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Vorlage:Infobox Simpsons episode "At Long Last Leave" is the fourteenth episode of the twenty-third season of the American animated sitcom The Simpsons, and the 500th episode overall. It is scheduled to air on the Fox network in the United States on February 19, 2012.

Plot

The Simpson family discovers that everyone in Springfield has grown tired of them and are secretly planning to have them thrown out of the city. The family moves out of Springfield to a rugged place where Julian Assange becomes their new neighbor.

Production

Julian Assange, the founder of WikiLeaks, will appear in the episode.

The plot of the episode was first announced to the press at the Comic-Con convention in San Diego, California on July 23, 2011, during a panel with the producers of The Simpsons. The episode features several guest appearances. Australian activist Julian Assange—the founder of WikiLeaks, a controversial website which publishes information from whistleblowers—is set to appear as himself. In 2010, Swedish authorities issued a European Arrest Warrant to extradite Assange from Britain to Sweden for questioning in relation to sexual assault allegations made against him there. Assange was arrested in England, before being freed on conditional bail until a decision would be made as to whether or not he should be extradited to Sweden. Assange recorded his lines over the phone while under house arrest in England. The Simpsons show runner Al Jean, who directed Assange's performance from Los Angeles, only acquired a phone number to call and received no information about the whereabouts of the activist. According to Jean in an interview with Entertainment Weekly, The Simpsons creator Matt Groening had found out through a rumor that Assange wanted to appear on the show. Casting director Bonnie Pietila was therefore given the task to get contact with Assange and make sure the guest appearance could happen. The episode features no reference to Assange's legal situation at the time of his recording. Jean commented that "He’s a controversial figure, and there’s a good reason he’s controversial. There was discussion internally whether or not to have him on the show, but ultimately we went ahead and did it."

Marketing

To promote the 500th episode milestone, the Fox network, which airs The Simpsons, will arrange a non-stop marathon screening of all the show's episodes with the intent of breaking the Guinness World Record for longest continuous television viewing. The record of 86 hours, six minutes, and 41 seconds, was set in 2010 when three people watched all episodes of the Fox show 24 in a row. Among all the fans who submitted themselves online, a hundred were selected to participate in the Simpsons marathon, which will also be a contest to determine which fan can last the longest into the marathon and win US$10,500. The 500 episodes of The Simpsons have a combined running time of around 200 hours. As noted by Patrick Kevin Day of the Los Angeles Times, "That's just 64 hours short of the scientifically monitored record set for a human to go without sleep in 1965. [...] it's entirely possible that the Simpsons super fans won't make it to the 500th episode. At the very least they'll be running risk of headaches, hand tremors, hallucinations and depression". The marathon will take place at Hollywood & Highland on February 8, 2012.

Release

The episode is scheduled to air on the Fox network in the United States on February 19, 2012.

External links

• Vorlage:IMDb episode