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The Simpsons” has just been renewed for yet another season, during which it’ll air its 500th episode. In dog years, the show is turning 161. In TV years, it’s turning something closer to 5,500 (or, as John Shimkus, potential leader of the House Energy Committe would have you believe, 500 years older than the date God created earth).

But in human time, it’s been twenty three long years since the show first aired. Which begs the question—how much longer can this go on? What is “The Simpsons” life expectancy?

Having long outlived all reasonable expectations for the life expectancy of a TV show, we decided to take a look at human life expectancy of the show’s creators to glean some sense of how long this can possibly continue.

Not surprisingly, the show’s key executive producers and early writers are getting up there. Here’s how the original roster adds up:

James L. Brooks: 70
John Swartzwelder: 60
Matt Groening: 56
Sam Simon: 55
George Meyer: 54
Al Jean: 49

The Simpsons’ creators average age is 57. Since current average life expectancy is 78, the remaining life expectancy for Simpsons man-power works out to about 21 years.

With the show turning 23 this year, it seems like “The Simpsons” is in prime position for a serious midlife crisis.

Which may be what the Mark Zuckerberg appearance was all about, or the Banksy opening credits—a bold move that made that suddenly had people buzzing up the show’s cultural vitality like it was 1994 all over again.

As midlife crises go, it wasn’t a bad one by any stretch. Unlike buying a sportscar or getting one of those Harrison Ford earrings, which always end up making you look less cool to the youth around you, Banksy’s rebellious credits, which implicated the Simpsons itself, were actually cool.

“The Simpsons” may be turning 23, but it’s possible the show may get even cooler in its old age, like Betty White. The 500th episode is set to air in February, 2012.

(DT)