The Simpsons could get cancelled...

[Josh]

A Simpsons Channel...gtfo.

 

[GagHalfrunt]

There are three actors on the show (Dan Castallaneta, Harry Shearer and Hank Azaria) who are responsible for roughly 90% of all the male voices in the show. You might be able to find someone who can do a good Homer Simpson, but you'd be hard-pressed to find someone who can do every single voice that Dan Castallaneta does. Those $10k checks are going to start to pile up when you're spreading them around dozens of different voice actors as opposed to a few.

And if you're paying somebody to do a single minor character you pay them FAR less and you only use them part time. How many episodes do Kent Brockman or Rev. Flanders appear on? Let's be generous and say half. You pay them $1000 a day which is itself generous, SAG scale wage for somebody like that would be $400 a day or so. If he appears in 12 episodes out of 22 you're paying $12,000 ANNUALLY. Get one person like that to cover 20 of Dan Castallaneta's minor roles like Krusty and Barney and over the entire season you're paying about HALF of what Dan makes FOR A SINGLE EPISODE.

 

[Atomic Playboy]

Paying a voiceover person $400,000 per episode for an hours worth of work per week is ridiculous. When running a business you ask two questions when setting a salary for an employee: What is the value of the work being done and what would it cost to get someone equally competent to do the same job?

Voiceover actors work significantly more than one hour a week. Just browsing around on Wikipedia I found an excerpt from an interview with Dan Castallaneta where he talks about having to change Homer's voice in the early recording sessions because he couldn't sustain his original planned voice for 9-10 hour sessions. Now, whether it's worth $400,000 a week... I would be inclined to say "No," but the value of the work is whatever someone is willing to pay for it, and up til now that seems to be OK for FOX.

Also, replacing actors on shows doesn't end well. People have gotten used to the Simpsons over the last 22 years; they're going to recognize if Homer sounds a little off. And you're not just talking about replacing Homer; you're talking about replacing every single character on the show. That's a major overhaul, and most fans would get upset. Case in point, when they were talking about bringing Futurama back a few years ago, there was serious talk that they would not be bringing back the original voice actors (because they wanted too much money). After the ensuing internet uproar, they decided it would be better to bring back the original cast; it may cost more, but it also doesn't alienate fans (who are the only reason these shows are profitable).

 

[busydude]

People did not seem to bother when Chalie Sheen was being paid >$1.5 million per episode.

 

[ViviTheMage]

The movie should have been the nail.

 

[busydude]

The movie should have been the nail.

I hope they make another movie. Loved the first one.

 

[Macamus Prime]

Are the execs taking a pay cut too?

That's UNAMERICAN, you communist!!!!!shift+1!!!!!!

On topic; seasons 3 to 10 were the golden years. Anything else is just,... meh.

 

[Eli]

I think you folks saying that nobody would notice if the voice actors changed are kidding yourselves.

People would notice immediately, no matter how good the impersonator was.

 

[feralkid]

I would hope (and I bet it's true) that Groening and the other producers of the show wouldn't go for that. They, not Fox, still own the rights to the show and what to do with it.

Fox tried the same thing with Futurama. Did not fly.



edit: A.P. covered that in above post.

 

[zinfamous]

shit should have been canceled long, long ago.

that said, I am assuming the Fox lineup has a ton of other useless shit that could be cut.

yeah, but all of that costs them pennies, and makes boatloads.

 

[Triumph]

And if you're paying somebody to do a single minor character you pay them FAR less and you only use them part time. How many episodes do Kent Brockman or Rev. Flanders appear on? Let's be generous and say half. You pay them $1000 a day which is itself generous, SAG scale wage for somebody like that would be $400 a day or so. If he appears in 12 episodes out of 22 you're paying $12,000 ANNUALLY. Get one person like that to cover 20 of Dan Castallaneta's minor roles like Krusty and Barney and over the entire season you're paying about HALF of what Dan makes FOR A SINGLE EPISODE.

You are completely underestimating the contribution of the voice over actors to the show. I guarantee you that I would notice the difference immediately, no matter how good the stand-in. Your entire premise sounds like any number of bad ideas Krusty the Clown has had to sell his fans something cheap and the fools will keep buying.

