Matt Groening’s “The Simpsons” feels like it’s been around since forever and the feeling will stay that way as the animated comedy is on its way to become the longest-running prime-time series in US television history after Fox ordered two more seasons.

Although the news is hardly surprising, it’s still great to learn that fans will be treated to at least 44 more episodes of the wacky family which will add up to a total close to the 500-episode mark, 493 by the network’s count by the end of the 2010-11 season.

While the cartoons will exceed the previous record held for more than three decades by “Gunsmoke,” a western that ended in 1975 after 20 years, it still has a long way to go before it can surpass the amount of episodes “Gunsmoke” produced. The series produced a whooping 635 episodes due to then-longer seasons.

Since its series debut in 1990, “The Simpsons” currently in its 20th season and averaging 8.7 million viewers, the animated series is already the longest-running prime-time comedy ever.

The show has already become part of the pop culture and served as inspiration to many others. Not only did Homer, Marge, Bart Lisa and Maggie set trends and received tons of prizes, but they also managed to do something no cartoon has done before. Thanks to the lazy bald guy Homer Simpson we now have a new word in the dictionary: D’Oh! (annoyed grunt) .