Creator sees the end in sight

The Simpsons is set to end in five years, because writers are finding it increasingly difficult to create five storylines.

Creator Matt Groening has signed a deal to take the show up to its 19th series in 2008.

And he plans to do one more after that, to assure the animated comedy’s place in the history books as the longest-running entertainment show on American TV,  overtaking Gunsmoke.

He told The Sun: "The Simpsons' success has been unbelievable. But the show gets harder and harder every year because we are trying to keep surprising the audience, and trying to surprise ourselves.

"I'd love to get to 365 episodes, so there's one for every day of the year with no repeats."

He added that the remaining shows would focus on more peripheral characters as plots for Homer, Marge, Lisa, Bart and Maggie become exhausted.

In a longer interview in The Guardian, Groening did not put a timescale on The Simpsons, although the paper suggested the same 20-season cutoff.

He said:  "A few years ago I thought, well, we've got to run out of steam soon and that we'd be done by now. We're not, in fact we're going full steam ahead."

Groening also revealed that plans for a movie version, which could mark the end of the profitable franchise or rejuvenate it, were pressing ahead.

"We're trying to tell a story that we wouldn't do on television and take advantage of a longer process and a more ambitious process for animation," he said.

Published: 4 Oct 2004