An important landmark: 'The Simpsons' are not over, they just reached half of their path. A cool paper about it in the NYT

Mr. Groening, in spite of his own hints in previous interviews that the show might be running its course, has found a second wind. "I think the show has almost reached its halfway point, which means another 17 years," he said - and this of a show that is already the longest running now on television.

There also seems to be a movie around:

Mr. Groening, along with Mr. Brooks and several of the show's longtime writers, are all hard at work in an office on the 20th Century Fox lot on the long-rumored Simpsons movie.