Sadly, these SS seasons keep taking longer and longer because they keep pushing the seasons up. Years ago they started in February, then April, then August... not all the way until November. Of course, it does make sense to have the 40th season premier around the same time the first episode was premiered.
But let's not forget that they usually split the episodes up as well, cutting them with older episodes to make 26 episodes last. So not only do we have to wait until November, it could be until 2010 to see all the episodes.