“Can’t you stop it, Dad?” – Bart Simpson “I’m trying my best!” – Homer Simpson “The lever you have pulled – Brakes – is not in service. Please make a note of it.” – Monorail Computer Voice As you may have heard by now, Zombie Simpsons got renewed for two more production runs yesterday. This will bring the total episode count up to a near Satanic 669 and fill out Season 29 and 30(!). The press release and all the articles I saw didn’t mention it, but I believe that this is not a new contract, but rather FOX picking up…
Category: Rumor Control
Shearer Not Gone After All
“In that family, nobody trusted nobody. They even brought their lawyers to Thanksgiving dinner.” – Abe “Grampa” Simpson Harry Shearer has decided to keep doing voices for Zombie Simpsons: Harry Shearer returning to The Simpsons You don’t really need to click that link, it’s mostly nothing and even repeats the dubiously sourced $300,000 per episode number, but it’s been confirmed by a couple of other outlets. The article also says that Shearer signed the same contract as the other five cast members, which (if true) means that money really wasn’t the issue and Shearer really did think the show was…
Rumor Control: Shearer Negotiations Still Open
“Is Mom gonna have another baby, Dad?” – Lisa Simpson “Maybe.” – Homer Simpson Apologies for the lack of Compare & Contrast, Reading Digest, and general radio silence around these parts the last couple of days. My Dad went in for a long planned surgery yesterday (which went fine), but between that, work, and the Shearer kerfuffle, regular blogging fell down a hole without even the benefit of Leonard’s carcass to land on. In terms of actual Simpsons news, there have been two developments of note. The first is Shearer related, though it needs to be kept in context. Good…
Please Stop With the $14 Million Number
“If I’d spent my life listening to Dismal Doras like you, I wouldn’t be worth two-hundred-million dollars today.” – C.M. Burns “But according to your most recent biography, you only have one-hundred-million dollars today.” – Lisa Simpson “I’ve ha-, . . . I’ve . . . ” – C.M. Burns “Um, actually, sir, it’s, uh, considerably less than that.” – Mr. Smithers A nice, headline grabbing number, preferably with a dollar sign next to it, is a well known pageview booster. So let this be my usual renewal related reminder that there is no creditable public information on what the current or…
Rumor Control: Harry Shearer (Possibly/Probably) Leaving Zombie Simpsons
“Nobody’s mentioned me, have they?” – Principal Skinner “I thought I heard someone say your name in the cafeteria, but they might have been saying ‘skim milk’.” – Bart Simpson The internet is full of reports that Harry Shearer will not be doing voices for the recently announced two season renewal. This being the internet, the certitude of the headlines ran a bit ahead of the actual information. Here are the facts: 1. Over the last couple of days, TMZ (I know, gross) reported that Shearer was not on board with the most recent renewal. 2. Late last night (though…
Zombie Simpsons Renewed For Forty-Four More Episodes
♫”If this old clown was found dead in his bed tomorrow/ I’d be in heaven, still doing this show!”♫ – Krusty the Klown This here blog has been live on the internet for six years and change. In that time we’ve seen four renewal announcements, including last night’s. Here are the details: – two more full production runs of 22 episodes each – will take the show through Season 28 and give it the first seven episodes of a Season 29(!) – new guaranteed episode total of 625(!!) – the next time to look for a renewal announcement will be…
Epic Agreement (And Show Still on Hiatus)
“Holy moly, nine-thirty! Hello, Marge, sorry I didn’t call, but it’s been a madhouse down here. Yeah, these twelve hour days are killing me.” – Homer Simpson My apologies, but there won’t be a Reading Digest this week. I am eyeballs deep in my stupid real job. However, there are two things I’d like to note. First, the radio silence regarding the show being on hiatus continues. I checked a few staff Twitter accounts and haven’t seen peep outside of Jean responding to someone from No Homers that the negotiations are ongoing. (Sadly, Isabel Vega has deleted her Twitter account…
Zombie Simpsons Renewal Goes to Overtime
“Hey, you know we’re getting into golden time?” – Estonian Actor “Yes, well just get it right or you’ll all be back doing ‘Come Blow Your Horn’ at the Westport dinner theater!” – C.M. Burns Six months ago, we got word from Al Jean himself that the current TABF production run was indeed a full twenty-two episode order. The most recent episode was TABF10, which means that they have twelve more episodes to broadcast under the current contract. Last night, commenter Mr. Incognito e-mailed me to let me know that Erika Isabel Vega, who’s been with the show since 2006,…
Renewal Announcement Overdue [Updated]
“Sweet, trusting Marge, I can’t let you down. I’ll get some money somehow. . . . Hello, Vegas? Gimme a hundred bucks on red. . . . D’oh! Alright, I’ll send you a check.” – Homer Simpson It’s now officially mid-October and there has been no announcement from FOX or anyone else about next season. For most shows, that wouldn’t be an issue, but for Zombie Simpsons, which is wildly asynchronous with the rest of network television’s renew/cancel announcements, it’s very odd. Thanks to the show’s ancient pedigree and very long production schedule, the last couple of renewal announcements have come…
Renewal Season: Watching the Wall
“Hey, Red Hot Chili Peppers, would you guys like to appear on a Krusty the Klown special?” – Bart Simpson “Sure, if you can get us out of this gig.” – Flea “No problemo. Hey, Moe, look over there!” – Bart Simpson “What? What am I looking at? I don’t see nothing. I’m gonna stop looking soon. What? What, is that it?” – Moe “Hey, Moe, can I look too?” – Homer Simpson “Sure, but it’ll cost you.” – Moe “My wallet’s in the car.” – Homer Simpson “He is so stupid. And now back to the wall.” – Moe…
