Fox can't afford 'Simpsons' anymore without big pay cuts

[groundloop]

Source: MSNBC

The future of animated TV comedy "The Simpsons" was up in the air on Tuesday after 20th Century Fox Television said it could no longer afford to produce the show without a huge pay cut for its cast

Fox Television, a unit of News Corp, issued a tough statement after a report that it had threatened to end the subversive series unless the voice actors take a 45 percent pay cut......

"The Simpsons" is the longest-running comedy series on U.S. television and is currently in its 23rd season on Fox. The show also generates billions of dollars through global syndication, as well as DVD and merchandise sales.





Read more: http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/44777290/ns/today-entertainment/

---

Not that the voice actors are poor, making somewhere around $8 million per year according to the article, but I don't see News Corp executives offering to take a 45 percent pay cut.

[rurallib]

1. they should cut O'Reilly, Hannity, Palin, Coulter

and use the to pay the Simpson's cast

[valerief]

4. They should cut, chop, and dice those assholes. nt

[liberal N proud]

18. The O'Reilly wouldn't have need to complain about tax increases on the rich

Win/win situation if you ask me.

[yellerpup]

2. Those actors are union members.

I doubt the union would go for that deal. I doubt the talent will. :sarcasm:

[Botany]

3. The Simpsons paid for all of Fox's bills for a long time ...

.... Don't fuck w/ Rev. Lovejoy he is a tough son of a bitch.

[TheWraith]

5. Honestly, I think it's long past time to retire The Simpsons.

Yeah, it was a great show in it's heyday, but nothing lasts forever. Running the same show for decades is too much.

[schmice]

8. retire the Simpsons?

Don't watch.

[wickerwoman]

19. I haven't for 13 years.

The handful I've seen since 1998 have just been embarrassing.

It used to be a great show but now it's a zombie cartoon. Even the cast think its shit based on Harry Shearer's comments (he'd quit in a heartbeat if they weren't paying him so much).

I suspect Fox wants to pull the plug but don't want to be the bad guys so they're setting it up to look like its the actors who are making it impossible to continue rather than the fact that the show ran its course more than a decade ago.

[NYC Liberal]

37. Bingo: I think you've nailed it.

I suspect Fox wants to pull the plug but don't want to be the bad guys so they're setting it up to look like its the actors who are making it impossible to continue rather than the fact that the show ran its course more than a decade ago.

[richmwill]

13. Thankfully, I have the first 9 seasons on DVD...

...After that point, there was a huge drop-off in quality, in my opinion. To the point where it's hardly watchable now.

[MilesColtrane]

24. The best years were when Conan O'Brien was producing the show.

Season nine sounds about right.

I remember one of the last funny episodes was the first time they featured Stephen Hawking as a guest star.

[Kolesar]

30. I hate the Bart Simpson character

I can't watch the show

[global1]

They Must Be Getting To Close For Comfort To The Truth......nt

[demigoddess]

7. sounds like they are trying to kill off the show without

catching any fallout for doing so. "it was a financial decision"!!

[schmice]

10. financial decision

And yet FOX will still be making a bundle. A 45% paycut? Which FOX talking head would agree to do that to keep their show going? Hannity? O'Reilly? No.

[Codeine]

27. The Simpsons? Hardly.

They're about as dangerous and subversive as Charles In Charge.

[bluedigger]

6. They're using anti-rich populist sentiment to strong arm their talent.

How the fuck does anybody work for that network?

[ScottLand]

9. Fox wouldn't still exist without The Simpsons and Married With Children.

"Thanks for giving birth to us, now fuck off!"

[Adenoid_Hynkel]

26. and they canned MWC w/o fanfare or a proper last episode

it may very well happen to the Simpsons at some point - something that, in the show's prime, would have seemed unimaginable

[CoffeeCat]

11. I have one thing to say to Fox...

[alp227]

17. that's the Nelson Muntz "HA ha!" but for some reason the image doesn't show

maybe the site bans hot linking

[CBHagman]

12. More bad publicity for Rupert and Roger...

...and their evil minions. Sex scandals, anti-Semitism, phone hacking, and more. It would be strange if this latest brouhaha was what tainted them the most. We shall see.

[chollybocker]

14. Rupert's legal bills must be piling up....

lol

Matt Groening & Co. should just jump ship and start their own network. Then they can keep all creative control, reap in the royalties, etc., and maybe give The Simpsons a good shot in the arm.

