FOX vs The Simpsons Standoff
posted Saturday Oct 8, 2011 by Scott Ertz
It's been a pretty rough week for FOX and The Simpsons. The show hasn't been doing as well as it used to and FOX needs to cut costs in production. The easiest place to cut costs is in salaries, and no one gets paid quite like the primary voice actors. Needless to say, FOX started discussions with the voice talent to see about cutting salaries. The only requirement the voice actors had was that they get some of the massive licensing fee profit in exchange.
It all seems pretty reasonable, especially considering the alternative of terminating the show and no one getting any money anymore. FOX did finally reach a deal with the cast, including a possible 30% salary cut (which still leaves them with an average of $300,000 per episode) and zero back-end profit sharing.
What it does mean, however, is that The Simpsons will be returning for their 24th and 25th seasons, making them the longest running comedy in US television history. That is an impressive feat by any measure, but for it to be an animated series is even more impressive. It takes a lot more effort to produce an animated series than it does live action, and to stick with it for 25 seasons and manage to keep it entertaining, relevant and funny, my hat is off to you, which is something that doesn't happen often.
I look forward to the FOX jokes that will come out of this over the next 2.5 years. What about you guys? Are you happy to see the series continue, or do you think it was over a long time ago? Let us know in the comments!
