I used to watch “The Simpsons” when I was growing up, and I watched it a lot in college. I stopped taping it years ago, though I’ll occasionally catch it at a friend’s house. It can be an hilarious show, but it got way too disjointed for me the past few years and I felt like they missed a real opportunity with the 2007 movie. (I just looked up the Rotten Tomatoes reviews and was surprised to see that it got 90%! It seemed mediocre to me although it was definitely funny. Maybe the show just set the bar so high that I expected more from the film.)

“The Simpsons” has been on since December, 1989, and is “the longest-running American sitcom, the longest-running American animated program, and the longest-running American primetime, scripted television series.” (Wikipedia has it beating “Gunsmoke” in 2009 for that last title.) So it’s kind of sad that it may be going away soon, but in another way it may be about time that it did.

The issue stems from producers at Fox demanding that the voice actors take a 50% pay cut for the upcoming season, which would reduce their salaries from around $8 million a year to $4 million a year. The actors are trying to bargain for a 35% pay cut along with a percentage of the incredibly hefty merchandising profits, but Fox isn’t having it and is threatening to shut the show down.

It looks like The Simpsons—20th Century Fox Television’s multibillion-dollar cash cow, the anchor of the Fox network’s Sunday primetime schedule, and the longest-running sitcom in the history of broadcasting—might stop production after the current 23rd season ends next spring.

The reason is a negotiating impasse between the studio and the six principal actors who voice the beloved characters on the animated series that hilariously satirizes middle-class Midwestern angst.

Difficult bargaining is nothing new for the show, which was created by James L. Brooks and Matt Groening. Fox studio execs have occasionally threatened to replace uncooperative cast members with sound-alike actors. But for the first time in nearly a quarter century of haggling, the executives have insisted that if the cast doesn’t accept a draconian 45 percent pay cut, The Simpsons will die an abrupt death as a first-run series.

A Fox Television spokesman had no comment at the time of publication Monday night. On Tuesday, the studio issued the following statement: “23 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.”

The pay-cut ultimatum was delivered Monday evening as Fox spurned the actors’ proposal, delivered late last week, to take a cut of around 30 percent in exchange for a tiny percentage of the show’s huge back-end profits—amounting to untold billions—from syndication around the globe and merchandising of Simpsons clothing, lunchboxes, stamps, DVDs, a feature film, and videogames, among other paraphernalia. The series is produced by the 20th Century Fox studio and aired by the Fox network, both News Corp. companies, but the studio reaps the ancillary rewards.

“Fox is taking the position that unless they can cut the production costs really drastically, they’ll pull the plug on new shows,” said a Simpsons insider with knowledge of the negotiations. “The show has made billions in profits over the years and will continue to do so as far as the eye can see down the road. The actors are willing to take a pay cut of roughly a third, but that’s not good enough for Fox.”

Not that the actors have been hurting.

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) each earn about $8 million annually for about 22 weeks’ work.

Even under Fox Studio’s proposed downgrade, they would still be making around $4 million apiece, which goes a long way in the fictitious town of Springfield, and even in the allegedly real city of Hollywood.

But the actors have long argued that they deserve a taste of the plentiful syndication and merchandising profits because they’ve contributed creatively to the success of The Simpsons almost as much as Brooks and Groening. The latter two benefit greatly from the show’s back-end revenue, and will continue to get even richer off the second round of syndication deals once new episodes are no longer being produced.

But Fox has consistently refused to compensate the main cast members beyond their generous salaries, and once production ends, the studio will continue to reap billions for years to come (with Fox drawing on a valuable archive of around 500 episodes), while the actors will receive little more than their union-mandated residuals.

“Now Fox is basically saying, ‘If you don’t take this deal, we’ll shut down the show,’ and they’ll continue to make a ton of money,” said the insider. “They’re free to sell it to cable and a second round of syndication, and they figure that the cast has very little leverage.”

[From The Daily Beast]

It’s hard to wrap my mind around $4 million vs. $8 million, but I understand the cast asking for a percentage of the back end. It seems fair, even if it involves an astronomical amount of money. The show is raking it in, and the people who do the work should get some of it.

I remember that they killed off Maude Flanders when the voice actress wanted higher compensation. I wouldn’t be surprised if they pulled the plug on this show, but I expect that they’ll reach an agreement and that they’ll squeeze a few more seasons out of this. “The Simpsons” is an institution and I doubt the higher ups want to close up shop over this. We’ll see, though.

