LOS ANGELES – The Springfield nuclear power plant will remain operational, and it won't be closing time at Moe's Tavern for at least two more years: On Friday Fox said it had renewed its hit animated comedy The Simpsons, television's longest running prime-time scripted series, for two more seasons, following a contract dispute with its voice cast that had threatened to end the show.
The Simpsonshas been broadcast as a continuous series since 1989 and has become a billion-dollar business for Fox and the 20th Century Fox television studio, which produces it. But this week, the studio acknowledged that it was in a standoff with The Simpsonsvoice actors, including Dan Castellaneta (who plays Homer Simpson), Julie Kavner (Marge) and Nancy Cartwright (Bart), who each now earn about $8 million a year for their work, and whose salaries the studio was looking to cut by 45 per cent.
The studio said on Tuesday, “We believe this brilliant series can and should continue, but we cannot produce future seasons under its current financial model.”
Harry Shearer, who plays characters including Burns and Ned Flanders, said on Friday that he was willing to give up 70 per cent of his salary or more for a portion of the show’s profits. But Fox, he said, was not open to the arrangement, and said the only remaining options were “to cancel the show or fire me for having the gall to try to save the show.” The voice actors’ current contract was set to expire at the end of this season.
The deal will bring The Simpsonsto 559 total episodes by mid-2014. Although terms were not disclosed, the cast members were believed to have agreed to a deal that would reduce their salaries by less than 45 per cent but would not include profit participation. – (New York Times)