I'm trying to think of any show that remained successful after replacing one major character (let alone replacing the entire cast), and I can't come up with anything good except maybe MASH, but that's different because they replaced the characters entirely and not simply put a new actor in place of an old one. They replaced the mom on Fresh Prince but she wasn't much of a character to begin with, same with the older daughter on Roseanne, but the original actress eventually came back.

Remember when Jim Henson died and they had to find new voice actors for all of the Muppet characters? Yeah, they did not sound the same...

 

[DrPizza]

They make that much money per episode, because people are willing to pay as much as they do for cable.

 

[DrPizza]

Re: replacing voices - it's just a voice - much harder to notice than an entire person. Yet, many series have successfully replaced stars & survived just fine.
Bewitched - two Darrins.

But, for all the ancillary characters - Krusty, Flanders, etc., just write them off and write in new characters with new quirks. The show could use something fresh - a few new characters might spark some more life into the show. The problem they have now, is "hey, that new character sounds just like the other character that Castallaneta does."

 

[QuantumPion]

i've always wondered exactly how much work goes into voice over for tv shows and movies, as far as the actors go. i would think that for an episode of the simpsons, it would literally take the people like a day's worth of work to get the actual recordings done.

Funny interview by Tom Hanks regarding this.

 

[QuantumPion]

Re: replacing voices - it's just a voice - much harder to notice than an entire person. Yet, many series have successfully replaced stars & survived just fine.
Bewitched - two Darrins.

But, for all the ancillary characters - Krusty, Flanders, etc., just write them off and write in new characters with new quirks. The show could use something fresh - a few new characters might spark some more life into the show. The problem they have now, is "hey, that new character sounds just like the other character that Castallaneta does."

I think the problem is that Bart has been 10 years old for 23 years. Unlike real live sitcoms, the Simpsons characters never change or evolve in any way.

 

[DrPizza]

This is well worth the read.
http://www.povonline.com/cols/COL267.htm

 

[BoomerD]

shit should have been canceled long, long ago.

that said, I am assuming the Fox lineup has a ton of other useless shit that could be cut.

No shit. By season 3 or 4, the shtick was getting old and tired. This show should have died out many years ago.

 

[preslove]

They've ruined the legacy of that show, one of the best comedies in the history of TV, by keeping it on for 10+ more seasons than it should have lasted. It has been terrible for longer than it was ever good.

I don't care why it's canceled, just get that pathetic excuse for the 'simpsons' off tv.

 

[DominionSeraph]

Re: replacing voices - it's just a voice - much harder to notice than an entire person. Yet, many series have successfully replaced stars & survived just fine.
Bewitched - two Darrins.

Dick Sargent was nowhere near as good as Dick York and the ratings did tank after the switch in the 6th season.

1) 1964–65 # 2 (31.0)
2) 1965–66 # 7 (25.9)
3) 1966–67 # 8 (23.4)
4) 1967–68 # 11 (23.5)
5) 1968–69 # 12 (23.3)
6) 1969–70 # 25 (20.6)
7) 1970–71 # 34 (15.0)
8) 1971–72 # 72 (10.0)

 

[Ns1]

well that was anticlimatic

FOX has renewed THE SIMPSONS, the longest-running comedy in television history, for an incredible 24th and 25th season, bringing the series total to an astonishing 559 episodes. THE SIMPSONS airs Sundays (8:00-8:30 PM ET/PT) on FOX.

 

[BrokenVisage]

Dan Castellaneta (Homer) makes like half a million per episode still, but I guess not after the pay cut he won't. Nice to see the Simpsons will get to 25 seasons though, they still have some gas left in the tank if you ask me. Guess it helps that Family Guy is just putrid garbage at this point.

 

[Bateluer]

Can't they just hire voice impersonators? There are plenty of people that can do good Homer or Bart impersonations and would love to get $10K per episode. I don't think the actors own the voices.

I'm thinking this would actually piss off a LOT of people.

 

[brianmanahan]

i watched the show when it came out and i was like, "that's retarded". and i was < 10 years old.

 

[Fingolfin269]

If the show is still highly profitable then it obviously shouldn't have been canned 'x years ago'.

 

[Bateluer]

Lot of hate towards The Simpsons from the elitists at ATOT. Jealousy because Dan makes 500K an episode and most here make barely minimum wage?