Shearer Quits "The Simpsons"

[mos6507]

I would agree. It's time to end the show. It's been on so long that if you see real old episodes it's like watching a time-capsule, since so much of the humor was topical or revolved around pop-culture trends of the time.

As for the Muppets, I think Kermit sounds a little off but the guy they have doing Miss Piggy now is bang on. I never thought they could ever find someone who sounds like Frank Oz, but that guy (Eric Jacobson) is an amazing mimic. Not that Frank Oz is dead the way Jim Henson is, of course, but he doesn't do much if any Muppet work anymore.

 

[Allyn Gibson]

It sounds more like Shearer was fired. Or, to be more specific, he wasn't rehired, since the cast needed to sign new contracts for the final two seasons. In other words, this doesn't look like it was his decision and he didn't quit.

 

[Squiggy]

They could do the same thing as when Phil Hartman died, and retire Harry's characters.

That would be Principal Skinner, Kent Brockman, Mr. Burns, Waylon Smithers, Ned Flanders, Reverend Lovejoy, Dr. Hibbert, Lenny Leonard, Otto Mann, Rainier Wolfcastle, Dr. Marvin Monroe and more. Too many people to suddenly up and disappear. If the show hasn't had a jump the shark moment...that would be it.

Producers are saying they're going to hire voice actors for the rest. I'm guessing you see fewer story lines featuring those characters as not to draw attention that the voices are a little off.

 

[Robert D. Robot]

They could do the same thing as when Phil Hartman died, and retire Harry's characters.

That's an awful lot of characters you're talking about retiring...

I would miss Shearer's huge contribution to the show, but I need to point out that that list repeats the major Shearer characters multiple times starting in line 3 with different ways of naming Smithers, Lenny, Otto, Rev. Lovejoy, etc. It may be a list of the characters as they appear in multiple episodes? Still, his departure would leave some serious holes in the lineup.

 

[Saul]

No! not Jasper!

Others will follow in his footsteps I suspect. This is the beginning of the end.

 

[Ethros]

I've always thought when one on the five primary actors left they really should just end it.


Then again, what do I care? I haven't watched it "new" in over 10 years now. It was probably that 2004/05 season that I ever properly (ie except the odd one) saw new episodes, and I remember thinking then they should just end it. I even thought the movie was awful, and that was 8 years ago.

 

[Robert Maxwell]

It sounds more like Shearer was fired. Or, to be more specific, he wasn't rehired, since the cast needed to sign new contracts for the final two seasons. In other words, this doesn't look like it was his decision and he didn't quit.

Of course it was his decision. They offered him some amount of money; he didn't consider it adequate, so he walked.

 

[Timby]

Why is it even still on the air? It hasn't been funny for decades. That's "decades" with an S.

Because it makes Fox about a zillion dollars a year.

 

[NCC-1701-B]

Ehh this show is no good.

 

[BillJ]

It sounds more like Shearer was fired. Or, to be more specific, he wasn't rehired, since the cast needed to sign new contracts for the final two seasons. In other words, this doesn't look like it was his decision and he didn't quit.

Sounds like it may be a bit of payback...

Back in 2011, Shearer led a group of Simpsons cast members in a lengthy and public salary negotiation. The actors ended up taking pay cuts, and won none of the backend merchandising and licensing profits that Shearer lobbied passionately for in a guest article for The Daily Beast.

 

[J.T.B.]

Shearer has always been very vocal about the main cast getting profit participation, he's very critical of Fox/News Corp. in public and especially on his radio show, and he's just very uncompromising on principles in general, as his stormy tenure on SNL showed. Plus he's over 70 now and still has things he wants to do, and apparently had a good experience making "Nixon's The One" in Britain, so maybe he figures "If they're not going to give me what I think I deserve, I'll do something else. I don't need this."

I'd say The Simpsons is still good, but its apparent greatness seems diminished in comparison to its former heights.

 

[Allyn Gibson]

It sounds more like Shearer was fired. Or, to be more specific, he wasn't rehired, since the cast needed to sign new contracts for the final two seasons. In other words, this doesn't look like it was his decision and he didn't quit.

Of course it was his decision. They offered him some amount of money; he didn't consider it adequate, so he walked.

Judging by the producers comments, they didn't want him back. Can he it really be "his decision" and "he walked" if he were deliberately low-balled?

 

[Mudd]

Good shows adapt...

The Simpsons, OTOH, will just keep crapping out episodes.

 

[Peach Wookiee]

Heh... they can kill off Mr. Burns and Smithers... well, would he actually be buried with Burnsie as suggested in "Bart the Heir"? Skinner can transfer to another school, Flanders can go to divinity school and Rod and Todd can go with him. Jasper can die. Rainier Wolfcastle is hardly in the show...

 

[J.T.B.]

Judging by the producers comments, they didn't want him back. Can he it really be "his decision" and "he walked" if he were deliberately low-balled?

They wanted him back, no one would take lightly the departure of a performer who plays some of the most popular characters. It puts the whole future of the show in question. They just couldn't agree on a number.

 

[auntiehill]

The show is well past its sell-by date; they should just wrap it up. That will never happen, of course; they will keep it on life-support for as long as they think they can make a penny out of it. But with Shearer leaving, it would be a good time to call it quits.

 

[Leto_II]

The show is well past its sell-by date; they should just wrap it up. That will never happen, of course; they will keep it on life-support for as long as they think they can make a penny out of it. But with Shearer leaving, it would be a good time to call it quits.

They just renewed it up through Season 30, so it'll be at least another two years yet before that happens (unfortunately).

Twenty years ago, I'd have been damn near-suicidal over this news, but the show has basically slid so far downhill that I just don't even care now. The worst part of it is that Fox just cut the show's budget by millions, since they now don't have to pay Shearer any more, so they'll probably keep it on even longer now, which sucks.

The best move is to do what they used to do when an actor dies, and either just stop using or kill off those characters altogether.

 

[Richard Baker]

Didn't they kill of all of Phil Hartman's characters by putting all of them on an airplane and crashing it? IIRC they had the people chatting with each other on the flight using old sound clips.
Shearer did more voices that would be hard to work around but I can see a number of people being hired to imitate a couple important characters to keep them on screen.

 

[Beagleman]

Here's one thing I don't understand, why do people who don't watch the show annymore want it to wrap up. It wouldn't change anything for them, the ratings are still good, so some folks out there must still enjoy it, let them have their fun.

 

[Gary Mitchell]

The best move is to do what they used to do when an actor dies, and either just stop using or kill off those characters altogether.

Or just get Lovitz to take over...