Hey, Everybody, Season 24 Is Over
“Hi, kids! . . . What the . . . is this Saturday?” – Krusty the Klown I’m still going to do Behind Us Forever for this week’s episodes, but the last two days have not been kind in terms of free time. In the interim, how about a little ratings schadenfreude? Sunday’s episodes both scored dismal ratings, with the first one (“The Saga of Carl”) coming in at just 4.01 million viewers, and “Dangers on a Train” bumping up a bit to 4.52 million. The former is good for #2 on the all time least watched list, with even…
Silence Is Golden
“It’s your fault I can’t talk.” – Maggie Simpson Perhaps the only really interesting thing to come out of “Lisa Goes Gaga” was the surprise announcement at the end of “The Longest Daycare”, a 3D short that will be shown before Ice Age 4, starting on July 13th. (FOX has helpfully put the announcement on YouTube, should you wish to relive all ten seconds of it.) At present, everything the internet knows about this thing comes from the brief announcement itself and from a quickie interview Al Jean gave to ew.com. Literally every other story I saw about “The Longest…
Duff McKagan and Duff Beer: An Internet Investigation
“You said if I slept with you, I wouldn’t have to touch the drunk.” – Titania “Duffman says a lot of things! Oh, yeah!” – Duffman In a Reading Digest last spring, I noted that Duff McKagan, bass player for (among others) Guns N’ Roses, Velvet Revolver, and Loaded, had claimed that Duff beer was named after him. It came up again last summer, and has been bubbling up on-line ever since. In addition to it being noted in articles and the like about him, McKagan himself has mentioned it several times. In an ESPN.com column he wrote: My name…
Who Gives a Shit “Where” Springfield Is?
“Now, they may ask you to locate your town on a map of the US. So, let’s do that . . . uh, Springfield, Springfield . . . um, right here.” – Homer Simpson “Dad, you’re not pointing anywhere near Springfield.” – Lisa Simpson When I saw my Twitter and inbox begin to go bonkers because Groening apparently said the “real” Springfield is the one in Oregon, I thought “huh” and made a note of it for Reading Digest. Then it kept going, literally every item in my Google Alert for “The Simpsons” was related to it, and I even…
The End of Zombie Simpsons: The Reset Button Has Been Pushed
“Hey, listen! Now, my story begins in nineteen-dickety-two. We had to say ‘dickety’ ’cause the Kaiser had stolen our word ‘twenty’. I chased that rascal to get it back, but gave up after dickety-six miles.” – Abe “Grampa” Simpson After all of this week’s twisting and ill sourced hoopla, the end came during the media dead time of Friday evening. Zombie Simpsons may only occasionally be capable of a decent joke, but there is an undeniable humor to that. As for the deal itself, the true numbers haven’t been released, and in all likelihood they never will be. The last…
Zombies Never Die
“Chapter Eight, let’s talk zombies. If a zombie bites you, you become a zombie. You must walk the Earth feeding on the brains of the living until the spell is broken.” – Bart Simpson It’s official, Zombie Simpsons lives to bore another day. James L. Brooks just tweeted it (via): That’ll take it through Season 25, or at least the spring of 2014. Neither side is likely to release any detailed figures but, as with every other time they’ve gone through this goofy public fit, mutual financial benefit won the day. I’ll do a more informative update when there’s some…
Reading Digest: Rumor Control Edition (Updated)
“After breakfast, me and Milhouse are going down to the ravine. We got a tip from a six-year-old that there’s a dead Martian down there.” – Bart Simpson Before we get to this week’s links, let me take you on a brief tour of a rumor. Yesterday afternoon, Springfield Springfield tweeted: ‘The Simpsons’ likely to end after current season, confirms Fox executive The tweet contained a link to this story from New York Daily News titled “‘The Simpsons’ likely to end after current season, confirms Fox executive: report”. The keyword here is “confirms”, which is used right in the second…
The End of Zombie Simpsons: Still Unlikely
“Well, let’s look at the contract ourselves, eh? Benefits! Perks! A green cookie on St. Patrick’s Day!” – C.M. Burns There are a few pieces of new information about the current money wrangling going on between FOX and the six principle voice actors. I’ve linked three articles below along with a summary of what actual news each contains. As of noon today, this what’s known to the internet: ‘The Simpsons’ producers accepted pay cuts | Variety (via): An unspecified number of executive producers have agreed to take an unspecified pay cut, but as yet no contracts have been signed. FOX…
The End of Zombie Simpsons Would Be Great; Still Probably Not Happening
“I don’t think they’re giving you enough information, Dad.” – Lisa Simpson “I’ll figure it out. I’m gonna use all the power of my brain.” – Homer Simpson The NFL escaped from its lockout basically unscathed, the NBA is getting into serious crunch time with theirs, and now Zombie Simpsons has added its name to this year’s list of labor-management disputes between millionaires and billionaires. This morning, gossip and media columnist Lloyd Grove published an anonymously sourced article on The Daily Beast reporting that contract negotiations between FOX and the voice cast aren’t going well (thanks to Gran2 in comments). …
Reading Digest: Fictional Fiction Edition
“We now return to Troy McClure and Dolores Montenegro in ‘Preacher with a Shovel’.” – TV Announcer “But irrigation can save your people, Chief Smiling Bear!” – White Man This week we’ve got a couple of links elaborating on the many fake books, movies and products that cropped up on The Simpsons. Before we get to those, however, that stupid quote from a News Corp executive about a “Simpsons channel” I mentioned last week spun itself to new levels of internet fame this week and needs to be knocked down. If you don’t care, skip to the second set of…