20th Century Fox Renew THE SIMPSONS For Two More Seasons

By Guest Writer / August 23, 2012

20th Century Fox have announced that The Simpsons has been renewed for a further two seasons, which would be the 24th and 25th series, bringing the total number of shows produced to 559 episodes. You can read the whole press release HERE. Starting over 23 three years ago as short animated segments on €œThe Tracey Ullman Show€, The Simpsons went on to become the longest running scripted series on television, and a major part of popular culture. But the future of the show was in the balance this week, as reported by Deadline, as salary negotiations between 20th Century Fox Television and the voice cast had reached a stale mate. The cast, Dan Castellaneta (Homer, Grampa Simpson, Krusty the Clown, and others), Julie Kavner (Marge and others), Nancy Cartwright (Bart and others), Yeardley Smith (Lisa), Hank Azaria (Moe Szyslak, Chief Wiggum and Apu Nahasapeemapetilon), and Harry Shearer (Mr. Burns, Principal Skinner, Ned Flanders, and others), all earn $8 million a year for voicing 22 episodes ($400,000 an episode). Fox proposed they take a 45% pay cut when negotiations started earlier this week saying the show would be worth more than alive as producing episodes was becoming too costly. Backing up their proposal, Fox released this statement:

€œ23 seasons in, The Simpsons is as creatively vibrant as ever and beloved by millions around the world. We believe this brilliant series can and should continue, but we cannot produce future seasons under its current financial model. We are hopeful that we can reach an agreement with the voice cast that allows The Simpsons to go on entertaining audiences with original episodes for many years to come.€

Reacting to this, the cast offered to take a smaller, but still significant, pay cut of 30% and a share of the show's profits from syndication and merchandising. Fox refused the proposal, issuing the 7th of October as the deadline to agreeing to the 45% pay cut (though previous negotiations have extended past their deadlines). As early as yesterday, Harry Shearer issued a statement, excepts of which can be found below, explaining his position:

€œFox wants to cut our salaries in half because it says it can€™t afford to continue making the show under what it calls the existing business model. Fox hasn€™t explained what kind of new business model it has formulated to keep the show on the air, but clearly the less money they have to pay us in salary, the more they€™re able to afford to continue broadcasting the show. And to this I say, fine €“ if pay cuts are what it will take to keep the show on the air, then cut my pay. In fact, to make it as easy as possible for Fox to keep new episodes of €œThe Simpsons€ coming, I€™m willing to let them cut my salary not just 45% but more than 70% €“ down to half of what they said they would be willing to pay us. All I would ask in return is that I be allowed a small share of the eventual profits. My representatives broached this idea to Fox yesterday, asking the network how low a salary number I would have to accept to make a profit participation feasible. My representatives were told there was no such number. There were, the Fox people said, simply no circumstances under which the network would consider allowing me or any of the actors to share in the show€™s success.€

The negotiations were still ongoing throughout the night but finally an agreement has been made and fans can rejoice that the show will continue. We don't yet know which side of the party did the compromising but usually in these long-projected negotiations it's both parties. Personally, I am not surprised an agreement has been made, it just didn't feel right the show might be coming to a cancellation. The Simpsons is still insanely popular after all these years, new episodes would continue to fuel that popularity, thus making more money for the company and the cast members.