by Leigh Goessl

Created on: February 22, 2012

When the "The Simpsons" emerged as a short that appeared after the Tracey Ullman show on Fox back in 1987, who would have thought 25 years later the show would not only become a full-fledged cartoon prime-time TV series, but would still be going strong?

This past week "The Simpsons" celebrated a big milestone and aired the show's 500th episode; the episode aired on Feb. 19.

Long time viewers of the popular series know that episodes of the "The Simpsons" often include guest stars, and the 500 landmark episode was no exception. In what CNN declared as an odd choice, the guest star for the episode was WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange.

The episode, entitled "At Long Last Leave," revolves around the Simpsons family leaving Springfield after the townspeople, fed up with Homer's drinking and Bart's pranks, secretly voted the family out. As the mayor is making the declaration that the townspeople have unanimously voted to banish the "unending nightmare," called the Simpsons, the family walks in.

As Homer, Marge, Bart. Lisa and Maggie interrupt the town meeting, with a collective "doh", and Moe jumps up declaring "the monsters are here!"

The family, banished, leave town and set up house in The Outlands, an isolated area outside of Springfield, USA. Assange is one of the neighboring people living in the area where the family establishes their new digs and makes his cameo appearance. Of course Homer still gets himself into trouble, no matter his surroundings.

All ended all right, however, as the people back in Springfield begin to miss the Simpsons and join them in The Outlands and set up in these new surroundings.

CNN describes the episode as "clear representation" of the town's relationship with the Simpsons family; a "can't live with them, can't live without them," type of mentality, which interestingly, appears to parallel real life.

With a show that has gone through ups and downs over the years, despite this, it has always maintained staying power and keeps viewers coming back. The show even said at the conclusion of the celebratory episode, "Thanks for 500 shows. All we ask is that you go out and get some fresh air before logging on the Internet and saying how much this sucked."

And according to The Guardian, fans did indeed give the show a break.

Love 'em or hate 'em, one thing that can't be denied is the fact not many shows have accomplished the type of longevity "The Simpsons" have enjoyed, and deserves recognition.

For those of us who remember those old 'shorts' back in 1987, and may or may not still watch the show, it's kind of cool to see this series, that at the time no one knew would go beyond being a bumper for another show, would still be going strong.

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