“I think Bart and Lisa are feeling a little upset right now. Isn’t there something you’d like to say?” – Marge Simpson
“There sure is: kids, you tried your best and you failed miserably. The lesson is: never try.” – Homer Simpson
Posts Tagged ‘Burns’ Heir
14
Apr
18
Quote of the Day
27
Jul
17
Quote of the Day
“Well, I’m sure you’d like to be alone with your possessions.” – Milhouse van Houten
“Milhouse, if you stay a little while longer, you can have this blazer. It’s a Bob Mackie original.” – Bart Simpson
“Wow! A Bob Mackie!” – Milhouse van Houten
12
Apr
17
Quote of the Day
“I got a mink shammy, sir, I hope it-…Oh, my god, Mr. Burns is dead! Oh, why do the good always die so young?” – Mr. Smithers
12
Apr
16
Quote of the Day
“Bart, I know you children see me as some sort of “booger” man, but I’m really not such a bad “dude”. Oh, your milk’s gone cold, I’ll ring for the maid. Oh, sorry, wrong button.” – C.M. Burns
14
Apr
15
Quote of the Day
“Careful, Smithers, that sponge has corners, you know.” – C.M. Burns
“I’ll go find a spherical one.” – Mr. Smithers
“Hey, you know we’re getting into golden time?” – Estonian Actor
“Yes, well just get it right or you’ll all be back doing ‘Come Blow Your Horn’ at the Westport dinner theater!” – C.M. Burns
Six months ago, we got word from Al Jean himself that the current TABF production run was indeed a full twenty-two episode order. The most recent episode was TABF10, which means that they have twelve more episodes to broadcast under the current contract.
Last night, commenter Mr. Incognito e-mailed me to let me know that Erika Isabel Vega, who’s been with the show since 2006, tweeted this yesterday:
Today’s a good day for contract/renewal news. We’re past the ultimatum & it’s the start of a week. Who will report first? #TheSimpsons
What’s this ultimatum? Going back a couple of days, we find this exchange between her and Matthew Schofield, who’s been with the show since 1999:
No joke-I just got an email for our mtg on the last episode on contract. If we don’t get renewed this will be the final one. #TheSimpsons / @eiVega you need to calm down / @Mr_Schofield Hahaha…I honestly think I’m more calm than most of the crew. I do think we’ll be renewed. I’m just more dramatic online. ;)
What does that mean? It means that we’ve reached the deadline I mentioned six months ago when I noted that the renewal notice was overdue. Production is at its contractual end, and, since there’s no way to keep that quiet in this day and age, we are officially into overtime on whether or not Zombie Simpsons will be renewed for a full Season 27.
[Please note that sites like IGN and TV By the Numbers list the show as “renewed” because one way or another there is going to be a Season 27. The current contract will still have episodes (probably seven of them) left on it after the Season 26 finale. What we’re talking about is a renewal beyond the current TABF production run.]
In a tweet from last week, Vega noted that she and the rest of the staff usually find out about renewals through the news media, so she’s as in the dark as the rest of us. Just to be thorough, I poked around a few other Simpsons staff Twitter accounts, including Jean and Brooks, and didn’t see anything. (Although Jean did say that Hugh Jass from Flaming Moe’s was originally going to be Hugh G. Rection, heh.)
So, is there going to be a full Season 27? As always with renewal, it’s safest to bet on “Yes”. These negotiations have gone down to the wire several times over the (sigh) decades, and they always find a way to pull through because everyone involved keeps making money that way. Yes, the ratings get lower every year, but that’s true for network teevee in general; and for all its many (many) problems, Zombie Simpsons is still strong among the youthful demographics that advertisers pay top dollar to reach. (Those unoriginal AAA video games and Liam Neeson movies aren’t going to sell themselves, you know.)
All this means is that, one way or another, we should be getting word very soon. As has been true for years now, there are only a few possible scenarios:
1. The talks fail, they halt production, and Season 27 will be a short one.
2. There is a partial renewal that brings the show a full Season 27 but not a full production run and it ends in May of next year.
3. There is a full renewal for one (or more) 22 episode production run(s), and we go through this again.
If there is a renewal announcement this week (or sometime soon), the important thing to note (which most of the entertainment press will ignore because they are awful at their jobs) is how many episodes. That’s the difference between #2 and #3 above.
