Eight hundred episodes, 37 seasons, and one four-fingered family that refuses to age.
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As The Simpsons hits a milestone few series have ever glimpsed this weekend, the architects behind Springfield are reflecting on the choices that turned crude 1987 shorts from The Tracey Ullman Show into a cultural juggernaut.
"We've done 800 episodes, and I'm really glad we didn't do a big overarching story," said Al Jean, executive producer and former showrunner.
"You always return to square one at the end of the show. And there's no question that was a big influence on the longevity."
For Matt Selman, the current showrunner, The Simpsons' refusal to age is a liberation that simultaneously raises questions about the weight of their long history: "Do these characters have the emotional memory of the 800 things that have happened to them? ... I don't really know the answer to that."
Meanwhile, show creator Matt Groening views reaching nearly four decades' worth of production as a triumph tinged with perfectionism.
"I've spent 38 years now trying to get them to draw the characters correctly," Groening said.
"We've got to figure out how to shift perspective and do it more cinematically and we're always trying to improve."
Episode 800, Irrational Treasure, airs on Sunday in the US.
Nancy Cartwright arrived at her 1987 audition expecting to read for Lisa Simpson. She had other ideas.
"Hi Matt. Nice to meet you. I was out there and I noticed that there's Lisa, that's fine, eight-year-old middle child, but then there's this Bart," Cartwright recalled saying.
"I'd kind of like to do him."
Groening agreed to the "switcheroo" immediately.
"She completely channeled him," he said.
Nearly four decades later, Cartwright notes that "there are still people that yet don't know that it's a woman that does the voice."
Lisa Simpson's defining characteristic emerged just as spontaneously. Animator David Silverman, who drew the original outline for the show's iconic opening sequence, recalled a production meeting where the middle Simpson child lacked a signature moment.
"We don't have a gag for Lisa, we have a gag for everybody else. What should we do for Lisa?" Silverman reflects.
"Jim (James L Brooks) said, 'What if she played the baritone saxophone? In fact, what if she played it really well? That could be her character, she could be the genius kid of the family that nobody appreciates.'"
The show's path to becoming a global institution was paved with early outrage. Groening remembers when Bart Simpson was deemed a threat to American classrooms - he relished every moment of it.
"That was the best move ever when the culture decided The Simpsons was too outrageous," Groening said.
"And if you wear a Bart Simpson 'Underachiever' T-shirt to school, you got kicked out. That was the best thing for us."
When Fox executives asked whether the show targeted kids or adults, Groening said the creative team made an immediate choice that defined everything that followed.
"We said it's for adults," he recalled.
"And that was the best instantaneous decision that we made because it meant that we could do a wide range of jokes."
Guest stars have become a hallmark of the series, from Michael Jackson to Lady Gaga to the Rolling Stones. Jackson's 1991 appearance in Stark Raving Dad came after he cold-called Groening.
"I was working late in my office at 10pm. My phone rang … 'Hi, this is Michael Jackson.' And I hung up because, you know, it was obviously a prank. And he called back, 'No, really, don't hang up,'" Groening recalled.
While the show secured the King of Pop in Season 3, one prestigious group has consistently declined invitations to Springfield.
"The ones that never said yes were US presidents and I don't think we're ever going to do that," Jean said.
However, they have made appearances. In a 2000 episode, Lisa famously inherits the presidency from "President Trump" - one of several times The Simpsons has been credited with having prophetic qualities.
Jean offered a simple explanation: "Well, the predictions are accidental. We're not from the future."
Groening's prediction for the show's future carries characteristic sarcasm.
"Well, I can tell you this because we are time travelers," Groening joked.
"The Simpsons will be on in a thousand years. Still on. Unfortunately, fans are going to say the show's been going downhill for the last 500 years."