Actor Harry Shearer Leaving The Simpsons

[DrunkOnEstus]

I cant imagine how the show can work without him, one of the amazing things about the super-long run has been the core voice talent doing what they do for so long.

And for everyone wondering why the show isn't just dying? It makes money. The ratings are still good, and the merchandizing money is still good. No executive in their right mind would pay voice actors $14m contracts and order 2 seasons in advance for a show that apparently nobody is watching, at least not if they like their job. It isn't as good as it once was, but it could be far worse and there's still plenty of people who find what's on offer to be entertaining.

It's possible that there's talent out there that can emulate Shearer's work, but the show would definitely have a different feel to it. He might be making a power play for more money, but then the other actors would want that same amount and we'd have a clusterfuck again.

 

[Li Mu]

Seeing how he reacted during the last pay dispute I wouldn't be surprised if this was a stunt for more money. But either way all the best to him.

The guy is 72. I imagine that he just wants to retire.

 

[Blachman201_v1legacy]

The $14 million salary part of the story is quite iffy and should be treated like a loose rumor, seeing how it is only an anonymous source making that claim and Shearer and the other voice actors can't speak out on the matter because they have a very strict NDA in place regarding their salaries. No one outside a closed circle actually knows how much the voice actors are paid.

Frankly, whole thing sounds suspiciously like some insider from FOX is trying to spin the situation and make Shearer seem greedy.

 

[RJ 17]

Snip.

Just a bit of an update you might want to look into: apparently this isn't quite a done-deal just yet.

http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/la-et-st-harry-shearer-threatens-leave-simpsons20150515-story.html

According to a radio news report I heard this morning (so I don't have a link), Harry is leaving because there's a clause in the contract that says that he won't be allowed to work on any other projects (such as his stage acting career). The other side is disputing this notion:

Jean then tweeted that Shearer had passed on a deal the other five other regular voice actors had accepted. That deal, he said, would have allowed Shearer to pursue other work as he has always done. Shearer's tweet was "confusing," he wrote.

(taken from the article I linked)

That quote would at least seem to imply that Shearer is claiming they were trying to lock him out from other projects.

 

[Quellist]

28 seasons? Time to take the wretched show out behind the chemical sheds and shoot it.

This is the perfect excuse.

 

[songnar]

Props to the man if he can pass on $14 million at this point. He's come a long way.

Dude is over 70 years old; A guy can't go forever no matter how much money is offered.

 

[Johnny Novgorod]

Props to the man if he can pass on $14 million at this point. He's come a long way.

Dude is over 70 years old; A guy can't go forever no matter how much money is offered.

I think he just wanted more money, though maybe he wanted to commit "suicide-by-asking-too-much".

 

[Lagslayer]

So many people have been crying that the show has sucked for many years now. I am not one of them. I'm with Movie Bob on this one; the Simpsons isn't the platform for cutting edge satire it once was, but the writing has still been consistently good throughout the years. However, I fear this loss of such a key player may be the beginning of the show's death spiral. I hope they go out with something grand, but they will probably make it limp on for a few years more. I suppose they might still make it work somehow, but it's only a matter of time before more key people leave the show, one way or the other.

 

[Zeraki]

Losing just one voice actor in the Simpsons means you can lose a quarter of the cast. That's a shame, but I haven't cared about the Simpsons in years so it's no big loss for me. I would say they should just let the show die with dignity, but from what I've heard about the show lately it lost its dignity a long time ago.

 

[Olas]

Don't fill them.

Let the show die with dignity...

Won't happen, but rather than going out with the cast that made it what it is, it'll slowly go out with a bunch of replacement voices that lasted a few seasons.

Why does everyone want the Simpsons to "die" so badly? I find it really strange. I would much rather the show improve and continue to be entertaining than go off the air. I don't personally find the quality to have dipped as much as everyone seems to suggest, but even if you think it has, nobody is forcing you to watch it.

Anyway, if the show's going to continue regardless, I would rather it not lose some of my favorite characters. I could live without Ned Flanders, but Mr. Burns is one of the best elements of the show.

Because the show hasn't improved, it has been pretty bad for a while now. Every so often I will sit down and watch an episode, and it is just awful.

If you still sit down and watch an episode "every so often" you either still enjoy it to some degree, or you think it's possible for it to improve. Even if nether of these were true though I still don't see why you would actively wish for the show to no longer exist.

I don't like Family Guy, and I don't think I'll ever like it, but I don't actively hope for the show to get canceled.

By sit down and watch it, I mean I pause on it while flipping channels. I would hardly say that is any sort of endorsement of its quality or my hope it improves. It is more of a knee jerk reaction of nostalgia from when it was good. It is time for the show to end. It is not a malicious "kill the show" feeling from me, it is more of a sympathetic feeling of time to end things. All good things must come to an end, and it is now time to end the Simpsons.

So what you're saying is you barely watch the show anymore, and yet you believe you have the authority to say whether it should be canceled or not?

