video transcript

PLEASE NOTE; THIS EDIT CONTAINS CONVERTED 4:3 MATERIAL A kiss from Lisa Simpson to get festivities started. It's the celebration of the broadcast of the 500th episode of the popular animated TV comedy series, "The Simpsons". On hand were some of the real people behind the famous comic characters. 10-year-old Bart Simpson is played by Nancy Cartwright. SOUNDBITE: Actress Nancy Cartwright, voice of Bart Simpson, saying (English): "It seems like it was just yesterday when I went in to audition for the part of Lisa Simpson, you know, and ended up saying 'I don't want to do that, I would much rather be a ten year old boy, a school-hating underachiever and proud of it'." Fans gathered to try and watch all 500 episodes back to back and beat the current Guinness World Record of just over 86 hours for the longest continuous television viewing. Hopefully "The Simpsons" will be entertaining enough for at least one viewer to last the approximately eight days and bag the ten and a half thousand U.S. dollar prize. EXCERPT FROM "THE SIMPSONS" After 23 seasons, "The Simpsons" is the longest running scripted show in TV history. And luckily for devotees, the family from Springfield will return to the small screen for a final two seasons. Tara Cleary, Reuters.