“A month after stalled contract renewal talks led the voices of ‘The Simpsons’ to stop work, both the actors and Fox are getting more ‘D’oh!’ Terms of the deal were not announced for the actors who provide the voices for Homer and Marge Simpson and other characters on the long-running animated series.
Ratings
Ratings: Catch ‘Em If You Can
Sunday night’s new episode of The Simpsons titled ‘Catch Me If You Can’ managed slightly better figures than last week but still remains lower than the episodes that aired this time last year. Just over 10 million viewers tuned in to watch Bart and Lisa chase Homer and Marge on a wacky and erotic adventure around the world.
News
Simpsons Visit Dayton, Ohio
“The Simpsons has a long, grand tradition of sending Homer, Marge and the kids to exotic locales in order to make fun of them. Sunday night, the show got around to Dayton, Ohio, which is definitely a locale, but hardly exotic. Dayton is about as middle as Middle America gets, which made it a pretty nice place to grow up. Companies routinely test-market products there to gauge the reaction of “everyday” consumers. Although the word “boring” is used several times to describe the city, my fellow Daytonians — who, by the way, include poet Paul Laurence Dunbar and the Wright brothers (who, admittedly, probably didn’t see the show), Olympic champion Edwin Moses and “West Wing” cast members Allison Janney and Martin Sheen — seem to have taken the joke well. The local FOX affiliate, WRGT-TV, says it hasn’t received any complaints about Sunday’s episode.” Read More >>>
News
Catch ‘Em If You Can Airs Tonight
After a slow week in news, it’s time again to tell you about the newest episode airing tonight on Fox. The episode titled “Catch ‘Em If You Can” will air at 8pm, followed by a rerun of an episode from earlier in the season, “Today I Am A Clown”. A rundown of “Catch ‘Em If You Can” follows, thanks to snpp.com. “When Homer and Marge get caught having a rendezvous in Miami, Bart, Lisa and Grampa Simpson take off on a cross-country journey, a la “Catch Me if You Can,” to foil their romantic getaway. Once in Miami, the kids ditch Grampa, who befriends Raoul, a gay Miami swinger who enjoys Grampa’s stories.” There’s only a month remaining in this season so make sure you don’t miss all the action tonight on Fox.
Ratings
Ratings: My Big Fat Geek Wedding
Matt Groening’s heavily promoted appearance in The Simpsons failed to attract a larger-than-normal audience on Sunday night. The new episode titled My Big Fat Geek Wedding was watched by 9.1 million viewers, falling short of many of this season’s episodes. The rerun of The President Wore Pearls at 8:30pm attracted the same amount of viewers as the new episode, keeping Fox #1 for the hour in the 18-49 demographic.
News
Fox Seeks Simpsons Alternatives
With the cast of The Simpsons holding out for more money, Fox is beginning to map strategies for doing without prime-time’s top ‘toon, including moving some of its best performers into the breach. The six actors haven’t shown up to work for a month, stalling production of the 16th season. They have completed work on six episodes for next season, including the annual “Treehouse of Horror” episode. With postseason baseball delaying The Simpsons’ start until November, Fox should have enough episodes until January. But each week that passes puts the rest of the season further in the hole. Because it takes nine months after recording voices to send the tracks overseas and have scenes animated, the next season likely will be shortened from the usual 22 episodes. None of the alternatives are particularly attractive to Fox.:
News
My Big Fat Geek Wedding
New episodes return to Fox tonight, with an episode previously scheduled for earlier this month titled My Big Fat Geek Wedding. The episode has been in the media since it will mark a voiced appearance by creator Matt Groening. Here’s a rundown of what to expect from the episode. “When Principal Skinner gets cold feet before pending nuptials, his fiancé, Edna Krabappel, calls off the wedding. Determined to win her back, Skinner enlists Homer’s help. Meanwhile, Marge is convinced Edna can do better. Edna rebounds into the arms of Comic Book Guy, who whisks her off to a comic book convention, where they run into Matt Groening (guest-starring as himself) signing autographs. Skinner shows up at the convention in a last, desperate attempt to fight Comic Book Guy for Edna’s heart.” The episode is followed by a rerun of The President Wore Pearls. Don’t miss it.
