'The Simpsons' celebrates its 500th episode this Sunday

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The Simpsons are evicted from Springfield and join an off-the-grid community in "At Long Last Leave," the milestone 500th episode of The Simpsons.

NORTH HOLLYWOOD, Calif. - Sunday's 500th episode of "The Simpsons" has a sobering premise.

"The townsfolk of Springfield hold a meeting and decided to vote the family out of town," explains executive producer and longtime showrunner Al Jean. Why?

"They're sick of the Simpsons."

That doesn't seem to be the case outside of Springfield. The series, which is in its 23rd season, is still the No. 1 show on Global Sunday nights and among the Top 10 shows in all of television on both sides of the border among 18- to 34-year-old viewers.

Over the years, "The Simpsons" has taken many shots at Canada. Homer once referred to our nation as "America Junior," saying he didn't want to go "down there." On a memorable visit to Toronto, the clan visited Canadian tourist attractions such as "Pair-o-mounties" Studios. A Toronto bus shelter was identified as the "birthplace of Paul Shaffer" — the Thunder Bay, Ont.-native who is David Letterman's bandleader.

Another time, violence at the Springfield baseball park was brought to a halt by the playing of O Canada. The Simpsons also visited Winnipeg — where Homer and Grandpa were trying to smuggle cheap medication — as well as Vancouver during the 2010 Winter Olympic Games.

Many of the jibes were inflicted by Canadians who have worked on the series, including longtime writers and producers Joel Cohen and Tim Long. Long, who grew up in Exeter, Ont., has written for the series since 1999. Some of his more memorable episodes include "The Bart of War" as well as the mockumentary-style "Behind the Laughter."

Cohen also wrote dozens of episodes, including "Today I am a Clown," in which notorious children's entertainer Krusty finally has his Bar Mitzvah.

Director David Silverman, who has been with "The Simpsons" ever since it started out as short animated segments on "The Tracey Ulmann Show" back in the late '80s, walked critics through a tour of the series' North Hollywood animation studios last summer. He says several graduates of Ontario's Sheridan College have been part of the animation staff over the years. Howy Parkins, originally from Caledon, Ont., was an early contributor.

Many Canadian-born actors have also been featured on the series. The late Brantford, Ont.-native Phil Hartman appeared in over 50 episodes, often as recurring characters Lionel Hutz, a shifty lawyer, and has-been actor Troy McClure. In deference to Hartman, who was murdered in 1998, nobody was ever hired to speak for those characters after his passing.

"The Simpsons" have broken just about every television longevity record. The previous longest-running TV comedy, "The Adventures Of Ozzie And Harriet," clocked 435 episodes through the 1950s and into the '60s. The series has passed "Gunsmoke" — TV's longest-running scripted series — in terms of number of seasons (the western did 20) but not yet in total episodes. Back when more episodes were made each year, "Gunsmoke" accumulated a total of 630.

That's one record that might be tough to break. Fox has renewed the series for two more seasons, which will bring the total episodes to 555 over 25 seasons. The last round of contract negotiations with the key voice talent was trickier than usual, with the studio and network demanding pay cuts in order to maintain profitability.

Characters on "The Simpsons" never age, although time is catching up with some of the key people involved in the show. In an early episode, it was revealed that Bart was born around 1980; creator Matt Groening says there are people who are now animating the show that were born after that date.

Harry Shearer, who does the voices of Mr. Burns, Waylan Smithers, Ned Flanders, Rev. Lovejoy and many others, is 68. In another contract or two, he'll be as old as Mr. Burns.

Jean, 51, who was part of the original writing staff on the series, has seen the show span from classic cell animation to today’s high-definition standards.

"One reason the show's been on so long is that we really don't have a lot of things that are of the moment," he says. While references to popular music stars or sports personalities abound, the use of cellphones or CD players are kept to a minimum.

Jean admits the temptation to repeat storylines is there after 500 episodes, but vows to guard against recycling stories.

"We never want people saying we've seen this before," he says.