Think about some of the most familiar-sounding voices in television history, and several of them belong to the yellow-skinned, bug-eyed, four-fingered citizens of Springfield, better known as the characters in The Simpsons.
However, the people who provide those voices are making their own voices heard. The voice actors on The Simpsons are still negotiating a contract with Fox, according to Variety.
The haggling could cost more than just Fox. With production stopped, next season could lose a few episodes, which would drop the 22-episode order to 20 because The Simpsons is about two months behind schedule.
The two sides at odds are apparently close to striking a deal, and if reports are to be believed, it would be a very lucrative deal for the main cast. Dan Castellaneta, Julie Kavner, Nancy Cartwright, Yeardley Smith, Hank Azaria, and Harry Shearer could all see their per-episode salaries jump to half a million dollars apiece--approaching those of many major sitcom stars that provide both voice and body. The Simpsons cast is currently believed to be making about $360,000 per episode per person, a far cry from the $30,000 that they pocketed per show in the late 1990s.
Fox has been shelling out the money for its animated properties recently, locking up Family Guy creator and voice actor Seth McFarlane for a deal that could be worth up to $100 million.
Comments (35)
500k/episode for voice-actors? Now that's greedy
Kinda sucks, im still hoping they can get more than one season out of this show.
LOL, I only just started watching it...I never liked it, also don't even like it THAT much at the moment, but it's nice.And I'm talking about the very first season, since it started again on Comedy Central in Holland here.I kinda used to watch it when I was little, but meh...I enjoy South Park and Family Guy more now though.Also with South Park I didn't like it when I was little.Now I love it, I will never forget it.
People who don't like the show are still reading the news updates and taking the time to comment on it? Why not just ignore the show. The show makes a mint for FOX and has a low production cost just give them the $$ and let the show go on
They should cancel it. It's a stale show. I haven't watched it in like a decade. It's not the fun-loving stuff of the early show. I don't know why they keep dragging it along.
is this show been good in these last few seasons? i stopped watching it a couple of years ago and haven't gotten back into to it.j
If this show gets canceled for some reason witch i hope not i'll be the worst thing they could ever do, so it's better if they just pay them.
With a lot of newer comedies quickly deteriorating, The Simpsons is once again amongst the best. Also, if you really don't like the latest season and have watched all of it, then that's fine. But please don't post nonsense akin to "the show is garbage now" when you've seen like six first-run episodes in the last four years.
That sucks
Should have ended after Season 10?
Try Season 7, and even that season wasn't uber-great.
I understand when people say that they are over The Simpsons, it has been going downhill for a long time now. I also love The Simpsons just as much as the next guy but you gotta know when to pull the plug and at least let the show end with dignity. Yes it will be a sad day when it ends but it will be even more sad if they continue to let it deteriorate the way they are letting it now. Even the movie, which came out way to late, was just like one long episode, it was very disappointing. It is just time for them to bow out gracefully. By the way if I feel like a show is crap I will say that a show is crap. It pisses me off to think of all the many GREAT shows that didn't have an assured audience, that were canceled because they were unwilling to replace a DECENT show with a large assured audience, for fear that they might not get that audience back. Maybe instead of using the remote to turn the channel you should use the mouse to turn the page.moreless
Honestly, I think the show should've ended after season 10. Don't get me wrong, I LOVE the Simpsons, but the writing went to crap after that. A lot of the times now, I'll be lucky if I so much as chuckle durring an episode. It's gotten stale and repetitive. They have done every story twice, and have been scraping the bottom of the barrel so much for ideas that they've made almost everything wrong with Lisa. In the beginning, she was just an ordinary good student. She still acted like a kid (fighting with bart, and helping Bart prank Moe), but now she's a vegan, buddist, environmentalist, brainiac, with bolemia, lol. They have RUINED every character on the show, even Moe. Moe used to be an angry, mean dude, and now he's weeping like a sissy half the time. I do not want the show to end because I hate the show, but I just feel the storytelling has passed it's peak ten years ago, and is only on to be on, and to sell merchandise.
