Harry Shearer wants to leave The Simpsons. (1 Viewer)

[Keith Paynter]

The show is a cash cow for Fox, although the management still doesn't get it. Why do you think the show gets away with so many put-downs of the Fox network?

The show is in free-fall, with very little of the sophisticated humour it had 10 years ago. There is no more character developement - in fact the show seems to relish in changing a character then putting them back. When the show relies on episodes that change characters but have them back to normal (such as Armin Tanzarian, Marge's breasts or Homer's brain crayon) what's the point? Where are the shows that played on pop culture?

The writing well is dry. That's Shearer's point, and I'm inclined to agree. Fox just won't let it die.

 

[Jim Dalton]

How come these people do their complaining overseas?

Hey Harry! Show some guts and go write something in one of the Hollywood publications about your concerns.

He sounds like an over-paid crybaby who feels guilty about being so successful. If he doesn't like the show that much, why doesn't he just quit?

 

[Will_B]

In a sense that's right! He's being asked to choose the blood money of being well paid to be in a creatively dead program, or to leave. He surely does feel guilty for staying on and betraying his ideals (of what a good program could be) for some coin. The whole cast probably feels that way. Sounds like the producer doesn't see that as a problem!

Shearer is either more confident or more arrogant than the rest of the cast in believing he could make it without that particular paycheck. So he picked the role of the group's "malcontent," stating the obvious and seeing what happens.

 

[AnthonyC]

I don't think The Simpsons is nearly as bad as everyone says it is these days. Sure, it's not the same as it was eight or nine years ago, but it's still good IMHO.

So wait...how many more seasons are we guaranteed?

 

[Dan Rudolph]

Simpsons lately starts off each season with horrid crap, but generally improves after a couple months. There's some rule that the first 8 or so episodes of each season can't be good. Must be a union thing.

 

[Jim Dalton]

 

[Adam Lenhardt]

But how many shows have ever been on as long as the Simpsons? One can probably count them with their fingers.

 

[RyanAn]

If he leaves, then they should just end the show. I LOVE THE SIMPSONS to no end, being it is my favorite television show of all time, and I can not see the show with out Mr. Burns, Reverend Lovejoy, etc.

Ryan

 

[Malcolm R]

It shouldn't be too hard to replace him. They managed to replace Mel Blanc and Jim Henson after all.

 

[Jeff Jacobson]

Al Jean posted a response here. (Or at least these people say Al Jean sent them the message and told them to post it.)



That would take about 20 or 30 people, though. Also, the other voice actors probably would not go along with it. (See the discussion from when the actors were renegotiating their contract for more of this discussion.)

 

[MatthewA]

Malcolm,

Blanc and Henson died, so it's not quite apples and apples here. Blanc, though, was in a near-fatal car wreck in 1962 which affected his vocal performances the remainder of his life.

And who said they would fire him or that he'd quit? If Shearer has been a pain for so long, why have they not fired him and why did he not quit?

And as for the number of shows with at least as many seasons, prime-time shows with 15 seasons or more (per "The Complete Guide to Prime-Time Network and Cable TV Shows"):

20/20:26 seasons
60 Minutes:36 seasons
Disney anthology:34 seasons
Ed Sullivan Show, The:24 seasons
Gunsmoke:20 seasons
I've Got a Secret:15 seasons
Jack Benny Show, The:15 seasons
Kraft Television Theatre:16 seasons
Lassie:17 seasons
Lawrence Welk Show, The:27 seasons
Monday Night Baseball:18 seasons
Monday Night Football:34 seasons
Red Skelton Show, The:18 seasons
Saturday Night Live:29 seasons
The Jackie Gleason Show15 seasons (the book includes "The Honeymooners" as part of this)
The Perry Como Show:15 seasons
Tonight Show, The:50 seasons
What's My Line?:18 seasons

So there are 18 other shows with 15 or more seasons. Adam, unfortunately I can't count them on my hands unless I were to grow four more fingers on each hand.

And this only counts prime time shows. If I were to include daytime soap operas, news, game shows, and children's shows, the list would be much higher. If "Meet the Press," which debuted in 1947 and is still running, ended today, it would take "The Simpsons" 37 years to catch up with it. This show's long run is atypical only for narrative shows in prime-time.

