Harry Shearer leaving 'The Simpsons'

Yeah, the other guy was John Kricfalusi, who also created the Ren & Stimpy. He got fired for continually missing deadlines and/or creative control issues.

 

I read or heard a long time ago that the Simpsons was recorded with the actors doing their lines together unlike film animation. Was that true? Do they still do that?

 

I would bet just about anything they don't do that now.

When they all did Inside the Actors' Studio I remember one of them, probably Kavner, saying, "We don't get to see each other very much."

 

I remember watching that episode. Kavner also wouldn't allow herself to be filmed doing the Marge voice, which was just weird.

 

I don't doubt that happened, but I don't remember it.

I remember when Yeardley Smith was a regular on Herman's Head, she answered the phone one and said, "No, this is not Lisa Simpson."

 

I heard the Simpsons was animated live.

 

I heard it was animated using the blood of orphans.

 

Jazz Odyssey.

 

To me, Julie Kavner will always be Brenda Morgenstern.

 

Jean Stapleton was on a talk show with Carroll O'Connor, and she wouldn't do Edith Bunker's voice
when the host asked her to do it. Said she did it only when someone was paying her to do it.

 

I think it's in Nancy Cartwright's biography, but originally, I believe Kavner just thought it would be a small side gig and she wanted to keep her regular acting gigs. As time has gone by, and the show was become what it is, I think she's softened somewhat. You can find cast photos with her in them now, whereas in the past, her contract said she didn't even have to do publicity for the show.

Re: Billy West, I'm sure he and several other voice actors have the chops do it. In a Futurama commentary, they actually have a "Zoidberg off" between him (he actually does the voice), Maurice LaMarche (Hermes, Orson Welles, Morbo) and John DiMaggio (Bender). All three sound the same. I do think there is a bit of an actor's code about not being a scab for management - Like, West wouldn't take the role for $100k just because Matt Groening wanted to pocket more money. However, as others have mentioned Shearer is such a known pain in the ass that there might not be that replacement stigma in play. (Someone mentioned Ren and Stimpy, which had the same situation, given Kricfalusi's personality and deadline issues.)

I think I'm the only person who's still watching The Simpsons every week... or at least, it feels like that. I do agree with others that the last few seasons haven't been great, and of course, the show hasn't ever really matched its early seasons, for a variety of reasons. (Where the cutoff line for individuals varies, it seems - Even season 14 has "I'm Spelling As Fast As I Can," which I think is the last episode to really stack up with the Golden Age episodes, and the last season before it really slides for me.) This last season has been weird and interesting though. It could just be them circling the drain with ideas, but they've had things like Homer being cloned, the Futurama and Family Guy crossovers, flash forward episodes, and an aliens episode that wasn't on Halloween. At least compared to past seasons, when the show felt like it was kind of safe, they've been taking some big swings this season.

 

12 hours and no "That would be a terrible strain on the animators' wrists"? Y'all slippin'.