Family Guy pretty much took the Simpsons place in my book. By 99, when Family Guy came around, the Simpsons was already going downhill as far as writing. Family Guy is like a return to how the Simpsons was during seasons 4 and 5, which I'd probably call the peak of quality.moreless
well it'd be hard to do the show without them, so its not as though Fox can do much but accept what the voice actors want.
The amount of money sounds crazy but The Simpsons is a cash cow! Money is pouring in from the show, merchandise, sponsers etc. Fox can def afford it!
I am so tired of hearing people complain about the Simpsons! If you don't like the show, use that wacky new invention, the remote. If you think it should have ended years ago, than find something else to watch on Sunday nights.
Forget about the voices, they should pay the writers more!
I - and, likely, the voice actors themselves - consider their "lofty" demands for the upcoming season as a form of 'compensation for past services rendered'. Objectively speaking, the residual value of even one re-run episode of The Simpsons is worth more than most of the dreck that's currently airing on network TV. (Specifically these 'faux-reality' & so-called "idol" shows, which won't leave a 20-minute impact on viewers, let alone have the same influencial, 20-year run as The Simpsons have enjoyed....) But I digress....>:/
i hate Family Guy this is one of the few good animated shows left
Just pay them.
cancel the damned show, it aint worth it no more. alot of us are bored of it anyway. im sure fox can show other shows thatcan replace it. just let those mofos go
Oh the poor babies. All they have to do is lend their voices for a show that should've ended 7 seasons ago and make over a million per 3 episodes. Must be rough.
Really... again?
holy cow thats a lot of money
Still a whole lot less than what the Friends and Seinfeld cast got paid per episode.
Hey wikiman48 protecting the earth from Xenu ain't cheap you know :)
[quote]Six actors at $500k apiece.Each episode - $3 Million20 episodes in a season - $60 million. That's a lot of cash. [/quote]Before you all get so self-righteous about how the actors are being greedy, consider that FOX was willing to pay this salary. That means they are making enough money to do so. How much money do you think FOX makes off the Simpsons if they can afford to pay that? It's the law of supply and demand. Take an economics course next time before complaining about how much money one person is willing to pay another for working.
recent seasons of simpsons have been so unfunny... i mean, compared to the early ones, it's nothing. they are attempting to change the kind of humor in the show, and it's not being funny at all. I heard they changed writers or something. I will still watch simspons, but I think it is doing real bad.
I really don't care if The Simpsons get canelled they've been on for 19 years. There still will be Family Guy which I like think is a better show anyway.
All the lady the voices Bart Simpson does is give money to the church of Scientology anyway! Seriously last year she gave 10 million dollars to them!
a little late on this TV.com because its seems like Fox and the actors already are agreeing to a deal http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/entertainment/entertainment-news/2008/05/21/mega-pay-deals-for-stars-who-voice-the-simpsons-86908-20424221/
Woah that's a lot of moolah. lol It's going to be pricey but I think the cast deserves it and FOX isn't going to say screw you to the cast of a show that helped their network in the beginning years. My guess is TPTB will try to get the cast to settle in the 400k range.
it's a great talent, but i cant think of anyone else that makes as much money as that for so little work.
If given the right chance in the right situation, others, including debatedly myself, could and would do voice work like that for a fraction of the cost and still be very well off and happy.
Of course it's a relative value, Fox has been making hojillions of Simpsons and these peoples voices for a long long time.
With that being said, i've always had a flair for voice acting, but would be lucky if i even get a hundred dollars and/or get to do something as great as a cartoon period, less the Simpsons.
That is Grotesque... No wonder our country can't afford to keep the public parks and libraries open... I'm disgusted... It's seems greedy and wasteful to me...
What do they do with all of that money? Do they just sit around and buy houses without even looking at them or pay people to hit themselves in the crotch all day? 2-3 episodes at their current salary an I would retire...
Six actors at $500k apiece.Each episode - $3 Million20 episodes in a season - $60 million. That's a lot of cash.