Tuned In

You Be the Reaper: What Show Has Lived Too Long?

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Is it finally his time? / FOX

It’s a writing day for me, which means that I’m going to be spending most of it not writing. On this blog, that is. It’s also Brooklyn Queens Day, which means no school for outer-borough kids, which in turn means that Tuned In Jr. and Tuned In Jr. Jr. will be spending some of the day underfoot in my office, watching TiVoed Backyardigans episodes. (We read books at home! Get off my back!)

All of which means: time for a TV Poll! The news peg here is the just-announced, and expensive, renewal of The Simpsons for a 20th season, which Verne Gay at Newsday speculates could be its last. Between its rising salaries and general long-in-the-toothedness, Gay writes, “It’s sort of like that 15,000 pound Escalade collecting a mantle of dust in your garage because it costs $500 to fill up the tank.”

So let’s play TV Reaper. Do you agree that it’s time to put a bullet through The Simpsons’ yellow head? And if I were to grant you just one more swing of the scythe, which TV show’s overly long life would you put to an end. (You can think outside the primetime box too here. Anyone willing to off 60 Minutes?)

As Abe Simpson would say: “I can feel death’s clammy hand on my shoulder… wait, that’s my hand!”