Simpsons strike...post here if any developments (1 Viewer)

[MatthewA]

I would like to propose an ongoing thread if I may, to discuss the Simpsons voice actor strike.

I am interested in any new developments. All I can find is this from IMDb:

Will 'Simpsons' Actors' Holdout Pay Off?

The "strike" by the cast of Fox's The Simpsons has caused Fox to consider rejiggering its Sunday-night lineup for the fall season or replace the voice ensemble, USA Today reported today (Monday). The newspaper said that, given the network's commitment to post-season baseball and its backlog of six unaired episodes, no change is likely to be implemented until January. Nevertheless, the network must decide how to proceed before it can begin selling spots in the 8:00 p.m. Sunday time slot during the upfront sales market beginning May 20. While the newspaper observed that it was "highly unlikely" that Fox would replace the cast members since "new voices would seem jarring to fans," the voices of comic characters have often been recreated by others in the past. Henry Corden took over the voice of Fred Flintstone after the death of Alan Reed in 1977. Barney Rubble has been played by four actors. All of the voices of Looney Tunes characters created by the late Mel Blanc were recreated by others, principally his son Noel, after Blanc's death in 1989. Many of the voices of the Muppet characters created by Jim Henson were reproduced by Henson's son Bryan after Henson's death in 1990. At least four actors have imitated Clarence Nash's Donald Duck impersonation since Nash's death in 1985. Indeed, the voice of Mickey Mouse, originally provided by Walt Disney himself, has, over the years, been supplied by four other actors.
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My thoughts are that Fox doesn't need The Simpsons to survive anymore. They have four (presumably profitable) cable networks, American Idol, 24, The OC, and other network hits, making them #3 out of 6 broadcast networks. Writing quality has ranged from funny to out-and-out embarassing this year. Now would be a proper time to say your last "d'oh"'s and close up shop.

On the other hand, the show is rated #36 in the Nielsens per: http://www.allyourtv.com/ratingsseason.html and money is money to Fox, so it could go either way.

 

[MarkHastings]

I just heard they make like $125,000 per episode and now are demanding like $325,000?

 

[WillG]

Well as people have pointed out in other threads about this, look at what the cast of Friends got. NBC offered Jerry Seinfeld 5 MILLION!!! an episode for one more season (which he declined)

True, the actors on the Simpsons don't have to put in a many hours, but they are just as important to a successful show. Personally, I am of the opinion that Simpsons past its prime is still better than no Simpsons at all, so I hope this gets resolved (and usually it does at the last minute). And also for the record, I thought last night's episode was hilarious so the show does still have quality.

 

[Casey Trowbridg]

I've said this before, and I'll say it again I am on the actors' side this time. Fox will be making money off the Simpsons long after the show is canceled, and long after these actors are done providing the voices, they've only got a limited opportunity to get what they can. Its all about what a person is worth, sure to the average person's wage the Simpsons actors are paid well or overpaid if you will, but for the amount of money made off of their work, they're not being paid enough.

I hit this before also, but I'll hit it again. You can't replace these actors, good luck trying though. A couple reasons this can't be done.
1. Sure, you might find someone that can do a good Mr. Burns. But, can that person also do a good Skinner, Lovejoy, Smithers, Hibert and on and on and on?
2. Voice acting is a tight nit group, and I doubt that any top notch voice talent would cross up their friends like that, I don't think for instance that the voice of Mr. Burns will be provided by someone like Maurice LaMarsch.
3. Replacing these actors will take more than 6 people I can almost guarantee that to be true, and so Fox could end up spending a lot more money to replace them than they would spend just to pay them the increase.
4. In all those cases mentioned in the IMDB article all the replacements were because of death of the original. Besides, in the case of Blanc, just look at how many different people it takes to do all the characters that were once done by just one person?
5. The voice is so important and so intrenched in our society. As an exercise someone once said try to imagine the voice of Fred Flintstone coming out of the mouth of Homer Simpson, its not easy.

Sure, the voice is only half the acting performance, the animation is the other half, but even the animaters will say that they get a lot of character movement from watching the voice actors when recording the voice.

I do agree though that half assed Simpsons is better than no Simpsons, and not only that but is better than practically anything else on TV anyway.