The Simpsons Season 38 Premieres With 'The Children's Book Job' and Guest Stars Colin Jost and Emma Thompson

The Simpsons is back. The animated institution returned to Fox on Sunday, September 27, with the thirty-eighth season premiere — and the 810th episode overall. Titled "The Children's Book Job," the episode was written by Dan Vebber and directed by Matthew Nastuk, and it brought two high-profile guest stars along for the ride.

The plot sends Springfield Elementary into the literary world: a children's book author travels to Springfield to give a talk to the students. Homer is tasked with picking her up from the airport — and, in classic Homer fashion, things go bad from there. The guest lineup includes Colin Jost appearing as himself and Emma Thompson voicing Constance Clavinger, giving the season opener a mix of real-world cameo energy and a brand-new Springfield resident to play against.

A milestone nobody else is close to

Few shows get to celebrate an 810th episode, and fewer still arrive at a 38th season with their cultural footprint intact. The Simpsons remains the anchor of Fox's Sunday animation lineup, and this year's return came alongside the rest of the network's animated block: Animal Control opened its fifth season, Universal Basic Guys began its third, and Grimsburg kicked off its third as well, all airing Sunday night.

The premiere slot continues the show's long tradition of using its season openers to mix splashy guest voices with Springfield-sized storytelling. Bringing in Jost, a Saturday Night Live fixture, and Thompson, one of the most decorated actors of her generation, signals that the series still treats its season premieres as event television rather than just another episode.

The Simpsons airs Sundays on Fox. With season 38 now underway, the longest-running scripted primetime series in American television history shows no signs of loosening its grip on Sunday nights.

The 810th-episode milestone is worth pausing on. No other American scripted primetime series has ever come close to that number, and the show's ability to keep premiering seasons — 38 of them — remains the industry's most durable outlier. Each new season opener now carries a quiet piece of television history with it, and "The Children's Book Job" continues the tradition of marking the occasion with guest voices who rarely do animation.

Fox's Sunday animation block gave the premiere a full supporting lineup: Animal Control opened its fifth season at 8:30, Universal Basic Guys began its third season at 9, and Grimsburg kicked off its third at 9:30. It is a reminder that while The Simpsons is the undisputed anchor, Fox has quietly rebuilt a multi-show animated Sunday around it. The season 38 premiere aired September 27, and new episodes continue Sundays on Fox.