In what will probably be the first of many articles hounding tonights airing of The Regina Monologues in the UK, the Telegraph has posted their thoughts. “The Prime Minister might have been trying to impress his children. But if he wanted to win fans, he should have played it more for laughs, reports Tom Cox. Mr Blair’s appearance – the subject of eight months of negotiations between Alastair Campbell and the show’s producers, lasted well under a minute. Were it not for Homer’s comment of “I can’t believe we met Mr Bean!”, it could almost have been scripted by Mr Campbell. The episode did nothing to dissuade you from the impression that America thinks of Britain as a nation of top-hat wearing, mini-driving, well-spoken wimps who make films about running to pop music and cling to a defunct monarchy; nor, if you had any kind of sense of humour, would you have wanted it to.” Read More >>>
Simpsons Up For 4 Annie Awards
It’s that time of the year again, when The Simpsons blitzes the low-key ‘Annie Awards’ nominations and often comes home with the goods. This year’s awards ceremony takes place on Febuary 7th at the Alex Theatre in Glendale. The Simpsons is nominated in the following categories. “Outstanding Achievement in an Animated Television Production” – The Simpsons (Gracie Films); “Directing in an Animated Television Production” (‘Scuse Me While I Miss The Sky); “Music in an Animated Television Production” (“Dude, Where’s My Ranch?” – Everybody Hates Ned Flanders); and the one that took an Emmy last year, “Writing in an Animated Television Production” (Three Gays of the Condo by Matt Warburton). The Simpsons face Jimmy Neutron, Spiderman, Futurama, and King Of The Hill as competitors, to name a few. You can read the complete nominations at annieawards.org.
Ratings: Marge Vs. .. Everybody
Here’s the fast national ratings for Sunday. Overall for the night, ABC averaged a 12.0 rating/18 share, trouncing the night’s normal winner CBS, which had a 9.9/15 for second. NBC claimed third followed by FOX’s 4.7/7. This trend was repeated in the coveted demographic 18-49, with FOX also coming out fourth. At 8 p.m., ABC moved into the lead with the 13.0/19 for the showdown between the Sooners and the Tigers. CBS dropped to second with the 10.2/15 for “Without a Trace.” FOX’s new episode of The Simpsons titled “Marge Vs. Singles, Seniors, Childless Couples and Teens and Gays” (6.7/10) and “The Bernie Mac Show” (5.1/7) were good enough for third, topping “American Dreams” on NBC. Official Nielsen figures will be available soon.
Marge Vs. Singles, Teens, Gays
Season 15 returns to North America tonight, with an episode titled “Marge vs. Singles, Seniors, Childless Couples and Teens and Gays”. So far it wins the award for longest (and most annoying) title ever, but will the episode be any good? A short description follows: “Marge goes on another of her crusades – this time against a law that says that only parents of school children have to pay the school tax. Meanwhile, Maggie is among the babies who riot at a kiddie concert, prompting a backlash by single childless citizens, who organize against kids and famililes.” Catch the episode at the usual time tonight on Fox and we’ll bring you the ratings soon after.
Simpsons News: A 2003 Wrap-up
The Simpsons Channel wishes all of our visitors a happy new year. 2004 is here and 2003 is now just a memory. It was a fairly big year in Simpsons news, with the Simpsons becoming the longest running prime-time comedy as well as celebrating their 300th episode. British Prime Minister Tony Blair made headlines (and still is) with his appearance on the show this year, while several Emmy award wins were celebrated. The third season finally arrived on DVD, and The Simpsons Hit And Run was a video game that we can all be proud of. We hope this year is just as eventful in the world of Simpsons, and wish that you can join us along the journey.
Al Jean Talks Tony Blair
For a moment, Al Jean couldn’t believe his ears. Here was the British Prime Minister, the man to whom he had sent an irreverent script, shaking his hand in a quiet ante-room at 10 Downing Street and saying, “You’re my hero”. As a writer and executive producer of The Simpsons, Jean wasn’t used to being called a hero, let alone being greeted so effusively by a statesman. But these were exceptional circumstances. British premiers won’t get the chance to be immortalised as a character in The Simpsons very often. Tony Blair knew an opportunity when he saw it and, after 8 months of negotiation between his director of communications and the producers, he agreed to make an appearance. “We never, ever thought he would agree. And, even up to the last minute, we never thought it would happen,” explains Jean. Read More >>>
Skydivers Trust Homer Over Bush
People considering a tandem skydive would trust cartoon character Homer Simpson over US President George Bush, according to research. The public voted the daft dad of hit TV show The Simpsons as their number one choice if they were participating in the daredevil stunt. Homer got 20% of the overall vote in the survey carried out on behalf of disability charity Leonard Cheshire, while President Bush got just 8%. More than 1,000 adults were asked to rank personalities in order of who they felt was most trustworthy. Weakest Link host Anne Robinson got 16% of the overall vote, while Pop Idol judge Simon Cowell got 13%. Homer was most trusted by people in the North West (31%) but least by those living in the North East (16%). Cowell was most trusted in Scotland (15%), but Londoners preferred Robinson (22%).
Merry Christmas From The Channel
The staff of The Simpsons Channel would like to wish all our regular and first-time visitors a safe and Happy Christmas and all the best in 2004! May all your Christmas wishes come true, and be sure to take care on this very special day tomorrow. We’ll of course be taking the day off, as should the media, but we’ll be back with any new headlines by Saturday.
AskMen.com’s Favorite Episodes
AskMen.com columnist Rich Weir has posted his top ten episodes of The Simpsons in his bi-weekly entertainment article. There’s a couple of strange additions but then we all have different tastes. “Having recently celebrated its 300th show, there’s no better time to honor the ultimate Simpsons episodes of all time. And no, it wasn’t easy; how do you narrow down a plethora of historic installments from what is arguably one of the greatest comedies in television’s history? And since every die-hard fan has his favorites, some classic moments inevitably had to fall through the cracks (the unforgettable visit from Shary Bobbins, Bart and Lisa’s hellish stay at Kamp Krusty, and the climactic answer to “Who Shot Mr. Burns?,” to name a few). Read More >>>
A Little Slice Of Web News
The media seems to have taken the week off, but the websites are delivering changes before the year’s end. Four redesigns have occured in the past week, of course, one of them being us. Thanks for all the positive feedback. Other changes have occured at Just D’oh It, which has redesigned to celebrate its second birthday. D’oheth has turned four, and has also been given a makeover. Finally, the compact A Little Slice Of Springfield has changed to a single-page format and has adopted a little more ‘festive’ color. Great improvements all around.
More Kudos For “Hit & Run”
Praise continues to roll in for arguably the best Simpsons video game of all time. CNN has named “Simpsons: Hit & Run” one of the four best console games of 2003, alongside “SOCOM II: U.S. Navy SEALS,” “SSX 3,” and “Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic.”
Shrugging off the resemblance to Rockstar Games’ “Grand Theft Auto” titles, CNN’s Marc Saltzman has nothing bad to say about this “incredibly fun and silly” Simpsons game. Read More >>>
The All New Simpsons Channel
Welcome to The Simpsons Channel version 8. Today is our sixth birthday and we thought we’d commemorate it with a change in design. We’ve pretty much stuck with what’s worked for us in terms of features and colour scheme, and are still very much committed to bringing you the latest Simpsons news first. Basically I wanted to do something that wasn’t put together in two days, as our last design was. We’ve renewed our domain until December 2004 and intend to be in business until then and possibly beyond.