Best.Show. Ever.

The Simpson family has stayed together longer than mine could. I suppose this is a reason the show has been so important to me growing up; it’s been a comfort to have something consistent in my life that has been there for me when my family was going through some trouble.

Nostalgic escapism aside, “The Simpsons Season 20” DVD is in stores, featuring 21 episodes of television’s favorite yellow family. This is a hell of a long time to be making a cartoon series and, now that it is in its 21st season, I’m curious to see how much longer they’ll be able to keep the show running. The show has survived nearly as long as me; Maggie Simpson should be old enough to drink Duff Beer now.

On top of the 20th season DVD, I’ve also been watching a boatload of episodes from earlier seasons of “The Simpsons,” attempting to get a comprehensive hold on the town of Springfield. This has shown me the sobering formula the show has reverted to in the last decade, which basically has several different plotlines running simultaneously, all leading to one outcome, usually a strange moral tale or a simple tongue-in-cheek gag. Throw in a celebrity guest voice and some topical issues, and you’ve got an episode.

This season does have some pretty cool celebrity guests: Kelsey Grammer makes his 11th appearance as the hilariously homicidal Sideshow Bob. Other guests include Ellen Page, Denis Leary, Joe Montana, Jodie Foster, Marv Albert, Mark Cuban, Anne Hathaway and Emily Blunt.All criticism aside, “The Simpsons” has undoubtedly become the most iconic cartoon family on television. Still riding off the general success of 2007’s “The Simpsons Movie,” the Simpson family has found themselves on more than just our TVs.

Marge Simpson was featured in a 2009 spread of “Playboy.” While these pictures didn’t answer the main question (does the carpet match the beehive?) it did feature one of the first “Playboy” pieces I’d been interested to check out since they published the collaboration between Gonzo-journalist Hunter S. Thompson and Playboy’s (then) assistant editor, Tim Mohr: “Postcards from the Proud Highway” — a string of Thompson’s analyses on a wide range of subjects spanning firearms to physical fitness. This article was Thompson’s final contribution to “Playboy” before his death Feb. 20, 2005.

But I digress. This mention of Hunter Thompson’s suicide is making me wonder when “The Simpsons” will make that same final decision. Morbid as it might sound, the creators and voice actors of this show must be exhausted … aside from the actors’ lucrative $400,000 per episode paychecks. There is one warning sign that Matt Groening and the creators are losing spirit in the show, namely the lack of commentary on the DVDs.

With Conan O’Brien out of NBC, it’s important to remember that he wrote and produced for “The Simpsons” between 1991 and 1993. These seasons contain some of the best episodes found in the 451 episodes created.

While watching Adult Swim, one of their textual “bumps” between shows hinted tongue-in-cheek they were interested in buying “The Simpsons” from FOX. Since FOX has kept an extremely firm grip on the show, this is really indicative of how much greater “The Simpsons” is than “Family Guy,” which has been on Adult Swim for several years.

While my family wasn’t able to remain a single unit for as long as Springfield’s residents in 742 Evergreen Terrace (even though Homer and Marge have been remarried four times, due to strange circumstances), I’m happy. Happy that such an excellent show has been able to stay afloat for more than two decades. Taking a cue from Comic Book Guy, my favorite character in the series: “Best. Show. Ever.”