For the ninth time The Simpsons has walked off with the Emmy Award for Outstanding Animated Program (less than one hour). The series, the longest-running American sitcom now entering its eighteenth season, won for the aptly titled episode “The Seemingly Neverending Story”. The Simpsons was in a tighter race for the prize than usual with the much talked about episode of South Park, “Trapped in the Closet”, also nominated. Reuters reports that The Simpsons executive producer Al Jean acknowledged their competition by jokingly gloating, “this is what happens when you don’t mock Scientology”. In other Emmy news, Kelsey Grammer won an Emmy Award for Outstanding Voice-Over Performance for his role as Sideshow Bob in The Simpsons episode “The Italian Bob”, and The Discovery Channel’s Before the Dinosaurs won the Emmy for Outstanding Animated Program (one hour or more).