[discostu]

They've corporatized their animation into such a corporate cycle (some reports say idea to broadcast of an episode is 2 years) I'm not sure Fox could ever cancel them. If they pulled the plug today there could be as many as 40 episodes in various stages of production, you don't want to throw all that cost away, but do you really want to show 2 more seasons after the decision to cancel?

Then of course there's the fact that if you trace it all the way to the shorts in the Tracy Ulman Show there's never been a Fox network without the Simpsons, I'm sure there's at least a few superstitious people in Fox management that won't want to break that juju.

[Borges]

I think the only people still there that were there in 87 is Murdoch himself. Anyway It didn't stop them from pulling the plug on 'Married with Children'. Mercifully.

[sandbar]

>>>Then of course there's the fact that if you trace it all the way to the shorts in the Tracy Ulman Show there's never been a Fox network without the Simpsons, I'm sure there's at least a few superstitious people in Fox management that won't want to break that juju.>>>

I think you are correct. The Simpsons have been around literally as long as Fox has.

[Moral Hazard]

"If they pulled the plug today there could be as many as 40 episodes in various stages of production, you don't want to throw all that cost away, but do you really want to show 2 more seasons after the decision to cancel?"

Ahh, kind of like the Lintilla problem.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minor_characters_from_The_Hitchhiker's_Guide_to_the_Galaxy#Lintilla