The other day, a friend's e-mail cited the succulent properties of a chicken-fried steak she had prepared for lunch, and I felt the need to chide her about her midday gravy intake. So without a moment's hesitation, thoughts springing forth with Crazy-Cat-Lady-like reflexes, I fired off this response:

Dr. Hibbert: Well, your cholesterol level is lethally high, Homer, but I'm more concerned about your gravy level.

Homer: Now, wait a second. You doctors have been telling us to drink eight glasses of gravy a day!

Dr. Hibbert: (chuckling) Well, you're a little confused.

Homer: Oh, confused, would we?

Ha-ha. Clearly this humorous exchange was from "The Simpsons" (Season 9, Episode 6). My editors would have me clarify that "The Simpsons" is an animated TV series now in its record-breaking 20th season, but if you don't already know that, you might as well move on to the crossword puzzle at this point. I won't mind, and neither will you.

But if you do love Homer and Marge and the gang, raise a glass of Flaming Moe and toast the fact that the Simpsons have woven themselves so deeply into the fabric of our lives that we could sew many a pair of blue pants for the husky gentlemen and then Homer could have all the blue pants he wants and wouldn't have to resort to an ad tattooed on his head to make extra money because that was the style at the time and, really, there's no shame in being a pariah.

To honor two decades of "D'oh!" FOX will air in January "The Simpsons 20th Anniversary Special — In 3-D! On Ice!" (Be advised, the news release implies somebody's pants, blue or otherwise, might be on fire for saying those last two things.)

It's a documentary of sorts, examining the "cultural phenomenon" of the show. And it sure has phenomed my culture. For example, that gravy reference popped to my mind as naturally as Mr. Burns instructing Smithers to release the hounds. Or the bees. Or the dogs with bees in their mouths and when they bark, they shoot bees at you.

That's because there's a Simpsons quote applicable to everything. Everything! Go ahead. Pick a topic. Politics? "Vote Quimby!" World affairs? "I think we'd all be better off if each country had its own planet." Cattle? "Don't have a cow, man." Weasels? "Weaseling out of things is important to learn. It's what separates us from the animals. Except the weasels."

A colleague recently pondered whether the show is still relevant, if college kids still quote from it or if "South Park" and "Family Guy" have taken over. To those points, in order, I say yes, I don't know, heck no, no and what were we talking about again?

Besides, it's gone beyond mere water-cooler chat, so ingrained that people cite the show and don't even know they're doing it. Or attribute things to a Simpsons episode which originated somewhere else. Entire books have been written on Simpsons references and deep meanings, and a big-screen version came out in 2007, which was fun, but the TV reruns are better. Over the years, no emotion has gone untouched, no politician unscathed, no Stonecutter unspanked, no doughnut unsprinkled.

Many might suggest that our shared cultural experiences are things such as the first moon walk, or the Beatles invading the Ed Sullivan Show, or when Hank Aaron slammed homer No. 715. Simpsons fans have the same, but different, list. Remember the time Homer became an astronaut and accidentally freed the onboard ant colony and one of the ants drifted into the camera lens and news anchor Kent Brockman responsibly reported that giant alien ant people were coming to take over the world?

Or how about when Marge sent Homer to rock 'n' roll camp and it was run by Mick Jagger and Homer drove the giant motorized Satan head on stage and set fire to the stage and sliced off Tom Petty's toe?

Oh, and remember when Mr. Burns replaced the company softball team with ringers including but not limited to Ken Griffey Jr., Ozzie Smith and Roger Clemens, but then all manner of tragedies befell them one by one, including but not limited to Ken Griffey Jr.'s head swelling up like a beach ball from an overdose of nerve tonic, Ozzie Smith getting lost in the Springfield Mystery Spot and Roger Clemens thinking he was a chicken and so Homer had to play and won the game but got knocked out and didn't know it?

Good times. And I hope for more. Clearly the show must go on forever, because there's no way they could possibly end it. Really, how? The Rapture? They did that in Season 16. Aliens enslave all humanity? Yeah, check "Treehouse of Horror IV." Maybe Homer will wake up and find he's in bed with Suzanne Pleshette. Or maybe Marge will wake up and it was all a dream. Oh wait, they kind of did that in "Who Killed Mr. Burns?" except it was Smithers waking up to Monty in the shower. Eeew. Or maybe Fat Tony will be in a diner in the middle of a sentence and ...