"The Simpsons" will hit another huge milestone this season when it crosses the 500-episode mark, putting it in an even more rarefied space among prime-time television's longest-running series.

Episode 500, written by show veteran Michael Price and scheduled to air Feb. 19, 2012, will be as self-aware as the show usually is. Executive producer Al Jean explains the premise:

"There's a big town meeting that the Simpsons don't know about, and when they go in, the town is saying we're going to get rid of the Simpsons," Jean told reporters Tuesday (July 26) after a tour of the show's animation studio, Film Roman. "They're sick of them."

http://blog.zap2it.com/frominsidethebox/2011/07/the-simpsons-season-23-500th-episode-homer-gets-lost-and-more.html