the show made for a fun interview. Since I didn't know how long the movie was going to be, I start the talk by expressing some surprise about its length.

(S21E09) You can always count on The Simpsons for a timely reference. Why it was only back in 1997 that Mitch Albom's Tuesdays with Morrie book came out, so it's high time we riff on it. Wait, that TV movie with Hank Azaria they referenced? That's more recent. 1999 recent!

449 episodes later, The Simpsons may no longer be the source for the most cutting edge humor, but at least they've reclaimed a lot of the heart this season that was missing early on. Next week is the big 450th episode celebration, which not-so-coincidentally is the week FOX has opted to celebrate officially the 20th anniversary of the stalwart comedy.

For those tired of Seth MacFarlane dominating the Sunday lineup, next week, it's a reversal of fortunes, as The Simpsons is joined by an hour-long special and the only MacFarlane show to make the grade is his own version of a "traditional" family sitcom: The Cleveland Show.

(S21E07) Poor Wiccans, they're so misunderstood. And the three girls representing them weren't really representing Wicca so much as they were representing wayward teens looking for something to latch onto. That, and they probably think their own perceptions of Wicca make it out to be pretty "kewl."

Struggling for something to latch onto in a world that doesn't seem to understand you not only describes virtually every teenager in existence, but Lisa Simpson as well. A sweet intellect in a family of average to well-below-average intellects, Lisa has never fit in at home or at school. So, as long as she can be fairly certain that there's no actual witchcraft going on -- because that would be too scary -- she's in.

(S21E06) This was a pretty well-structured episode, in that it might even give Bart some hope and direction for his own life. Who knew that Skinner and Willie were once cool and beloved, and that Willie was the swim teacher for Springfield Elementary? Okay, as most of you know I've been out of touch with The Simpsons for years prior to this anniversary season, so if this was already revealed, it's new to me.

The bulk of the episode dealt with Bart learning that there was a prankster before him, and one who was even his superior. So of course, Bart seeks out this 19-year old malcontent to learn from the master and come back stronger and better than ever. Too bad, as Lisa is so quick to point out, they're both still losers.

If you're one of the people who think 'The Simpsons' jumped the shark years ago, you clearly didn't realize the longest-running sitcom in history isn't just about random acts of funny -- it can win you free stuff, and save lives. Cowabunga, dude.

Fox is willing to bribe you to tune into the network this week with a 'Simpsons'-themed TV scavenger hunt commemorating the show's 20th birthday. From Tues., Nov. 9, to Friday, Nov. 13, Fox will be stuffing 'Simpsons'-related clues within its primetime programming. And they're not making it easy, as the clues won't be animated or obvious -- the network promises they could be "anything!"

Luckily, The New York Times has some tips, noting that some shows will mention the name of 'Simpsons' characters, others will have cameos from the cast, and one will incorporate 'Simpsons' licensed products into a plot line. But 'Glee' fans (or foes) can relax. The show won't feature any clues, as the episodes were shot before the hunt was planned by Fox.

As part of the 20th anniversary celebrations, Fox is holding a contest in which fans can create a character online that will appear in an upcoming episode of The Simpsons. Entries can be submitted on The Simpsons website (although apparently not yet) and should include such information as name, age, appearance, occupation and catchphrase ("D'oh!").

I suspect that all entries will be the property of Fox upon submission. Since the show has been around for so long, it must be tough to invent new, unique and interesting characters so Fox is having the fans do it.

Of course, everyone could always just submit themselves as a candidate. It would be a little like that "Simpsonize yourself" craze from not too long ago. So many celebrities have made appearances on the show over the years, it would be nice if a non-celebrity, the sort that kept the show in business, would have a cameo.

(S21E03) "Call me a killjoy, but I think that because this is not to my taste, no one else should be able to enjoy it!" --Marge Simpson on Ultimate Punching

I'm not a fan of Ultimate Fighting, though I think that other people should be able to watch it, if they're so inclined. But it is an all too common stance among watchdog groups, including mothers, sympathetic school officials and the clergy, as Nelson so kindly pointed out. Of course, this has been going on for years, but it was still a clever enough send-up of the problem.

Maybe it's because I don't find Marge to be one of the funnier characters on the show and this episode focused on her, so there weren't as many funny moments in the main storylines. Luckily, there were plenty of side characters and moments to spotlight.

If you fondly remember watching the first Simpsons Movie hoping that the sequel would bring you equal amounts of life affirming excitement, keep hoping.

Matt Groening and Al Jean said an interview with Morgan Spurlock, the Super Size Me star and director hired for the show's big anniversary extravaganza, that they have no plans to start doing another Simpsons movie anytime soon.

They didn't rule out the possibility of another movie, but it certainly won't be in the foreseeable future. The pair said the process for the first movie was so frustrating that they couldn't fathom even starting a second one without some kind of heavy duty anti-psychotic medication.