Shearer Quits "The Simpsons"

[hux]

"Since the beginning of time, man has yearned to destroy the sun" - Monty Burns

It's all about Homer. It will continue without him.

I think you underestimate Harry's contributions.

I think you're right

He does voices. We're not talking about the worlds leading brain surgeon quitting. We're talking about a man who "does a funny voice" quitting.

If I walked out of my house and knocked on my neighbours doors, I suspect I'd eventually find someone who does a pretty good Mr Burns

The Simpsons is about two things. The writing and Homer. The writing went south years ago so methinks Dan Castellaneta is probably gonna get another raise momentarily

 

[ManOnTheWave]

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.

Because we want it to die already. And we want it to suffer, too.

 

[Dick Whitman]

I am assuming Dan already signed the two year renewal contract. So too late for him to use this as leverage for more money.

 

[JirinPanthosa]

In an alternate universe somewhere, The Simpsons used the Frank Grimes episode as the series finale, and it was perfect.

At this point I don't care much for new Simpsons. I'll watch it if I'm not doing anything else when it airs, but I won't go and see it on the web if I miss it. All I care about now is that the series is able to end on its own terms with a real finale. Every year it gets renewed the odds of that happening gets a little smaller.

 

[tharpdevenport]

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.

Because good or bad, regardless of what it is now compared to many years ago, the original fans made it the success it still is today; we have some investment in it. We want it to go out with some sort of pre-planned bang, not a last-minute whimper. Have an actual series finale before more the cast quit, retire, die, or get pushed out. Not end on a regular episode with so many story lines left undone.

Plan out the last year or so, how every much as can be planned out in advance. Harry may be gone now, but if it was the last year ever, I'm sure he could be talked into coming back to help tie up the series.


Then we can have one good last laugh. Until "The Simpsons: The Next Generation" comes on.

 

[Amaris]

"Since the beginning of time, man has yearned to destroy the sun" - Monty Burns

It's all about Homer. It will continue without him.

I think you underestimate Harry's contributions.

I think you're right

He does voices. We're not talking about the worlds leading brain surgeon quitting. We're talking about a man who "does a funny voice" quitting.

If I walked out of my house and knocked on my neighbours doors, I suspect I'd eventually find someone who does a pretty good Mr Burns

The Simpsons is about two things. The writing and Homer. The writing went south years ago so methinks Dan Castellaneta is probably gonna get another raise momentarily

If this were about a hospital, you'd have a point, but it's about a cartoon show where one of the leaving cast members is the voice of a significant number of major characters on the show.

 

[JirinPanthosa]

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.

My my, hey hey
Rock and roll is here to stay
It's better to burn out
Than to fade away
My my, hey hey.

I want the show I loved growing up to go out with as great a legacy as possible.

 

[Leto_II]

In an alternate universe somewhere, The Simpsons used the Frank Grimes episode as the series finale, and it was perfect.

At this point I don't care much for new Simpsons. I'll watch it if I'm not doing anything else when it airs, but I won't go and see it on the web if I miss it. All I care about now is that the series is able to end on its own terms with a real finale. Every year it gets renewed the odds of that happening gets a little smaller.

The Simpsons are now the Metallica of TV. Legends that have actually sucked for far longer than they've been good.

The last great season was Season 8; after that, it takes a completely obvious nose-dive. The only reasons it's stayed popular are: (A) the reputation built by those eight awesome seasons, and (B) by that point, kids who hadn't grown up watching those great years started tuning in with absolutely no expectations whatsoever.

Good shows adapt...

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

Agreed -- The Simpsons is now a hollow, superficial caricature of its former self. It died a long time ago, and what we have now is celebrity cameos, ridiculous stories, appalling voice-acting, and constant, unrelenting, Shrek-style references to current events.

When was the last time the story hinged around Bart wanting a new toy, or having to win a sports game, or any other member of the family being involved in anything that wasn't totally over-the-top ridiculous (like working in an erotic bakery with Gabriel Byrne)?

The really sad thing is that there are eight good seasons, and 18 bad ones. There is a lot more crap than good by now.

 

[MacLeod]

The Simpsons has long sinced dropped off shows I plan to watch, now if I catch it I catch it.

 

[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.

My my, hey hey
Rock and roll is here to stay
It's better to burn out
Than to fade away
My my, hey hey.

I want the show I loved growing up to go out with as great a legacy as possible.

I think that ship has sailed a long time ago. I moved on, if anyone still likes it, good for them.

 

[Trekker4747]

I've not watched The Simpsons with any meaningful regularity this entire century. Not even the Treehouse Halloween specials since they seemed to grow stale pretty quickly. (Though I may still catch them if I remember and happen to be home.)

The show is well past the time it needs to bow out as it's reaching Family Guy levels of "seals in a tank of water picking up balls with plot-points/jokes on them" mediocrity and shitiiness. The episodes I have watched in the last 15 years just left me cold compared to the episodes I remember from my teenage years and maybe early 20s. Has my sense of humor changed? Perhaps, but I can still laugh at some old episodes and of stuff that made me laugh when I was younger. Simpsons? Doesn't do it for me anymore. I caught some of the Family Guy crossover and it just left me very, very, cold. It doesn't help that I'm not a fan of Family Guy but add onto that the, I dunno, 25-minute long sequence of Homer and Peter fighting one another in and out of various "humorous" things around Springfield just wasn't funny.