I don't think your desire to see it end is malicious, in fact I think I understand your mindset now. You don't want to see a good show you love continue on in a poor state and sour it's reputation. I get that. But here's why I don't think that's rational:

There are some shows that have continuous narratives which you need to watch in their entirety to get full closure. When these shows go bad it seems to taint what came before because it was all leading up to that. The Simpsons isn't like that. It doesn't have a continuous narrative, it's a long series of separate stories that one would be crazy to try to marathon. So I just don't really see why the Simpsons needs to end. If the creators of the show decide to stop that's one thing, but I don't know why viewers would call for this.

 

[bdcjacko]

Don't fill them.

Let the show die with dignity...

Won't happen, but rather than going out with the cast that made it what it is, it'll slowly go out with a bunch of replacement voices that lasted a few seasons.

Why does everyone want the Simpsons to "die" so badly? I find it really strange. I would much rather the show improve and continue to be entertaining than go off the air. I don't personally find the quality to have dipped as much as everyone seems to suggest, but even if you think it has, nobody is forcing you to watch it.

Anyway, if the show's going to continue regardless, I would rather it not lose some of my favorite characters. I could live without Ned Flanders, but Mr. Burns is one of the best elements of the show.

Because the show hasn't improved, it has been pretty bad for a while now. Every so often I will sit down and watch an episode, and it is just awful.

If you still sit down and watch an episode "every so often" you either still enjoy it to some degree, or you think it's possible for it to improve. Even if nether of these were true though I still don't see why you would actively wish for the show to no longer exist.

I don't like Family Guy, and I don't think I'll ever like it, but I don't actively hope for the show to get canceled.

By sit down and watch it, I mean I pause on it while flipping channels. I would hardly say that is any sort of endorsement of its quality or my hope it improves. It is more of a knee jerk reaction of nostalgia from when it was good. It is time for the show to end. It is not a malicious "kill the show" feeling from me, it is more of a sympathetic feeling of time to end things. All good things must come to an end, and it is now time to end the Simpsons.

So what you're saying is you barely watch the show anymore, and yet you believe you have the authority to say whether it should be canceled or not?

I don't think your desire to see it end is malicious, in fact I think I understand your mindset now. You don't want to see a good show you love continue on in a poor state and sour it's reputation. I get that. But here's why I don't think that's rational:

There are some shows that have continuous narratives which you need to watch in their entirety to get full closure. When these shows go bad it seems to taint what came before because it was all leading up to that. The Simpsons isn't like that. It doesn't have a continuous narrative, it's a long series of separate stories that one would be crazy to try to marathon. So I just don't really see why the Simpsons needs to end. If the creators of the show decide to stop that's one thing, but I don't know why viewers would call for this.

You are one of those people that still thinks Garfield is great too, aren't you.

 

[Skeleon]

The most shocking thing about this story, to me, is the fact that there are apparently 26 seasons of the show already. I really didn't keep up, but then the few episodes I caught recently weren't all that great, anyway. Something about "foodies"?

 

[LordMonty]

Guy is 72 years old, he's probally due a rest. Hope it does not harm the show too much.

 

[Olas]

Don't fill them.

Let the show die with dignity...

Won't happen, but rather than going out with the cast that made it what it is, it'll slowly go out with a bunch of replacement voices that lasted a few seasons.

Why does everyone want the Simpsons to "die" so badly? I find it really strange. I would much rather the show improve and continue to be entertaining than go off the air. I don't personally find the quality to have dipped as much as everyone seems to suggest, but even if you think it has, nobody is forcing you to watch it.

Anyway, if the show's going to continue regardless, I would rather it not lose some of my favorite characters. I could live without Ned Flanders, but Mr. Burns is one of the best elements of the show.

Because the show hasn't improved, it has been pretty bad for a while now. Every so often I will sit down and watch an episode, and it is just awful.

If you still sit down and watch an episode "every so often" you either still enjoy it to some degree, or you think it's possible for it to improve. Even if nether of these were true though I still don't see why you would actively wish for the show to no longer exist.

I don't like Family Guy, and I don't think I'll ever like it, but I don't actively hope for the show to get canceled.

By sit down and watch it, I mean I pause on it while flipping channels. I would hardly say that is any sort of endorsement of its quality or my hope it improves. It is more of a knee jerk reaction of nostalgia from when it was good. It is time for the show to end. It is not a malicious "kill the show" feeling from me, it is more of a sympathetic feeling of time to end things. All good things must come to an end, and it is now time to end the Simpsons.

So what you're saying is you barely watch the show anymore, and yet you believe you have the authority to say whether it should be canceled or not?

I don't think your desire to see it end is malicious, in fact I think I understand your mindset now. You don't want to see a good show you love continue on in a poor state and sour it's reputation. I get that. But here's why I don't think that's rational:

There are some shows that have continuous narratives which you need to watch in their entirety to get full closure. When these shows go bad it seems to taint what came before because it was all leading up to that. The Simpsons isn't like that. It doesn't have a continuous narrative, it's a long series of separate stories that one would be crazy to try to marathon. So I just don't really see why the Simpsons needs to end. If the creators of the show decide to stop that's one thing, but I don't know why viewers would call for this.

You are one of those people that still thinks Garfield is great too, aren't you.

I don't remember Garfield ever being good, not even the President.