LONDON (REUTERS) — Cowabunga, dude! Could the end be near for cult television cartoon family “The Simpsons?”

“I think we are closer to winding it up,” the television show’s creator, Matt Groening, told the Financial Times in an interview published Tuesday.

“Although what happens generally if we win the Emmy for best animation show is that that gives us another couple of years to run it into the ground,” he said.

Groening has earned millions for media baron Rupert Murdoch’s Fox channel since the series, featuring Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa and baby Maggie, first entered the lives of television viewers in 1989.

Its appeal has spread far beyond its American setting, and its dysfunctional characters have become globally recognized symbols of midlife crisis and childhood rebellion.

TV Guide recently placed the animated show eighth on its list of the 50 greatest television shows of all time.

Its power to attract audiences is such that in February Britain’s Channel 4 was said to have paid up to $1 million an episode to show the series, outbidding the BBC, which had been broadcasting it for the past six years.

And it retains its ability to cause upset. When a recent episode depicted Rio de Janeiro as teeming with rats, monkeys and street crime, Brazilian tourist officials were outraged, and the show’s executive producer was forced to apologize.

But Groening admitted to weariness with the formula of the show, now in its 13th series.

“It becomes increasingly difficult as the years go by to keep on not only surprising the audience, but surprising ourselves,” he said.

However, he said he doubted his creative angst would overly concern the television accountants.
“I think Fox will wring every last penny out of the show before they call it a day.”