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Post by Burke on Sept 27, 2010 16:57:53 GMT -5
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Post by Brandon on Sept 27, 2010 17:08:22 GMT -5
Today, The Simpsons. Tomorrow, Surreal Life.
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Post by Burke on Sept 27, 2010 17:41:40 GMT -5
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Post by jayzero42690 on Sept 27, 2010 20:39:21 GMT -5
(Sorry, I don't know how to make your fancy GIF's)
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Post by Burke on Oct 5, 2011 14:42:20 GMT -5
It’s a global phenomenon and one of the longest running sitcoms of all time, but reports emerging last night suggest that The Simpsons faces the axe next spring unless the show can slash its production budget.
In order to keep the series financially viable, Fox, the US broadcaster that produces the programme, are demanding the show’s cast take a 45 per cent pay cut.
"23 seasons in, The Simpsons is as creatively vibrant as ever and beloved by millions around the world. We believe this brilliant series can and should continue, but we cannot produce future seasons under its current financial model,” said Fox in a statement on Tuesday.
“We are hopeful that we can reach an agreement with the voice cast that allows The Simpsons to go on entertaining audiences with original episodes for many years to come.”
This belief that the show could run in perpetuity is shared by its creator, Matt Groening, who said in 2006: "I honestly don't see any end in sight. I think it's possible that the show will become too financially cumbersome... but right now, the show is creatively, I think, as good or better than it's ever been… creatively there's no reason to quit."
It makes sense that Fox and Groening would insist that The Simpsons “should” continue “for many years to come”, as both parties stand to make pots of money out of the programme as long as it’s on air, but do we, the viewers, really want it to drag on any longer?
Let’s face it: The Simpsons has been going downhill for years.
If you compare early episodes – let’s say from seasons one to eight – with anything produced in the past decade, the dip in quality isn’t just surprising, it’s alarming. Wackiness has replaced wit, farce has trumped satire, and the show now limps along on the sitcom life-support of guest stars and catchphrases.
But alas, big-name guests can’t make up for lack of inspiration, which is a shame considering that the show’s writers have taken to recycling old ideas now that the well of situations has run dry.
The last series to be broadcast, season 22, featured episodes in which Bart has to nurse a sick bird back to health, Lisa worries that she won’t fulfil her academic potential, Selma marries someone unsuitable and Moe relies on Homer’s help to find a girlfriend, all of which have been the basis of episodes from years gone by. And while familiarity is important to a sitcom, too much of it breeds contempt.
Though the most irritating changes made since season nine seem to have been borne of an attempt to reach the widest possible audience, which is understandable from the network’s point of view, but an utter travesty artistically.
For instance, one of the best running gags on The Simpsons was the confusion about whether or not Mr. Burns’ assistant Waylon Smithers was gay. Sure, we were given clues, like a dream sequence in which Burns flies in through Smithers’s bedroom window, but the writers didn’t ever explicitly address the issue.
However, in an episode called Flaming Moe from season 22, Smithers is integral in turning Moe’s Tavern into a gay bar. He’s seen frequenting a place called The League of Extra Horny Gentlemen and ends up kissing Moe during the episode, broadening and coarsening an idea that was genuinely original, funny and subtle for the sake of a few cheap laughs and an easy-to-follow plotline for the audience.
Mike Scully, The Simpsons’ showrunner from seasons 9-12 and a continuing presence on the show, explained its longevity, and summed up what’s wrong with the programme nowadays, by publicly expounding his sitcom philosophy: "Lower your quality standards. Once you've done that you can go on forever."
Such an attitude is depressingly evident in the post-millennial Simpsons. When you compare rubbish like the family’s 2002 journey to a hideously stereotyped Brazil, where Homer is kidnapped and Bart is ‘eaten’ by an anaconda, with their sixth season jaunt to Australia, which satirised politics and environmental issues, the differences are striking. One is a broad, childish catalogue of crude farce and flat jokes; the other an intelligent, wry take on a number of adult issues.
Even the show’s beloved characters have mutated into caricatures. Homer Simpson’s metamorphosis from slow-witted, loveable blue-collar slob to overbearing, blithering idiot is particularly distressing.
Early episodes centred around Homer’s prosaic, middle-aged aspirations like wanting to skip church so he could sleep in on Sundays, while nowadays he’s more likely to be found bouncing around hyperactively, going off on road-trips and behaving like a Jackass-style bore.
