The Simpsons is a true phenomenon. Not only is it tv's longest running sitcom (and an animated one at that) but it has graced pretty much every medium and paraphernalia known to man including clothing, lunchboxes, stamps, DVDs, a feature film, video games and of course comic books. Loved by all for a time, many now feel that the show has run its course and is simply not as funny as it used to be. However you feel about it the fact remains that it is still Fox's biggest money spinner and now it seems like the show may finally be cancelled due to a money dispute between them and the show's main voice cast. Doh?
From The Daily Beast
The reason is a negotiating impasse between the studio and the six principal actors who voice the beloved characters on the animated series that hilariously satirizes middle-class Midwestern angst.
Difficult bargaining is nothing new for the show, which was created by James L. Brooks and Matt Groening. Fox studio execs have occasionally threatened to replace uncooperative cast members with sound-alike actors. But for the first time in nearly a quarter century of haggling, the executives have insisted that if the cast doesn’t accept a draconian 45 percent pay cut, The Simpsons will die an abrupt death as a first-run series.
Apparently 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 Szyslak, Chief Wiggum and Apu Nahasapeemapetilon), and Harry Shearer (Mr. Burns, Principal Skinner, Ned Flanders, and others) were willing to take a cut of around 30% with
"a tiny percentage of the show’s huge back-end profits", but that isn't good enough for Fox. Who knows what will happen but if the ultimatum holds we could well be looking at the end of tv's most famous family. How would you guys feel about that?
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