This is really inappropriate and wrong, but someone added some color blocks to the very poorly-designed 2012 London Olympic logo to make it look like Lisa and Bart Simpson engaged in well, you can tell for yourself. Our friends at Smaknews linked to this Facebook group titled “2012 Olympic Logo looks like Lisa Simpson giving…” and I found it so damn funny. The logo is normally fuchsia-colored and it’s supposed to be a stylized chunky “2012,” but until I read that I had no idea what it was. It just looked like a bunch of cubic shapes to me. This logo first came out in the summer 2007 and there was a lot of buzz at the time about how lousy it was. The Guardian even ran an article noting the Lisa Simpson figure to the right called “How Lisa Simpson got ahead at the Olympics.” The London Olympics stubbornly retained the logo, though, and are using it on their website and merchandise. There’s even an version on their website with some stripes and a little curlicue added for flair. Unfortunately an earlier animated version of the logo had to be pulled because it could potentially trigger epileptic seizures. (I’m not even making this up.)

Other variations on this crappy logo include a head added to the left side to make it look like simple fellatio and a remix to make it spell out “Shit.” When the logo was unveiled to great mockery, BBC ran a contest for someone to submit a better version. One guy made a mockup based on the internet meme “goatse” (There is no way I’m linking that, google at your own risk) and the BBC showed it on the air without having a clue what it represented. It still would have been better than the fuschia fellatio blocks.

Oh No They Didn’t has the scans from Marge Simpson’s big unveiling in Playboy Magazine, and there’s a kind of disturbing pictures of the cartoon mom posing in front of a fireplace in a sheer nightie while holding a plate full of donuts. Her boobs show through the fabric and they’re decidedly un-cartoon like. Those are some realistic-looking nipples! (You can see the pics here) The see-through negligee picture isn’t the only one in which we get a glimpse of Marge’s boobs. There’s another one where she’s putting on a dress and just shows sideboob. Are these photos controversial at all or are the Simpsons just trying to drum up controversy after 20 years on the air? Movieline has a good editorial asking why it’s kind of disturbing to see cartoon mom Marge with real-looking boobs:

It’s hard to believe now that it’s become such a beloved institution, but when The Simpsons premiered twenty years ago, it was regarded as the furthest thing from a family show. Since then, the reputation of the series has become considerably less controversial (it helps, of course, that The Simpsons is now followed by notably ruder shows like Family Guy), so when it was announced that Marge Simpson would be “posing” for Playboy, I didn’t expect anything scandalous. Maybe some sideboob, or a comic silhouette.

Then, the pictures leaked, and I saw her nipples.

In today’s sex-tape-saturated culture, I guess I shouldn’t be thrown by some gauzy cartoon nipples, but I am. That’s Marge Simpson, not some Ralph Bakshi character! Whether the series was originally intended to be or not, it’s now become one of the biggest family shows on TV. Isn’t there something a little queasy-making about seeing the mom from such a show sexualized and objectified to this degree?

Ultimately, though, the thing that bugs me the most about Marge going topless for Playboy is that it feels like the sort of stunt Family Guy would do. The Simpsons is just too good for that. (Or at least it was, ten seasons ago.)

[From Movieline]

This guy is right, and the reason why it bothers me a little is because it doesn’t really jibe with Marge’s personality. She has her sexy moments, but she’s too dowdy for this. I wouldn’t expect her boobs to look real either. She has eight fingers, it’s not like she should have photo realistic nipples.

The faux interview accompanying this spread in Playboy has some amusing quotes and only seems to emphasize why this semi-nude spread is out of character for Marge. They offer some silly explanation for it, but the rest of the interview just shows her for the martyred cartoon mom she is:

How does a nice girl from Springfield end up in Playboy?
A nice girl like me would never display her body if it weren’t to raise money for charity. That’s why I’m donating my hefty fee from this tasteful pictorial to SPHG – Saving and Preserving Historic Gazebos. Gazebos are disappearing, people, and they’re not coming back!…

What advice do you give your daughters about men?
I always tell my Lisa she should marry the man who loves her. It doesn’t matter if he’s losing his hair or is overweight or is at a bar every night… or if he forgets your birthday and anniversary… All that matters is that nothing means anything to him but you…

When did you first know Homer was the one?
Well, when the doctor said I was pregnant. I heard a voice saying “That’s the man you’re going to marry.” The was my mother’s.