[City Lights]

34. GMTA!

I knew if I looked through the responses, I'd find one about Rupie's legal bills! :toast:

[chollybocker]

44. I have no idea what GMTA! means, but I do enjoy my beers!

:toast:

[City Lights]

45. Great Minds Think Alike!

:toast:

[dhill926]

15. heard somewhere that the actors offered.....

to take a 30% cut in salary in exchange for a percentage of the profits.

[Robbins]

16. Well

If The Simpsons leaves Fox.I won't have to watch Fox at all anymore.Since January 2010 after
final episode of DollHouse aired I have only been watching The Simpsons on Fox,and refuse to watch
any new show.Fox has cancled shows I watch too many times.I wish Firefly,and Dollhouse were treated
like Fringe.

The studio tried same thing with Futurama.Threating to replace voice cast.I don't see network or
studio executives taking a 45 pay cut.If Homer,Bart,and others suddenly sound different some will
quit watching.

[Bucky]

20. They've had a good run... scratch that: an *exceptional* run. All TV shows end.

and they always end for the very reasons the Simpsons is ending now. I can't believe anyone is seeing anything other than a straightforward business decision here (Yes, I can; it's DU). If Fox was out to "censor" the Simpsons, the show wouldn't have had its run for two decades. I used to watch the Simpsons religiously. That was about a decade ago. Life moves on. It's really a wonderful show; like "Family Guy" with jokes.

Hey, wasn't this the same reasoning they used when they cancelled Futurama?

[ohbill]

21. I say let The Simpsons go to Comedy Central.

I watch Futurama more often, anyhow.

[Bucky]

42. If they wouldn't take the pay cut Fox was asking, I doubt they'd take the cut Comedy Central could.

[Kolesar]

29. Who said it's "censored"?

Besides you??

[spirit of wine]

22. How phone hacking affects cartoons

Nobody is safe not even Springfield.

[benld74]

23. Simpsons going to Cable - FOX going DOWN THE DRAIN!!!!!!!

[Adenoid_Hynkel]

25. they go through this every few years

and end up compromising with the talent and working out an agreement.
It will happen again, though they don't have the bargaining power they once had. Seth MacFarlane's crap-o-rama has replaced Groening as FOX's cash cow.

that said, the show is very long in the tooth, has lost its relevance and has seen a steady decline in quality since the 10th season back in 1999.

[SnakeEyes]

28. News Corp is the parent company

Subsidiaries are run separate. Finances are separate. To try and link a pay cut on Fox Broadcast with money spent on Fox News is a misunderstanding of the structure of companies such as News Corp or NBC/Universal or whatever.

[No Elephants]

32. That is technically so at the corporate level, but not at the level that really matters, namely,

the stockholder level.

Yes, parents and subs account for monies separately, but all profits ultimately go to the stockholders.

If total profits remain level or increase, do stockholders really care if Fox News made a greater profit than last year because their "talent" accepted a decrease in salary, while Fox Entertainment made a lesser profit than last year because their talent got a raise?

[Ian David]

31. The Simpsons pays Bill O'Reilly's salary. n/t

[vminfla]

35. Bill O'Reilly's salary is wholly independent of the Simpsons

These shows are not even in the same business unit. That is like saying Sofia Vergara's haircuts are paid by General Electric because GE owns NBC.

[Crowman1979]

33. Kiss your cash cow GOODBYE newscorpse!

[NoGOPZone]

36. The words of Troy McClure as voiced by the late Phil Hartman have finally come to pass

"Who knows what adventures they'll have between now and the time the show becomes unprofitable?"

[Mosby]

38. i have never watched an episode of the simpsons

I stopped watching cartoons when I was a little kid.

[Downtown Hound]

39. Let it go.

It was a great show, and even today I don't think it's as bad as some here claim (although it is nowhere near as good as it used to be).

But more than two decades is enough. I much prefer it when shows end while they're still great, before they become tired and boring. And while The Simpsons isn't quite there yet, it's getting mighty close. So let it die an honorable death.

[BlueIris]

43. Just my thoughts.

Last time I watched, '05 or so, it was a sad parody of itself. Very sad.

[fascisthunter]

40. awwwww... poor Murdoch and Fox.... awwwww

[KamaAina]

41. As Bart would say...

http://nickspicz.yolasite.com/resources/lghrf00148+bart-simpson-eat-my-shorts-the-simpsons-mini-poster.jpg