'Simpsons' to surpass 'Gunsmoke' with 636th episode Sunday night

close

Video

'The Simpsons' set to make history

Already the longest running American sitcom and animated program in television history, 'The Simpsons' will becomes the longest running TV show -- period -- on Sunday, when the FOX hit takes the title from 'Gunsmoke.'

Now's the perfect time to pick up a Lard Lad donut, crack open a Duff beer and have a woo-hoo moment. What else do you have to do? D'oh!

On Sunday night, the Fox network’s “The Simpsons” will become the longest running scripted show in primetime television history when it airs its record-breaking 636th episode.

That’s just one more than “Gunsmoke,” the iconic CBS Western drama with Marshal Matt Dillon that started on radio in 1952 and eventually became a TV series that ran for 635 episodes from 1955 to 1975.

The show focuses on a family of five – Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa and Maggie – and their animated antics in the fictional town of Springfield.

In true "Simpsons" fashion, the show took aim at "Gunsmoke" -- literally -- in a gunfight battle between baby Maggie and Dillon at the end of last week's show.

At the end of that episode, Homer told the children that their series was about to pass “Gunsmoke.” But Bart just couldn’t help being Bart, reminding everyone that the Dodge City Western did have all those radio shows. D’oh!

"The Simpsons" has won 32 Emmy Awards, 34 Annie Awards and a 2016 People's Choice Award, according to the show's website. It was the first animated series to win a Peabody Award, and was nominated for an Academy Award in 2012 for the theatrical short “The Longest Daycare.”

The show's staying power has been built on skewering the elite and hoi polloi alike, lampooning everyone from President Trump to fracking environmentalists.

According to Entertainment Weekly, Sunday’s episode, titled “Forgive and Regret,” features Grampa Simpson becoming ill and disclosing a secret to son Homer.

“The Simpsons” airs on Fox at 8 p.m. ET/CT.