 

[Malcolm R]

Why? There are other voice actors out there capable of doing more than one voice. Harry Shearer isn't unique in this.

Plus, there are not 20-30 characters on the entire Simpsons that are identifiable by voice only. As long as they find someone to cover the main characters, it wouldn't really matter if the secondary characters were slightly different.

I am so tired of voice talent bitching and moaning. They make millions of dollars to stand in a studio and talk. Unlike other performing actors, they don't even have to worry about their looks or appearance. They can show up in a bathrobe and unshowered if they want and still do the job and collect the paycheck. Suck it up, people. As Al Jean said in his reply, real people with real jobs (i.e. firemen, teachers, etc.) make considerably less. Hell, the salary of the President of the United States is only $400,000 per year.

You people are blessed ... painful though it may be, find some way to live with it. :rolleyes

 

[Casey Trowbridg]

Not many, but don't just consider shows that have been on for 15 years, think of it as sort of a range thing. How many shows that have been on for 10 seasons or more held the magic, or were consistently great from season 1 through conclusion. There were surely a number of shows on in that same range as the Simpsons, even if not all of them ran for 16 seasons plus.

 

[Casey Trowbridg]

Voice actors making as much as Simpsons acteors do is very rare indeed, in fact its limited to the Simpson actors. Voice actors have another problem often, perfectly qualified voice actors are often not cast for parts in movies and such because the producers are looking for big name celebrities. Billy West is one of the most talented voice actors in the business today, and what was the name of the last big budget film he was the star of?

Sure, they make a lot of money in comparison to other people, but how much revenue do teachers generate? How much money does the Simpsons generate? Sometimes, often its not about who does the most important work, its about who's work brings in the most capital, that's why athletes make millions of dollars per year, because the sports they play bring in revenue that is in the billions of dollars a year.

Oh, and thanks Matthew for the entire list of shows that have been on for that long, I still think you can make the argument based on a range of time as well, but some of those shows you mentioned I had no idea they were on for that long.

 

[Casey Trowbridg]

Something else to consider with the idea of why not simply replace him with someone else just as capable, and this argument came up when the six of them went on strike. The voice talent community is very tight, and it is doubtful that any of the really talented voice actors would want to do any of his parts as long as he is still alive, and this would be especially true if he was fired from the show. So, if the top talent doesn't even want the job then you're probably going to get an inferior talent, or someone looking to make a buck.

Oh, and a lot of those characters are identified by the voice first even if you don't know it or believe it to be so. Try and imagine the voice of Homer Simpson coming out of the mouth of Fred Flintstone.

 

[Kevin Hewell]

Matthew, some of those shows listed, such as SNL and The Tonight Show are not prime time shows. Plus, how many of those shows had their seasons aired consecutively? Just curious.

 

[Anthony Hom]

Some of those 15+ season shows should not be compared with the Simpsons. Shows like Monday Night Baseball/Football are live sports events, no real scripts. 20/20, 60 minutes, are news magazines that just broadcast the news in a dresssed up format. Shows like Ed Sullivan, Perry Como are variety shows which depend on guest stars every week. I would consider Gunsmoke and maybe Jack Benny as comparatives.

 

[MickeS]

That, however would be a good reason.

/Mike

 

[Moe Maishlish]

I can't say that I agree with this comment at all.

How much revenue does a teacher generate? Way more than any voice actor, athlete, or CEO!

Why? Well, look at it this way. What's the end product that a teacher is supposed to produce? An educated individual, knowledgeable and able to go out into the real world and produce. Every member of our productive & civilized society (well, almost everyone) are a "product" of teachers and the educational system, and as a result their incomes & revenues are a direct result of the teachings of the teacher, and as such they can all be considered the "revenue" of the teacher.

Every one of these voice actors is educated in some way. Sure, their ability to manipulate their voice may not be in any way associated with their educations...

...but their ability to read that piece of paper with Mr. Burns' lines printed on it is the result of the year spent in Mrs. Goldschpiel's class in 1st grade. If it wasn't for that teacher (in most contexts... I'm sure some parents help their kids' educational processes), then I'm sure that most children wouldn't be able to perform in normal society; and by extension to that, if Mr. Schearer could not read, he would not be able to perform his various Simpsons character voices in the studio.

Moe.

 

[Will_B]

Except that table reads aren't recorded, they're rehearsals.