Have you ever thought about dyeing your hair blonde? Do blondes have less fun?
I don’t know about blondes, but I just found a few grays in my blue. It’s as though there’s a civil war on top of my head.

As a stay-at-home mome, what do you pride yoruself on doing around the house?
Searching for your magazines and throwing them away. …

When you were Lisa’s age, what did you think your adult life would be like? How does the reality measure up to your early expectations?
When I was a little girl there were three men I wanted to marry: Elton John, Paul Lynde and Charles Nelson Reilly. But for some reason it never worked out.

[From Playboy, print edition, November 2009]

Marge ends the interview by saying she’s “happy to be a MILK – Mom I’d Like to Know.” Oh Marge, we thought we knew you, that’s the problem. Those aren’t your real boobs, are they?

Photo courtesy TMZ

Marge Simpson is sexy, right? She had that brief stint writing romance novels, she once kissed a woman, she had a boob job, and she got caught having sex with her husband on a mini golf course. Plus countless men have fallen in love with her: that French bowling coach, the evil home robotics system with the voice of Pierce Brosnan, all those Hells Angels she cooked and cleaned for who took over her home.

The sexy cartoon character with the gravely voice and the tower of blue hair will soon be in Playboy, and she’s even featured on the cover. We won’t be able to tell if the uh carpet matches because Marge will be in lingerie. It seems only fitting for a mother of three children who never age.

I know I’d rather see a cartoon character semi-clothed than a bland naked reality star like Heidi Montag or Aubrey O’Day. Playboy made a smart move with this one. Maybe Hef’s new girls are influencing the magazine, or maybe his sons are starting to make decisions. They’re supposed to take over at some point after all. What better way to make their mark than by paying homage to the blue-haired bombshell who helped define their childhood.

It’s a novelty to find pictures of a big movie premiere in which the celebrities aren’t that recognizable. I love the Simpsons and watch it all the time but I never really knew who voiced what, except for the crazy Scientologist chick who does Bart.

Here are pictures from the premiere, but we’ll do something different today. Rather than show the thumbnails first here’s a list of the voice characters with a link to pictures of the person who voices them.

Homer Simpson (also does Grampa Abraham Simpson, Barney Gumble, Krusty the Clown, Groundskeeper Willie, Mayor Quimby, Hans Moleman, Sideshow Mel, Itchy, Kodos, Gil, Poochie, Squeaky-Voiced Teen, Burn’s Lawyer, Mr. Teeny, Bill Clinton.)

Bart Simpson (also does Nelson Muntz, Todd Flanders, Ralph Wiggum, Kearney, Database.)

Marge Simpson (also does Patty and Selma)

Lisa Simpson

Milhouse Van Houten (also does Rod Flanders, Janey Powell, Jimbo Jones, Malibu Stacy, Sarah Wiggum.)

Apu Nahasapeemapetilon (also does Moe Szyslak, Chief Clancy Wiggum, Comic Book Guy, Lou, Carl, Dr. Nick Riviera, Snake, Kirk Van Houten, Captain McCallister, Bumblebee Man, Superintendent Chalmers, Professor Frink, Cletus, Dredrick Tatum.)

There were also a lot of celebrities at the premiere and it looks like they had a great time walking the yellow carpet. To start, here are thumbnails of the voice characters:

Others at the premiere included Simpsons creator Matt Groening, Patricia Heaton and her family, Kevin Smith, Ed McMahon, Lisa Leslie and her family, Lisa Edelstein, Albert Brooks, David Hasselhoff and his daughters, Marilu Henner, Ian Ziering, Fred Willard, and Dr. Phil with his son.

Thanks to PRPhotos for these pictures.

If you’re bored at work today and happen to have a headshot of yourself available, you can turn yourself into a Simpson’s character on a new website promoting the film, Simponizeme.com.

I did it with the picture of my son above and it took an awfully long time to process and the initial result wasn’t that great. (You also have to hit the “Simponize” button several times before anything happens, which can be confusing.) His hair was brown at first, and I had to change that and tweak some things. Still, it was pretty fun to mess with and I think the result is close.

