'The Simpsons' to air 450th episode on Sunday

In the opening of "The Simpsons" episode on Sunday night, Bart Simpson scribbles his 450th gag line on the school chalk board: "The world may end in 2012 but this show won't."

The longest running prime-time series in TV history celebrates 20 years Sunday night with the 450th episode.

Krusty the Clown falls in love with a singing princess (voiced by Anne Hathaway) and Homer is almost lured away from his job at the Springfield nuclear power plant. It's over doughnuts ("Is there anything they can't do?" to quote Homer).

The half-hour is not a "special" episode. It's about like the 449 preceding episodes: a mix of absurd gags and satirical jabs at American pop culture. It's also another display of goofball Homer's lovable stupidity.

It's followed by "The Simpsons 20th Anniversary Special in 3D on Ice," a gag title for a documentary by filmmaker Morgan Spurlock.

Spurlock, who once lived on a diet of only McDonald's food for his "Super Size Me" film, says he was amazed that the worldwide impact that "The Simpsons" has had.

"It has become multi-generational now," he said in a recent telephone interview. "It literally has transcended generations and is impacting a whole new group of people."

Some longtime fans grouse about how the show isn't has clever or as satirically biting as it was a decade ago. But the ratings hold up and many critics find the episodes are still entertaining.

The show paved the way for bolder animated comedies such as "Family Guy" and "South Park."
Creator Matt Groening recounts a brief history of how it all began. He was an underground cartoonist best known for his "Life in Hell" comic strip that appeared in alternative newspapers.

TV producer James L. Brooks was a "Life in Hell" fan and when he wanted some satirical animated segments for Fox's "Tracey Ullman Show," he approached Groening who created a crude dysfunctional family of yellow-skinned characters.

Ullman's skit show ran only three years on Fox (1987-'90). "The Simpsons" was spun off in 1989.
Since then, the series has won 25 Emmys and dozens of other awards. It has anchored Fox's Sunday night lineup; spawned a multi-billion dollar merchandising empire; and that dysfunctional family - Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa and Maggie - have become international pop culture icons.

Groening says that he based the characters on family and friends. He and his staff filled the fictional town of Springfield with dozens of memorable residents. He named some of them after the streets in his Portland, Ore. home town.

He has said that created Bart like Mickey Mouse in the sense that the character would always be instantly recognized even in silhouette.

At first Bart was the star of the show and drew a lot of criticism for his underachiever-and-proud-of it attitude. Among his catchphrases was "Eat my shorts!" "Don't have a cow, man!" and "I'm Bart Simpson. Who the hell are you?"

Reportedly, the series has given the world more catchphrases, coined words and quotable expressions than Shakespeare or the Bible. The most famous being Homer's "D'oh!," which has made it into the Oxford English Dictionary (without the apostrophe).

Over the years, Bart became less sassy and Homer more lovable. Homer has emerged as the main character.

On Sunday's special, Spurlock interviews producers, cast members, celebrities (Sting, Dan Rather, Hugh Hefner, Conan O'Brien, John Waters, Trey Parker and Matt Stone from "South Park," Seth MacFarlane from "Family Guy," Mike Judge from "King of the Hill") and fans around the globe.

We get to see some of the faces behind the voices, including 52-year-old Nancy Cartwright, the voice of 9-year-old Bart.

Spurlock finds a fan in Britain who has crammed his home with 30,000 items of Simpson's memorabilia and a fan that has every character from the "Tree House of Horror" episodes tattooed on his back.

We are introduced to Rusty Nails, a gentle, kind Christian clown entertainer in Portland who was the inspiration for the hostile, bitter Jewish character Krusty the Clown.

Also in the special, composer and electronic music wizard Moby discusses his fascination with a "Simpsons" episode in which Homer goes into the snow plow business and does a rap song "Mr. Plow." Moby has created seven variations including punk rock and hip-hop versions.

As of this current season, "The Simpsons" surpassed "Gunsmoke" and "The Adventures of Ozzie & Harriet" to become the longest running scripted American primetime based on number of seasons.

However, Gunsmoke still holds the record for most number of episodes (635). Networks used to produce 39 episodes per season. Now it's down to 22 or 26 episodes per season.

But "The Simpsons" may get there because Groening says it could easily run another 20 years.