Of all of the reports about the stalled contract negotiations between Fox and the vocal talent of The Simpsons and current work stoppage, you have to hand it to Variety. Their article ended on this pearl of wisdon:
Homer Simpson, in 1995 episode "The PTA Disbands," gave Lisa this piece of advice on work stoppages: "If you don't like your job, you don't strike. You just go in every day and do it really half-assed. That's the American Way."
The voices behind the characters -
Dan Castellaneta (Homer, Barney, Krusty the Klown), Hank Azaria (Moe, Apu, Comic Book Guy, Cletus, Professor Fink),
Harry Shearer (Mr. Burns, Ned Flanders, Principal Skinner),
Yeardley Smith (Lisa),
Julie Kavner (Marge) and
Nancy Cartwright (Bart, Nelson, Ralph Wiggum, Todd Flanders) - are looking for $360,000 per episode/$8 million per season. They currently make $125,000/$2.75 million. Variety also points out that while Ray Romano gets around $1.5-2 million per episode of
Everybody Loves Raymond, the Simpsons actors don't need to work long days on set (an sitcom episode usually needs around a week to shoot) - simply 6-7 hours to voice an episode - but, then again,
The Simpsons is a $1 billion business. During the last contract negotiations in 1998, when most of the cast was looking to bump their salaries from $30,000 per episode, Fox went ahead and found voiceover replacements for them just in case. That's
Rupert Murdoch style hardball!
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Sadly, the writers have been doing their jobs half-assed for a few seasons now. It pains me to say it, but the show is close to death. Leaving Mike Reiss as THE producer ensures only the corniest and least Simpsons-like episodes left in the bank (catch him whoring the show at your closest college or university and you'll see why). Best show ever, but they need to go out KITH style.
-e
I still feel that subpar Simpsons is better than a lot of stuff out there. I look forward to the small, isolated jokes if the story gets boring. A friend thought that the show had been focusing too much on Homer, versus the whole family, which was a problem, because as fun as Homer is, you know that his buffoonery will turn out okay.
Never say die! I say Fox: pay them you cheap bastards!
Now let me get this right, those voice actors are making 125,000 bucks for less than 8 hours work and they are complaining!!!! Fuck them! First of all, by the average person's standards, that gig would be considered a part time job, they all can and many of them do do other projects that garner them a lot of dough. Also, they are actors... they repeat lines fed to them and while they do a great job adding their creative stylings to them they are not doing the most creative key job in the animation process. Sadly, the most I have ever made a year is 60 grand- so 125 grand for a days work is plenty. They should kiss the asses of those who hired them instead of complaining.
Fox would be crazy not to pay them. I think after 10 years, the cast would be willing to leave now. Even at 125,000 they're underpaid. Fox basically has The Simpsons and and a string a reality tv. They don't want to become ABC.