Fox released its fall schedule on Monday, and just like NBC relocating This Is Us to Thursday, there are several adjustments. Empire moves up an hour, from 9 p.m. to 8 p.m. on Wednesday; Seth MacFarlane’s Orville debuts on Thursday (as opposed to Sunday, where his other shows, including Family Guy and The Cleveland Show, have set up shop); and Brooklyn Nine-Nine hopes to find a bigger audience at 9:30 on Tuesday, as opposed to leading off the night. Meanwhile, for the 24th season in a row, Fox’s schedule-makers spent approximately 0.01 seconds deciding whether to move The Simpsons from Sunday at 8 p.m. before they called it a day and put up a Gone Drinkin’ sign.
The Simpsons, all soon-to-be 29 seasons of it, has seemingly broken every television record: longest-running prime-time animated series in the United States; longest-running sitcom (animated or live-action) in the United States; and longest-running American scripted primetime television series. There’s still one to go, though. The Simpsons has already topped Gunsmoke for the most seasons, but not episodes. Back in 1950s and 1960s, shows had a longer broadcast cycle; for instance, season eight of Gunsmoke is a ridiculous 38 episodes long, while season eight of The Simpsons is “only” 25 episodes.
But sometime next season, probably around March 2018, The Simpsons will finally surpass Gunsmoke as the scripted TV series with the most episodes.
Next season #TheSimpsons will cross another milestone: It will have produced the most eps for a scripted series, passing “Gunsmoke’s” 635 pic.twitter.com/0fsFv0xa6Q
— Jarett Wieselman (@JarettSays) May 15, 2017
Gunsmoke‘s 635th and final episode, “The Sharecroppers” (which aired March 31, 1975), is about scruffy deputy Festus Haggen and how he “ends up plowing crops for a family of farmers after accidentally shooting one of them in the leg and bringing him home.” Sounds like something Maggie could do.
Here’s Fox’s full fall schedule.
Monday
8 p.m. — Lucifer
9 p.m. — The GiftedTuesday
8 p.m.— Lethal Weapon
9 p.m. — The Mick
9:30 p.m. — Brooklyn Nine-NineWednesday
8 p.m.— Empire
9 p.m. — StarThursday
8 p.m. — Gotham
9 p.m. — OrvilleFriday
8 p.m. — Hell’s Kitchen
9 p.m. — The ExorcistSaturday
8 p.m. — Fox Sports Saturday: College FootballSunday
7 p.m. — NFL on Fox
7:30 p.m. — The OT/Bob’s Burgers
8 p.m. — The Simpsons
8:30 p.m. — Ghosted
9 p.m. — Family Guy
9:30 p.m. — The Last Man on Earth
