The Simpsons: The iconic sitcom is being renewed, for a 33rd and 34th season

3/4/21 7:00PM

The Simpsons is heading for a 33rd and 34th season. The iconic animated comedy, which is already the longest running primetime scripted TV show in the US, will be airing its 700th episode on March 21st, more than 31 years since its first episode aired — all the way back in 1989.

‍The golden age is gone

‍Although its longevity is remarkable, the popularity of The Simpsons has declined substantially during its ~700 episodes. This chart, inspired by a great article from Todd Schneider from 2016, shows that back in its early seasons The Simpsons would regularly pull in 20 million households watching (back when Nielsen reported households, not viewers). Its most recent season is averaging closer to 2 million viewers.

It's important context to note that this chart for pretty much any longstanding TV show — including the most popular — would look quite similar. More choice, and the enormous cultural change from streaming, means that fewer people are likely to tune in at primetime to a traditional TV channel, regardless of what is being shown.

In the case of The Simpsons, data from IMDB does confirm that the lower viewership numbers have come with lower average scores in reviews as well. The Simpsons may have lost some of its early magic, but it's no easy feat to keep quality high for 32 years. If we're still making these charts in 2053, we'd be pretty proud too.

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America’s favorite board game is proving a tricky subject for a feature film.

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The BBC has become the world’s top news website... by collapsing a little less than its competition

Press Gazette just published its annual look at the biggest news sites in the world across all languages; for the most part, it doesn’t make for particularly pretty reading.

The journalism industry publication’s latest update, which is based on estimates provided by Similarweb for May, found that 37 of the world’s 50 most visited news sites saw their reach shrink. Press Gazette highlighted that American outlets have been hit particularly hard by declining Google traffic compared to European counterparts, owing to the platform’s AI features rolling out earlier in the US.

Even the BBC, having climbed the rankings from last year to top the 2026 chart — reportedly in part thanks to Similarweb’s decision to combine the “.co.uk” and “.com” versions of the URL, given that the sites redirect to each other depending on the user’s location — showed a 1.9% decline from last year.

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Last night’s Tony Awards were a curtain call for a record-smashing season on Broadway

This year’s star-studded theater awards wrapped up the highest-grossing season Broadway’s ever seen.

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Kids these days are listening to more songs from the good old days

Music nostalgia is in full swing, and the younger listeners of today appear to be partying like it’s pre-1999.

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Drake whiffs on an expected No. 1 on Spotify

Drake started at the bottom and he’s here, but not quite at the top... of Spotify, at least.

It’s been nearly three weeks since Drake dropped his three surprise albums — “Iceman,” “Habibti,” and “Maid of Honour.” Heading into the month, prediction markets were rating it a near certainty, a 98% chance, that Drake’s sonic onslaught was enough to snag the No. 1 slot on Spotify at least once in June.

But, while he surpassed the late Michael Jackson and took up three slots on the Billboard album chart at once, his newly released songs haven’t quite cracked the popular music-streaming platform’s top charts, and market seem to think the moment has passed.

(Event contracts are offered through Robinhood Derivatives, LLC — probabilities referenced or sourced from KalshiEx LLC or ForecastEx LLC.)

Spotify’s “Top Songs - Global” chart currently show that Jackson’s “Billie Jean,” which is more than four decades old, Justin Bieber’s “Beauty and a Beat,” which climbed back to the top of Spotify charts following his Coachella set in the spring, Olivia Rodrigo’s new angsty love song “The Cure,” and BTS’s “Swim” are all ahead of Drake’s “STFU Janice” from his “Iceman” album.

While Spotify previously reported last month that Drake’s “Make Them Cry” was the most streamed album in a single day this year, that was later revealed to be a data error.

Prediction markets currently show traders are betting there’s only a 15% chance Drake will have a No. 1 song on Spotify in June.

Meanwhile, Taylor Swift is in the lead at 98% — a day before the release of her new original song “I Knew It, I Knew You,” which she wrote and performed for Disney and Pixar’s upcoming “Toy Story 5” — followed by Olivia Rodrigo, whose highly anticipated album “You Seem Pretty Sad for a Girl So in Love” comes out next Friday.