Simpsons May Survive After All!?

There is an entire generation of people who have never known a world without the Simpsons. Now, it looks like the animated series, which is in its 23rd season, has a better chance of surviving the salary dispute and could allow it to reach a 24th… if everyone survives the war of negotiations expected to take place among the major players today.

Entertainment Weekly reports that several top-level producers of The Simpsons have agreed to take pay cuts. (But not all of them!)

Still, the cast of voices themselves, are not fully onboard. 20th Century Fox TV has demanded a 45 percent pay cut and the voice actors countered with a 30 percent reduction, and cited the billions of dollars the studio makes after the fact, in international sales and licensing. The studio is still pushing back on the actors’ demands.

These numbers are so high that its almost too high to conceptualize, but these are all people used to big bucks, so it’s now a matter of how lucrative the show can be and keeping everyone moderately happy, as the series now lacks the same buzz and popularity it once did. Even with less money coming in, everyone here is going to continue to be rich.

For example, their reported $440,000 per episode salary could come down to $250,000. Enough to live pretty well! Still, the actors content that the studio will still be making big money in DVD sales and other deals in the long term. The actors commissioned a study that revealed that the show has made $1 billion in profits over its 23-season run and projects that the studio will eventually make about $2.9 billion from the show in he long term.

The dispute and likely new season could very well create renewed interest in the show.

The deal has to come through today. And even if it goes through, so far, FOX has only agreed to one additional season before the show could potentially end its run for real. Can’t we aim for a quarter century here?