Indeed, critic Chris Sullentrop summed up the change in the show’s tone by saying: “Episodes that once would have ended with Homer and Marge bicycling into the sunset now end with Homer blowing a tranquilizer dart into Marge's neck…it hasn't been touching in years.”
The fact of the matter is that The Simpsons is a shadow of its former self, hamstrung by its own success, going for the lowest common denominator in order to appease its declining viewership: its ratings have halved from a season twelve high of 14.7m viewers to 7.3m for season 22.
Nowadays it’s a boneheaded, juvenile parody of what was once a smart, sophisticated and funny show, and the audience is slowly but surely waking up to the truth.
So if The Simpsons does perish next spring, will it be such a big deal? Nope. In the words of Bart: don’t have a cow, man.
Even though I think it’s sucked for well over a decade now it’ll still be a sad day when it does finally come to an end. If it does, the writers better get their shit together and come up with an awesome series finale though.
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Post by jayzero42690 on Oct 5, 2011 17:02:07 GMT -5
RIP Homer Ain't no way the cast is losing half their pay. They can stop doing the show and just start doing movies. I thought that Brazil episode was hilarious. The show didn't start getting boring to me until around the movie, but even then I was into it because of the movie, game, and ride at Universal Studios all coming out within 6 months of eachother. But why all this talk about the Simpsons? South Park is back tonight baby!! ;D Even though SP has sucked the last few years too
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Post by Tarry on Oct 5, 2011 17:06:10 GMT -5
Tbh, I wouldn't miss Simpsons or South Park if they got cancelled. The best episodes are already out there on DVD.
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Post by jayzero42690 on Oct 5, 2011 17:06:53 GMT -5
How dare they dis this episode:
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Post by Burke on Oct 5, 2011 17:25:17 GMT -5
South Park is still great. I loved season 13 which is the most recent one I saw. I need to get the latest ones on DVD.
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Post by Astrozombie on Oct 5, 2011 18:25:42 GMT -5
Isn't South Park in it's last season anyways?
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Post by Tarry on Oct 5, 2011 18:32:44 GMT -5
Isn't South Park in it's last season anyways? No. There's at least two more to go.
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Post by Mutant Couch on Oct 5, 2011 22:14:57 GMT -5
I'd miss the Treehouse of Horror episode every year. I still love them.
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Post by Burke on Oct 8, 2011 16:21:42 GMT -5
UPDATE: FOX has now officially confirmed The Simpsons will be back and that they have in fact renewed the series for not just one but two more seasons, meaning Season 24 and Season 25 of The Simpsons are on the way. This will bring the series to an astounding 559 episodes.
Not made explicit one way or the other is whether they intend for the show to end with Season 25… which likely means that decision is still not made yet.
Original story follows.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, The Simpsons' voice cast has agreed to a pay cut.
No, it won't be as severe as the 45% cut that FOX originally wanted last Monday, which would have dropped the $400,000 they get per episode to around $250,000. So this is somewhat of a small victory for the cast. But on the flip side of this is the fact that they still will not get any back-end percentage of the Simpsons franchise profits like they had originally countered with.
The cast includes: Dan Castellaneta (Homer, Grampa Simpson, Krusty the Clown, and others), Julie Kavner (Marge and others), Nancy Cartwright (Bart and others), Yeardley Smith (Lisa), Hank Azaria (Moe, Chief Wiggum and Apu), and Harry Shearer (Mr. Burns, Principal Skinner, and Ned Flanders, more…). Their decision to take a cut in salary follows the series producers themselves agreeing to a pay cut earlier this morning. But the big difference there is that the several of the producers, in fact, have the kind of "back end" deal that the cast wanted.
In fact, just this morning Harry Shearer released a statement where he said "I'm willing to let them cut my salary not just 45% but more than 70% – down to half of what they said they would be willing to pay us. All I would ask in return is that I be allowed a small share of the eventual profits."
So much for that then.
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Post by Tarry on Oct 8, 2011 16:23:30 GMT -5
Damn you Burke for getting my hopes up.
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Post by Deleted on Oct 6, 2013 23:39:53 GMT -5
The rumor is it's gonna be Maggie, but that conflicts with the story saying the actor won an Emmy for voicing the character. So... so long Sideshow Bob.
Family Guy also said they're killing off one of the 6 Griffin family members this season and replacing them with someone else. It can only be Chris or Meg imo because Seth Green and Mila Kunis have become too busy to keep doing the show.
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