America’s most dysfunctional family is about to become America’s longest running scripted prime-time series. Last Friday, Fox signed the animated series “The Simpsons” for two more seasons, surpassing the previous record held by the Western series “Gunsmoke,” which ran for 20 years.

Although the show has been running for 20 years with decent ratings, some believe that “The Simpsons” should have stopped years ago. There’s a notion that the show is slowly failing and can’t compete with other animated series such as “Family Guy” or “South Park.” Clearly these people haven’t been watching recently.

“The Simpsons” is still relevant and still makes millions of Americans laugh during its Sunday time slot, in addition to daily reruns. After about 450 episodes and a full-length feature film, “The Simpsons” is still fresh, funny and in the minds of millions of fans.

If Fox cancels one of its most iconic series, they will definitely end up regretting the decision. The old episodes will end up getting picked up by Comedy Central or Adult Swim, becoming even more popular, causing Fox to realize it made a mistake and then sign the series back on, kind of what happened to “Family Guy.”

Thankfully those who realize the greatness of “The Simpsons” won’t have to worry about it getting canceled until 2010.