Move Over, `Flintstones' -- `The Simpsons' Is Moving In As TV's Longest-Running Cartoon

Don't have a cow, man, but "The Simpsons" has eclipsed "The Flintstones" as TV's longest-running prime-time cartoon.

Ay, carumba!

Bart Simpson, the animated menace who once boasted of being an "Underachiever and Proud of It," celebrated his sixth anniversary as a weekly Fox series last Sunday, tying the six-year run of "The Flintstones."

No way, man!

"The Simpsons," which premiered as a weekly series Jan. 14, 1990, remain Fox's highest-rated comedy series (No. 62 of 130 shows), while repeats of Bart's antics rank high among all nationally syndicated shows.

That's no surprise to millions of loyal Simpsons fans who have watched TV's delightfully dysfunctional family mature into the most consistently funny comedy series on the air today.

Given today's TV choices, "The Simpsons" are "no problemo," as Homer Simpson would say.

"In 1990, it was quite shocking to have a sassy kid on TV," says Bill Oakley, who is executive producer of "The Simpsons" along with his writing partner, Josh Weinstein. "Now every kid on TV is sassy and every family is dysfunctional."

As Simpson would say: "D'Oh!"

"Pretty tame" alternative

"It's amazing that behavior once considered outrageous isn't so outrageous anymore," Oakley says. "You can now hear profanity at 10 p.m., so hearing Bart say `Eat my shorts' or talk back to his teacher isn't so shocking today. I guess America has changed around `The Simpsons.' "

Those who objected to cartoonist Matt Groening's creation six years ago may concede that "The Simpsons" provide an entertaining alternative to cable cartoons or the adult sexual themes on such 8 p.m. network shows as "Friends," "Roseanne," "Wings," "Mad About You" and "Ellen."

"When you consider `Beavis and Butt-head' and `Ren & Stimpy,' `The Simpsons' look pretty tame," says David Mirkin, series consultant and former executive producer.

"People have found that `The Simpsons' is really a positive portrayal of a kid who's not really well-adjusted going through life," Mirkin says. "He doesn't always fit in, and yet he gets what he deserves."

Nancy Cartwright, who gives bratty Bart his voice (and attitude), says "The Simpsons" are "much more accepted" today than their dubious debut as a series in 1990, when some school principals banned Bart T-shirts from their premises.

"Those groups are always going to be there, sort of like planet Earth. I just don't happen to agree with them," says Cartwright, who won an "Annie" award in November for outstanding voice-over work from the International Animated Film Society. "The Simpsons" also received an Annie for outstanding achievement in an animated TV program.

Why people tune in

Those radical dudes who write and produce "The Simpsons" draw up a long list of reasons why the show is one of the brightest in the vast TV wasteland:

-- More laughs: While most sitcoms are limited to two acts and a few settings (the "Frasier" apartment, the "Cheers" bar, the "Roseanne" living room), animation gives "The Simpsons" unlimited settings beyond the modest two-story home of Homer, Marge, Lisa, Maggie and Bart.

"It's unbelievable, because you can go anywhere and do anything," says Mirkin, who wrote the Jan. 14 episode about nuke plant boss Montgomery Burns joining Homer's bowling league.

-- More gems: Often, producers slyly chose familiar scenes from famous films - everything from "Citizen Kane" and "Rear Window" to "The Graduate" and "Thelma & Louise" - to get a laugh from adult viewers.

They also sweat over creating funny background signs that often go unnoticed. When Lisa Simpson attended college in a futuristic episode, she passed a huge, stately brick building called "Dr. and Mrs. Dre Auditorium." On her dorm wall was a poster for the "Rolling Stones' Steel Wheelchairs" tour.

"Sometimes we'll work on a `freeze-frame joke' for hours," Oakley says. "We're always trying to put in those layers, which makes multiple viewing fun. We know people like watching a show the second time, when they know what the plot is, so they can enjoy looking for stuff in the background."

-- More characters: Versatile voice performers Dan Castellaneta, Hank Azaria and Harry Shearer each contribute dozens of voices, giving "The Simpsons" more than 60 characters.

And the town of Springfield has an uncanny knack of hosting the world's biggest celebrities: Michelle Pfeiffer, Ringo Starr, George Harrison, Meryl Streep, Glenn Close, Tony Bennett, Ken Griffey Jr., Johnny Carson, Bette Midler, Aerosmith, Spinal Tap, Susan Sarandon, Sting, Bob Hope, Linda Ronstadt, James Brown, Elizabeth Taylor, James Taylor and James Earl Jones.

-- Just more of more: All of this means that the typical Simpsons script "is at least twice as dense, and sometimes almost three times as dense" as an average for a 22-minute situation comedy script, says Mirkin, who has written for "Newhart," "It's Garry Shandling's Show" and Chris Elliott's "Get A Life."

That's also why it costs about twice as much to make an episode ($1.5 million for each "Simpsons," compared to about $800,000 for other sitcoms), and takes up to 10 months to complete a show. Oakley and Weinstein are writing scripts now for broadcast next fall while tinkering with dialogue for episodes to air next month. They work 15 hours a day, 51 weeks a year, while most sitcom producers take off April through July.

All of these factors explain why "The Simpsons" has tied "The Flintstones" for years on the air. However, Homer and Marge won't surpass Fred and Wilma's total of 166 episodes until fall. ("The Simpsons" will finish the TV season in May with 155 original broadcasts.)

Yabba-dabba do, dude!

"We'll keep going"

So how much longer can "The Simpsons" go on?

"We have 60 characters in town that we can keep going to for stories," Mirkin says. "As long as it's fresh and fun to us, we'll keep going. And as long as it's a hit in syndication - there's a lot of money to be made in syndication! - we'll keep going."

After all, Bart hasn't aged a day in six years. He's still the class clown in Mrs. Krabappel's fourth-grade class.

"I love the show and I want to keep doing it," says Cartwright. "I think the show can go on as long as (executive producer) Jim Burrows and Fox wants to keep it on the air - and as long as the public likes it enough."

As Bart says: "Watch it!"

----------------------- STARS VISIT SPRINGFIELD -----------------------

Add Bob Newhart, Donald Sutherland and golfer Tom Kite to the list of "The Simpsons" guest stars.

During sweeps month, Kite appears in an episode where Homer learns to play golf (Feb. 4); Newhart plays himself when Krusty the Clown is audited by the IRS (Feb. 11); and Sutherland plays a historian researching the city's founder (Feb. 18). The Cincinnati Enquirer