News
VH1 Says “Don’t” Do The Bartman
“Do The Bartman” has been named by VH1 UK as one of the top 40 worst #1 singles of all time. The song which peaked at #11 on the US charts spent three weeks at #1 in the UK in February 1991. In the special which aired on VH1 over the weekend, Do The Bartman was selected as #36 on the novelty chart. Charting before it were Vanilla Ice’s “Ice Ice Baby,” Chef’s “Chocolate Salty Balls,” while songs considered worse than Bartman included “Tragedy” by Steps, “Barbie Girl” by Aqua, “Star Trekkin” by The Firm, and “Itsy Bitsy Teeny Weeny Yellow Polka Dot Bikini” by Bombalurina. It’s a little known fact that Michael Jackson penned the Bart classic which remains a favourite with Simpsons fans worldwide. Thanks to George Cauldron at the No Homers Club for the news in an otherwise slow news week.
News
Marge’s Interview With Maxim
Marge Simpson, the covergirl for the April issue of mens magazine Maxim, has revealled all the juicy details in her interview which is now available to read online. All the saucy information as well as two revealing photographs are on the website. In 15 questions you’ll discover what Marge finds sexy in a man, gossip about Springfield and her husband Homer, and tips for cleaning as well as getting a hairstyle as tall as hers. The magazine is still available on newsstands for another week or two, but if you don’t have the cash, Read The Interview >>>
News
Simpsons Movie A Long Way Off
Work has now started on a Simpsons feature film, but fans of the cartoon creations will have to wait years before it hits the big screen. Yeardley Smith, voice to Lisa Simpson, said writing was already under way, but recording would not start until after the present TV series was completed. And even then it would be three years before the film reached cinemas because the animation process took so long. “Animation takes forever,” she said. “My wish for the show is that we go out with a bang not a pimple. “If we can do a movie and it can be as good as our best episodes, I’m thrilled. I think that would be wonderful.” Her only fear was that fans of the cartoon classic may have grown bored of the show, which is now in its 15th season. She told Associated Press radio in the United States: “I just hope that at this point… people aren’t like ‘Oh, a movie, we’re over it’.” Read More >>>
News
Can You Outsmart Bart?
Bart Simpson has found his way onto the cover of this week’s Entertainment Weekly magazine (9th April 2004 edition). The magazine itself doesn’t include a Simpsons feature, but he appears on the cover to promote their Great American Pop Culture Quiz for the 90s. The quiz includes 100 entertainment related questions to test your knowlege of the 90s. The Simpsons are only mentioned in two of the questions, but Bart makes a great coverboy for the quiz in general, having got an A+ himself. The answers are jotted on his hands, legs and arms. The magazine is available to buy right now.
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News
A Serious Look At Springfield
It doesn’t sound all that exciting: another college student writing about Homer’s odyssey – until you realize this trip ends not with Penelope in Ithaca, but with Apu at the Kwik-E-Mart. Credit Steven Keslowitz, a Brooklyn College sophomore who turned his Sunday night obsession with The Simpsons into a scholarly study of the Springfield scene, ruminating on subjects from Bart’s bad boy persona to Marge’s towering ‘do. In The Simpsons and Society, Keslowitz fixes a serious eye on America’s favourite dysfunctional cartoon crew, looking for deeper meaning in the antics of Krusty, Chief Wiggum and the rest of the townsfolk. He actually finds some, too. “I’ve been watching the show for years,” said Keslowitz, a Simpsons geek who never misses an episode of the Emmy-award winning show. “In college, I realized the show had academic issues that merited serious attention.” Read More >>>