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SPRINGFIELD -- For 23 years "The Simpsons" have been one of America's favorite dysfunctional families, but season 23 might be the last time we hear a "D'oh!" from Homer or an "Aye caramba" from Bart.
Reports indicate the shows voice actors are in heated contract negotiations with 20th Century Fox that may mark the end of the long-running series.
"Studio executives are insisting the cast accept a 45 percent pay cut or face cancellation after the current season," reports Chris Harnick with AolTV.com.
How much is a 45 percent pay cut? Well, considering the actors now make around $8 million a year their pay would drop to about $4 million a year. I know, I know, it's heart breaking. Who can live off of $4 million a year these days?
But before we start calling the voice actors greedier than Mr. Burns, they did make a counter offer.
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"The actors are countering with an agreement that nets them a 30 percent reduction in salary but a small slice of the show's back-end earnings," reports Huffington Post's entertainment section. "Which include the billion dollar syndication and merchandising empire that the studio has built over the past two plus decades."
Business is business, and FOX has a few cards up their sleeves as well. While the actors are fighting for their cash, it may be more fiscally responsible for the network to give the show the axe.
"RBC Capital Markets says that because of a very-limited syndication deal, a cancellation of could loosen the shackles on FOX parent News Corp.'s ability to monetize the show," reports Steve Schaefer with Forbes.com. "The freedom of selling the show into syndication on cable or even to online streaming providers like Netflix or Amazon could generate $1-2 million an episode for a show that has produced nearly 500 of them, RBC estimates."
How much does that actually equal?
"Canceling ‘The Simpsons' could allow FOX to essentially abrogate the original syndication agreement, potentially allowing for about $750 million of incremental content monetization," wrote The Hollywood Reporter's George Szalai.
That kind of money may take the negotiating ball out of the voice actors' hands, but I doubt they will give in without a fight.
My heart will be heavy if the Simpsons leave Evergreen Terrace and vanish, never to be heard from again, except for an occasional refernce in other shows, much like Uter Zorker. But at least I'll have 23 seasons worth of episodes to contribute to the countless hours I already waste in front of a television.
E-mail: jclyde@ksl.com