Whatever happens, I just hope it’s definitive. It’s annoying as hell when half-sourced rumors start ricocheting around the internet and I have to sort through them.
One final note, people like Vega and Schofield make the show go. As I’ve said before, most of the folks who work on it aren’t rich or famous, and neither, for that matter, are they the reason it became Zombie Simpsons. If there is any anger at FOX or elsewhere over this post, please direct it at me and not them. They didn’t do anything wrong; it’s their bosses who are screwing things up, not them.
23
Aug
14
Saturday Marathon Open Thread
Per IGN, here’s the schedule for the next 24 hours:
8/23 11:00 AM ET – “Burns’ Heir”
8/23 11:30 AM ET – “Sweet Seymour Skinner’s Baadasssss Song”
8/23 12:00 PM ET – “The Boy Who Knew Too Much”
8/23 12:30 PM ET – “Lady Bouvier’s Lover”
8/23 1:00 PM ET – “Secrets of a Successful Marriage”
Season 6
8/23 1:30 PM ET – “Bart of Darkness”
8/23 2:00 PM ET – “Lisa’s Rival”
8/23 2:30 PM ET – “Another Simpsons Clip Show”
8/23 3:00 PM ET – “Itchy & Scratchy Land”
8/23 3:30 PM ET – “Sideshow Bob Roberts”
8/23 4:00 PM ET – “Treehouse of Horror V”
8/23 4:30 PM ET – “Bart’s Girlfriend”
8/23 5:00 PM ET – “Lisa on Ice”
8/23 5:30 PM ET – “Homer Badman”
8/23 6:00 PM ET – “Grampa vs. Sexual Inadequacy”
8/23 6:30 PM ET – “Fear of Flying”
8/23 7:00 PM ET – “Homer the Great”
8/23 7:30 PM ET – “And Maggie Makes Three”
8/23 8:00 PM ET – “Bart’s Comet”
8/23 8:30 PM ET – “Homie the Clown”
8/23 9:00 PM ET – “Bart vs. Australia”
8/23 9:30 PM ET – “Homer vs. Patty and Selma”
8/23 10:00 PM ET – “A Star is Burns”
8/23 10:30 PM ET – “Lisa’s Wedding”
8/23 11:00 PM ET – “Two Dozen and One Greyhounds”
8/23 11:30 PM ET – “The PTA Disbands”
8/24 12:00 AM ET – “‘Round Springfield”
8/24 12:30 AM ET – “The Springfield Connection”
8/24 1:00 AM ET – “Lemon of Troy”
8/24 1:30 AM ET – “Who Shot Mr. Burns? Pt. 1″
Season 7
8/24 2:00 AM ET – “Who Shot Mr. Burns? Pt. 2″
8/24 2:30 AM ET – “Radioactive Man”
8/24 3:00 AM ET – “Home Sweet Homediddly-Dum-Doodily”
8/24 3:30 AM ET – “Bart Sells His Soul”
8/24 4:00 AM ET – “Lisa the Vegetarian”
8/24 4:30 AM ET – “Treehouse of Horror VI”
8/24 5:00 AM ET – “King-Size Homer”
8/24 5:30 AM ET – “Mother Simpson”
8/24 6:00 AM ET – “Sideshow Bob’s Last Gleaming”
8/24 6:30 AM ET – “The Simpsons 138th Episode Spectacular”
8/24 7:00 AM ET – “Marge Be Not Proud”
8/24 7:30 AM ET – “Team Homer”
8/24 8:00 AM ET – “Two Bad Neighbors”
8/24 8:30 AM ET – “Scenes from the Class Struggle in Springfield”
8/24 9:00 AM ET – “Bart the Fink”
8/24 9:30 AM ET – “Lisa the Iconoclast”
8/24 10:00 AM ET – “Homer the Smithers”
8/24 10:30 AM ET – “The Day the Violence Died”
Looks like it’s gonna be a Season 6 kinda afternoon. I will be dipping in and out on the Twitter machine, since this is the kind of event at which it excels.
charliesweatpants.com
(The crotch really does wear out too fast.)
The Mob Has Spoken