The Simpsons people didn’t ask for this promotion, I’m just a Simpson’s fan and since I wasted ten minutes on this I figured I may as well write about it. I’m not sure I’ll see the movie though. It’s rare for my husband and I to get a chance to go out and I’d rather see Harry Potter or The Bourne Ultimatum. I’m sure the movie will be good, just not that much better than the television version, if that makes sense. The Simpsons Movie is out in theaters on July 27.

A ten minute clip from The Simpsons movie has whet the appetites of fans in London, and included a little cartoon nudity!

The clip offered several clues as to the plot, suggesting that the environment and religion would be major themes.

Rock band Green Day is booed and pelted when it starts speaking about the environment to a Springfield crowd, while Homer’s daughter Lisa is a green campaigner shunned by the town’s inhabitants who simply don’t care.

She may also find love, however, after she swoons upon meeting a fellow campaigner from Ireland who insists he is not the son of U2 frontman and celebrity campaigner Bono.

The Simpsons also turn up late at church, where Homer’s father has a seizure and warns of trouble to come.

[From Stuff.co.nz]

Bart Simpson also skateboards nude through town in an incident similar to the Austin Powers scene, where Austin moves around a hotel room nude, objects hiding the bits that change a film’s rating. Except we get to see Bart’s private parts in all their animated glory. I guess it being a cartoon means that full-frontal nudity doesn’t make it a film for adults.

Other spoilers revealed include Lisa presenting a lecture on pollution called “An Irritating Truth.” Matt Groening also pointed out “It’s a romantic movie. Homer falls in love with a pig.”

The Simpsons Movie is out on 7/27/07.

They must not have made a lot of progress on The Simpson’s Movie, because this second trailer for the film is just like the first one with a stupid throwaway introduction of Mel narrating while a bunny hops around. The new part at the end is not that promising, and just shows Bart and Homer working on the roof while Homer hurts himself. Hysterical.

The old trailer was equally dumb, with a clip of Homer getting stuck between a rock and a hard place. It doesn’t matter what crap they put out, though, this movie will be wildly popular and I know I’ll go to see it.

I know this isn’t celebrity news, but it’s pretty interesting. Scientists have found a dolphin with an extra set of fins, suggesting that dolphins once had legs and walked on land. Maybe this news came out earlier about dolphins once being land-dwellers, but this is the first I’ve heard of it.

Fossil remains show dolphins and whales were four-footed land animals about 50 million years ago and share the same common ancestor as hippos and deer. Scientists believe they later transitioned to an aquatic lifestyle and their hind limbs disappeared.

Whale and dolphin fetuses also show signs of hind protrusions but these generally disappear before birth.

Though odd-shaped protrusions have been found near the tails of dolphins and whales captured in the past, researchers say this was the first time one had been found with well-developed, symmetrical fins, Hayashi said.

“I believe the fins may be remains from the time when dolphins’ ancient ancestors lived on land … this is an unprecedented discovery,” Seiji Osumi, an adviser at Tokyo’s Institute of Cetacean Research, said at a news conference televised Sunday.

The second set of fins — much smaller than the dolphin’s front fins — are about the size of human hands and protrude from near the tail on the dolphin’s underside. The dolphin measures 8.92 feet and is about five years old, according to the museum.

Despite their big brains, scientists aren’t convinced that dolphins are as intelligent as they get credit for. Their large brains may be due to the fact that they are warm-blooded animals living in water.

Here’s a segment from The Simpsons’ “Treehouse of Horror XI” in which dolphins take over the world.

Nancy Cartwright, the voice of Bart Simpson, Nelson Muntz, Ralph Wiggum and Todd and Rod Flanders on The Simpsons got extremely offended by a minor veiled reference to Scientology written into The Simpsons and had it cut. Cartwright is a member of the cult of Scientology, and like Isaac Hayes she could always threaten to quit if her precious cult was satirized:

No one would dare cross Cartwright – she’s essential to the show as the voice of Bart and it would be impossbile to replace her. The Simpsons did kill off one character. Maude Flanders died when it was rumored that voice actress Maggie Roswell asked for a raise in 1999. The Simpsons’ cast also held a strike in the spring of 2004. It was resolved within a few weeks with a new multiyear contract, the details of which were not disclosed.

Scientology is such a powerful cult that they can dictate the plot of the worlds’ most popular and longest running cartoon series. The best way to counter Scientology is by learning about how ridiculous and exploitive it is and talking about it with people you know. It’s not a legitimate religion and it should not have tax free status in America.