I'm surprised nobody talked about it here. Broke August 30. Article from film/TV score expert Jon Burlingame: http://variety.com/2017/tv/news/simpsons-composer-alf-clausen-fired-1202543183/ Alf Clausen, who has been with the show since season two, was fired as the composer for the series. no new composer has been announced yet, but the new season starts October 1, so I'd think by now they've picked somebody. Clausen, a long-time collaborator on the show who provided the musical voice fans love as well as many memorable songs, was -- according to Alf -- fired by e-mail. Rodney Dangerfield wasn't the only one who got no respect at all. He's supposed to still have some unspecified roll with the show, though I can't imagine what that would be; what role would you give somebody whose been with you for twenty-seven years that you didn't even have the common courtesy to have a face-to-face with to let go amicably? One producers (who's been there since the beginning) said they were seeking "a different kind of music". Apparently Alf, who's done different kinds of music before and even during the run of the show, can't provide different kinds of music now -- [sarcasm]nope, it's that fancy limited edition talent that wears off in a few years. [/sarcasm] I suspect it's a budget thing and they want somebody who will work more cheaply and with either a smaller orchestra or none at all and just use synths. It wouldn't shock me in the least bit to find somebody who's worked with Zimmer, get the job and use synths. I suspect a budget issue because: Remember in 2015 when Harry Shearer reportedly quite to work on other projects? Other sources said he was fired. Then a month later he was signed on to come back. You don't sign on to come back if you really wanted to work on other projects. FOX simply wanted to cut his pay and he fought it. As an LA Times article reported at the time, FOX wanted him to take a 45% pay cut, dropping his pay from about $8 million to about $4 million. This, according to an article on this site: http://dailytrojan.com/2011/10/05/pay-cuts-might-bring-down-the-simpsons/ Is because while the show is still making money off merchandising and re-runs, it's no longer profitable to produce new episodes. Now, one can argue a lot of shows aren't profitable to produce, and yes that may be true, but we aren't talking every show, we are talking about this show and it's budget and what it pays it's talent and obviously it cant' afford to pay the talent what it once could because production expenses have gone and the high salaries can't be sustained anymore. That was as of 2011. Now they're cutting the scoring apparently. I can't image the show making it to a 35th season if they cant' financially right the Production Ship. We may finally see the end of the show (ironic, considering it was kept and "King of he Hill" was let go and now that show is in talks to come back). Previously before Clausen, the show experimented with a few different composers: * Richard Gibbs (season one) * Patrick Williams ("Simpson and Delilah" -- one of my favorite episode scores, especially that scene where Homer runs around with his new hair) * Arthur B. Rubenstein * Tom Scott (one episode) * And the late Ray Colcord ("Dead Putting Society"). Examples of Clausen's scoring:
I'm surprised people still care about The Simpsons. But really, the only Simpsons news that would ever surprise most of us is if it gets canceled.
I suspect some wouldn't be surprised by the news it was cancelled and think more along the lines of about time.
I still enjoy the show but I also think it wouldn't be a bad time for the show to retire. It will never be what it once was so why not try and bring final closure in a final season and finally letting the characters age for once and finish with everyone moving onto a different stage in their lives. Jason
Probably because most people don't know who Alf Clausen is, even if they've watched the show for years.
They will NEVER age the characters because that would screw up any plans to make another movie. Or to bring it back in a few years like Family Guy or King of the Hill.
I don't, I care about the scoring. Just because the show has sucked hard for almost two decades doesn't mean Clausen isn't still hitting it out of the park. Though I read there's not as much scoring as there used to be.
The show is renewed through season 30 and is about to air season 29 so at least two more years before cancellation is a possibility. More likely at this rate it will keep going until enough of the original voice cast is either dead or just too expensive to keep the show affordable.
Word. Didn't hear about him before, but he's definitely talented. I'm going to miss his scoring. It had character.
FOX is just keeping it running (until at least 2019) just to make the goal of "longest running cartoon" impossible to pass. No evidence, just an assumption. The show was losing its consistent luster even before season 20, which is the real reason why newer seasons will never make it to home video - not enough people will buy the sets. Which doesn't mean by default there wouldn't be profit from any sales made or that none of the episodes from back then to now are any good... Actually, much to my shock, season 18 has been given the green light for DVD release and will come out later this year. Which is awesome - the more the later seasons come out on DVD might get people who stopped tuning in reason to watch again, as when season 17 came out on DVD I was admittedly surprised that it was really rather good and I had stopped being a regular viewer by season 13. But it won't be on blu-ray, for which it'd be the same SD 480i episodes upscaled - reviews of other seasons' blu-rays have people gushing over the higher quality despite being confused about occasional fuzziness or rainbow patterns (moire) and thus clearly not understanding how blu-ray is pointless for any season that wasn't shot in HD (think mid-season 20 onward) to begin with... fuzziness, moire, jagged lines, etc, are all due to upscaling and not native resolution. Whoops!!
I think they should aim for 730 then call it quits. That means you could run two epidoes for an hour timeslot every day for a year. Perfect for FXX syndication
I am going to assume that once The Simpsons does truly end its run they will make a gigantic series collection of every season, special and the movie(s) they can cram into a set and sell it.
I have to agree with Cutie, there really isn't a market anymore for the DVDs. I stil htink they will have a huge set, but it be a very limited edition.
It's one of those shows, sort of like Bonanza and Gunsmoke, where there simply aren't enough free hours in a person's entire lifetime to invest in binge watching it. The only way to really absorb it all is to have watched it as it unfolded week after week all this time. I think the attempt to pump up the composer being let go as some sort of scandal is off-base in the sense that the guy had a steady gig longer than anyone in Hollywood could ask for. So he didn't get a golden watch or anything. Boo hoo.
It probably won't be DVD but Blu-Ray although obviously they won't be able to do anything as far as remastering it to look better. And it may not be even that but I don't doubt Fox will try to sell an entire series collection in some format.
I know -- the thread is over a year old, but there is an update on the firing: Alf Clausen is suing, claiming... https://variety.com/2019/biz/news/simpsons-composer-lawsuit-fox-wrongful-termination-1203292605/
The Simpson's had needed to be canceled for about 20 years now... Very repetitive show and not that funny anymore.
People watch the show. The show makes everyone involved money. Ergo, the show does not need to be cancelled.