Dead Homer Society

“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.