Harry Shearer Fired from THE SIMPSONS

DOH! They're gonna have to hire a dozen guys to replace this very talented actor...



“The Simpsons” has apparently lost one of its most recognizable voices. Harry Shearer, who voices Mr. Burns, Ned Flanders and Principle Skinner, among other popular characters, is leaving the show after 26 seasons.

He tweeted the news on Wednesday night.

“This because I wanted what we’ve always had: the freedom to do other work,” he wrote.

His message suggested that his departure was over a contract dispute. Shearer wrote that producerJames L. Brooks’ lawyer delivered the news: “‘Harry will not be part of it, wish him the best.'”

http://variety.com/2015/tv/news/the...-mr-burns-ned-flanders-leave-show-1201495626/

 

It's time.

 

Well, maybe this shakeup will get everyone to think about whether it might be time to wrap the show up. (Though it will probably be resolved.) I don't really understand the determination to keep it going year after year. Aren't they all sick to death of doing it? They must have done every possible joke and storyline they can think of five times over. Does it still have a big audience?

On the other hand, I think the griping hardcore fans do, about how bad it supposedly is, is overstated. I still find The Simpsons funny if I catch an episode. But I mean... how many episodes do they need to make? There are over 500 already!

 

BTW, Shearer has been a fly in the ointment on the show for a long time, leading several strikes for higher pay raises over the years. But FOX has steadfastly refused to give any of the actors residuals for reruns and other profit participation, saying they didn't want to start this precedent.

Given that the show has been on for more than 20 years, I'd say, "we're making an exception for any animation voice actor who stays with a prime-time show for more than two decades." Do that, and they'll probably never have to match the offer with anybody else.

The show is not going to recover easily from this. Here's a list of some of the voices Shearer has done for the show since 1989:

• Mr. Burns
• Waylon Smithers
• Ned Flanders
• Principal Skinner
• Otto the Bus Driver
• Reverend Lovejoy
• Dr Hibbert
• Kent Brockman
• Jasper
• Lenny
• Eddie (the cop)
• Rainier Wolfcastle (McBain)
• Scratchy
• Kang
• Mr. Bouvier (Marge's father)
• Dr. Marvin Monroe
• Herman
• Mr. Largo
• Marty (from KBBL)
• Dr Loren J. Pryor
• Jebediah Springfield
• Judge Snyder
• Sanjay (Apu's brother)

I know several people who have dealt with Shearer in the past (like on his indie film Teddy Bears Picnic), and can be a difficult and prickly guy. But I also think he's immensely funny and talented, and FOX should just pay him the damned money.

 

Well, as long as Otto is a bus driver...

http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/PutOnABus

 

If anyone was going to quit it should have been Hank Azaria. You get tired of hearing his voice come out of all the one-off minor characters.

 

I have so many questions.....the most important of which is - will this finally be what does this show in? I won't turn this into a "the show has sucked since 2000" thread (even though it has!). Will all these characters get a new voice? Will they kill any (or all) of them off on the show?

I am sure it will get resolved....it has to. If anything could make this show any more unwatchable, it would be having new voices for characters after 26 years.

 

I wonder how much (if anything) has been recorded already, though. Considering the lengthy gap between production and air, they may already have another season's worth in the can.

There also seems to be a conspiracy theory among fans that perhaps someone's been doing some of Shearer's characters already anyway. A guy named Chris Edgerly started getting credited in 2011, has done 90 episodes since, and yet nobody really seems to know what the hell he's doing. He's always just credited with "additional voices," but nobody generally hears any "new" voices standing out in the episodes he's credited on. Considering how cranky Shearer's been regarding the show for over a decade now, who knows, maybe now and then he just decides not to show up for recording day and there's a standby behind the curtain...

 

In case anybody's curious, here's a chart showing how many voices the regular cast does in the series:



Of course, Marcia Wallace is no longer with us, and "Mrs. Crabapple" has faded from the show, as has Phil Hartman's "Lionel Hutz."

If they replace him, it'll be like the deal with the Hanna-Barbera shows (like The Flintstones), where the newer voices are just wrong compared to the originals. I hate this crap, particularly when networks like FOX are so parsimonious and pecuniary. (And I also love to use big words.)

 

How I admire your verisimilitude.

 

Well, IMDB doesn't really help with that either: http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0249283/

 

This. Just let the damn thing end already.

But they won't, of course, because money.

 

Personally, I've enjoyed all the episodes from the current series (26?) that I've seen.

 

Shearer leaving the show is a game-changer, no doubt about it. Mind ya, the guy is also in his seventies now so I reckon he's earned the rest...but I can't imagine anybody else voicing Mr Burns or Flanders, even if it is a soundalike.

It'll be different from now on because from what I've read over the years in a lot of ways Harry Shearer was sort of the 'conscience' of the show, certainly the cast. He's the guy who actually responded to misfire episodes like "The Principal And The Pauper" (the one where it comes to pass that Skinner is an 'impostor') by saying "Are you guys sure you want to do this one?". His B.S. Detector was always on, it seems.

Sigh...it took 26 years but now I don't think there's any question that wheels are starting to come off for The Simpsons, and not just as far as the overall quality of the show is concerned. Makes you sorta wonder who's gonna be next to walk...

 

The show should pack it in.

 

Noooooooooo

 

Agreed, this show has waaaayyyy outstayed it's welcome...

 

Harry was on Marc Maron a couple months ago..sounds like he was unhappy with the pay..
http://www.wtfpod.com/podcast/episodes/episode_578_-_harry_shearer

 

The voices are the show

 

Is Billy West available?

 

My two cents: I left for a couple of years, but recently started watching new episodes regularly - I think for S25 & s26, and - for the most part - the episodes have been fun and I've laughed out loud a lot.

I'm not a crazy loyalist; I'll always have older seasons to re-watch and enjoy, but I won't watch new episodes w/out Shearer.

That said, isn't The Simpsons far less profitable then it once was? Isn't viewership at an all-time low? Less profit vs. actors asking for more $ equals eventual impasse, no?

 

Some of these comments sound like what people may have been saying after 26 years of the Rolling Stones.
And they've made it to 50 years.

 

Literally irreplaceable.

 

An understatement.

 

Yeah, but this isn't like Ron Wood replacing Mick Taylor replacing Brian Jones...this is more on par with what would happen if Jagger, Keith or Charlie quit the Stones (or died)...