‘The Simpsons’ Cast Faces Massive Salary Cuts, Leaving the Show’s Future in Question

Today in news that would have been really upsetting if this were, let's say, 1996: "The Simpsons" might get cancelled! As Lloyd Grove reports today on The Daily Beast, the actors who voice the show's characters volunteered to take a 30% pay cut in exchange for a share of the show's back-end profits — what it earns in syndication, from merchandise, etc. In response, 20th Century Fox (the production company, not the TV network) signed back an offer of a 45% pay cut; Grove's piece doesn't indicate whether 20th budged at all on the back-end question.

In considering Grove's report, Alex Balk of The Awl asks, "If 'The Simpsons' Ends Will You Care?" Was ever a question more rhetorical? Because fans won't care: Fewer and fewer of us are even watching the new episodes. We've bought the DVDs of Season 2-7 (or 9, if you decided to push it). We're good.

If "The Simpsons" ends, will 20th care? It can probably make as much from the 500 episodes already in the can as it could if it added 22 or 44 or 66 to the pile. Executives have probably been DYING for the cast to force the issue so that they'd have an excuse to quit spending money on the show and getting back diminishing returns for their troubles.

So the only people who really lose, if "The Simpsons" falls apart, are the members of the cast, who only get paid for the tiny amount of work they do as long as new episodes are produced. Which means that a few hours a week of their time and talent probably will turn out to be worth $4 million to them — especially Hank Azaria, because "Free Agents" is probably going to get cancelled any minute now.