The Simpsons will air its 636th episode next week. It doesn’t seem a special number, but it actually is.

The TV show Gunsmoke, from the 50s, is the current “TV’s longest running primetime scripted series”, with 635 episodes. The most recently aired episode of The Simpsons, “Lisa Gets the Blues“, is the yellow family’s 635th episode.

Next week, on April 29, 2018; The Simpsons is airing a new episode (“Forgive and Regret“), which will be the show’s 636th episode, thus surpassing Gunsmoke‘s number of episodes, and therefore The Simpsons will become TV’s longest running primetime scripted series.

And, given that The Simpsons still has more episodes to air during the current season (Season 29), it is renewed for a 30th Season, and the people who do the show has said there is no intention to end anytime soon, it may be fair to say that The Simpsons will probably hold that record for a long, long time.

Stay tuned for more!