Really, the show was probably its best in the very, very early years when it tried to be a fairly "typical" family comedy and the characters were more-or-less "realistic." Even as everyone settled more and more into their cliches and those cliches grew larger (Homer is dumb, Marge is up-tight, Bart is a brat with criminal proclivities, Lisa is a nerd, Ned Flanders is clueless pushover, etc.) the show was still watchable. But as the show wore on it seems everyone got deeper and deeper into those roles and now it's at a point now where it's a wonder Homer's able to even understand the concept of breathing.)

The show is done and needs to be done. How much money can it really be making for Fox these days? I know there's not a lot of competition going on Sunday nights but certainly there can't be *that* many people watching this show anymore especially considering how much people hate it.

 

[tharpdevenport]

Even as everyone settled more and more into their cliches and those cliches grew larger (Homer is dumb, Marge is up-tight, Bart is a brat with criminal proclivities, Lisa is a nerd, Ned Flanders is clueless pushover, etc.) the show was still watchable.

Don't forget Milhouse's "blatant homosexual tendancies". ;-)



But more seriously, if they dropped all the crappy character they've picked up over the year, drop all the pop culture references and guest spots, brought back in as many key creative writers and team members who made the show what it once was, and shortened the season to like thirteen episodes and brought the series back to it's core (maybe even age the characters some), I think many of us might give it a second shot

 

[hux]

If this were about a hospital, you'd have a point, but it's about a cartoon show where one of the leaving cast members is the voice of a significant number of major characters on the show.

Yeah, it was an analogy. They're used to give conversation some colour occasionally. Point being Shearer's importance to the Simpsons is not that profound. Had they, for example, kept this announcement quiet and replaced him with quality voice actors, I doubt you'd even have noticed. I think his celebrity is more important to the Simpsons than the actual voices he provides. That loss will be felt more acutely than the change of voice actor

 

[Leto_II]

"Since the beginning of time, man has yearned to destroy the sun" - Monty Burns

It's all about Homer. It will continue without him.

I think you underestimate Harry's contributions.

I think you're right

He does voices. We're not talking about the worlds leading brain surgeon quitting. We're talking about a man who "does a funny voice" quitting.

If I walked out of my house and knocked on my neighbours doors, I suspect I'd eventually find someone who does a pretty good Mr Burns

The Simpsons is about two things. The writing and Homer. The writing went south years ago so methinks Dan Castellaneta is probably gonna get another raise momentarily

Of course, the absolute key to the show's death is the gradual downhill-slide of Homer. What used to be an actual character is now just a wide-eyed screaming 2-D ball of psychosis who does or says whatever the writers think will get a cheap laugh.

Even Dan Castellaneta's performance of Homer is now delivered in a monotonous shout, regardless of what sort of line he's supposed to be reading.

 

[Trekker4747]

Even as everyone settled more and more into their cliches and those cliches grew larger (Homer is dumb, Marge is up-tight, Bart is a brat with criminal proclivities, Lisa is a nerd, Ned Flanders is clueless pushover, etc.) the show was still watchable.

Don't forget Milhouse's "blatant homosexual tendancies". ;-)



But more seriously, if they dropped all the crappy character they've picked up over the year, drop all the pop culture references and guest spots, brought back in as many key creative writers and team members who made the show what it once was, and shortened the season to like thirteen episodes and brought the series back to it's core (maybe even age the characters some), I think many of us might give it a second shot

I think aging the characters would do a lot for the show. Can you imagine a teenaged Bart?!

 

[J.T.B.]

Point being Shearer's importance to the Simpsons is not that profound. Had they, for example, kept this announcement quiet and replaced him with quality voice actors, I doubt you'd even have noticed. I think his celebrity is more important to the Simpsons than the actual voices he provides. That loss will be felt more acutely than the change of voice actor

And so the entire field of voice acting is dismissed, as if it were not a studied and practiced creative craft. Shearer and the rest of the cast's performances gave the characters the personalities they have, and that has shaped the writing in turn. That was why, when Fox threatened to replace the main cast in 1998, the voice acting community largely supported the actors and refused to audition, because they were insulted that Fox thought their contribution was so superficial that they could just plug in another actor. That was why, when Phil Hartman died, his characters were retired, and likewise Marcia Wallace. There's a lot more going on than reading lines in a "funny voice."

 

[Leto_II]

They should kill every character Shearer voiced in a season finale that reenacts the Red Wedding.

 

[tharpdevenport]

Personally I'm thinking more along the likes of young adults, like 21 or so. We've seen decades of parenting, now it's time to see if it all paid off and what kind of people Bart and Lisa become and what they are doing for a living. Plus, there's always still Maggie to see as a teen.

 

[JirinPanthosa]

The show's still occasionally good for some good social satire, but most of the time it feels like all they want to do is tell the same story again with a slightly different theme.

I disagree that they should age the characters, and they absolutely shouldn't try to mimic their golden years. If they insist on continuing the show, they should hire some new writers with some clever observations on modern culture and just have them tell the story they want about that thing using whatever characters fit the idea. It's okay if it winds up similar in some way to one of their other 500 episodes, because it will be telling it in a more genuine voice than they have in years.

 

[SiddFinch1]

At this point I don't see things improving but honestly i have rarely watched the show and haven't for a good 10 years.

Aging up the characters may help.