From worstpreviews, The standoff between "The Simpsons" voice cast and series producer 20th Century Fox TV is over. After months of negotiations, the cast of Fox's long-running animated series reached a new four-year deal with the studio during the weekend.
Under the pact, the top actors will be paid nearly $400,000 per episode. While this is lower than the reported $500,000 the cast originally sought, it remains a significant increase from their current paychecks of about $300,000 an episode.
Additionally, Dan Castellaneta, who voices Homer Simpson and has penned several "Simpsons" episodes over the years, is being named a consulting producer.
Castellaneta and most of the other key "Simpsons" voice players -- Julie Kavner (Marge), Nancy Cartwright (Bart), Yeardley Smith (Lisa) and Hank Azaria (Moe) -- are slated to begin work on the upcoming 20th season today with a table read.
As of Monday, the status of Harry Shearer, who voices Mr. Burns and Ned Flanders, among other characters, was unclear. Because of a last-minute snag, his deal did not close with the other cast members', and it was not clear if he would show up for today's table read.
As a result from the drawn-out contract negotiations, the upcoming season of "The Simpsons" has been reduced from 22 to 20 episodes. While the deal makes the voice cast available for four more seasons, Fox has yet to order the animated comedy beyond season No. 20.
5 comments:
Huh. Seems like they should have quit a few years ago. Anyone watched a full episode recently?
I've never missed an episode. They're more miss than hit, but they're still a lot of fun =)
For me seasons 4-8 are pure gold but everything after that ranges from mediocre and satisfactory. I know Phil Hartman only played a minor role but something huge was lost when he died.
Still I'd rather opt for the slow painful death vs. cancellation in the Simpsons case.
I'd agree with JSP but I will also point out that "satisfactory" for The Simpsons means LOL hilarious. I caught the Topher Grace episode last Sunday and chuckled several times.
I also thought the movie was fan-tastic. A lot of people said it was just like a long episode of the show and to them I say: Yes! Yes it was, and isn't that awesome?
Not just long but paricularly good. They brought back all of their best writers, punched up the script so many times it technically had over 200 rewrites, and overall really brought their A-game to the show. What more could a Simpsons fan want?
spider pig
spider pig
does whatever a spider pig does.
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