Checking in with the animation studio

[Dark Homer]

"Fox has worked to cut the costs of The Simpsons. The writers took an eleven percent cut and they've cut the animation crew budget went down by thirty percent. ..."

"They wanted to get rid of layout, but people convinced upper management that it would be a different show if it was board driven, so we've still got layout artists, just fewer of them. ..."

"What's happened is there's fewer positions on staff. The directors have two weeks less to complete shows, and a second director picks up simpler shots to cut down on workload and speed things up. We've got more computer programs and systems. Lots of steamlining. Next season's schedule will be a duplicate of this one. ..."

"I've got the feeling that newer Fox management would love to get rid of The Simpsons because they didn't launch it. (Thos people are gone.) But management here would be happy if it went on for five, six more years. I think Al Jean (Simpsons' mucky muck) would love to do more total episodes than Gunsmoke. ..."

http://animationguildblog.blogspot.c...arz-media.html

[Flexo]

Fox are a bunch of cheap morons. They should take action. I mean, they cancelled Futrurama!

[Homer I Am]

So shittier animation (computer animation)? Oh crap!

[Bert Stanton]

Timelines, it's all about timelines. Meeting FOX's deadlines. The reason the show was so successful to begin with it that the staff were above the management and so did what they wanted. Forcing episodes to come out on time, all the time.

[cymek]

So shittier animation (computer animation)? Oh crap!

Maybe they'll start doing it in Adobe Flash?

[Gran2]

Well however doomed the show actually is, we can cue some more sensationalist bullshit thanks to Shearer:

How long does he see The Simpsons going on? Could you go on forever?

Forever is a long time. I couldn't do another 25 years for health reasons. I suspect the 25th season will be the last and in a sense maybe that will be an unmatchable record - I don’t know and they don’t confide in me.

Oh look, here's some already...

http://www.mirror.co.uk/tv/tv-news/t...nts-mr-1140608

[Handsome B. Wonderful]

Fox are a bunch of cheap morons. They should take action. I mean, they cancelled Futrurama!

yeah, they canceled a show that didn't get very good ratings, was getting gradually worse, and totally isn't back on yet

[Mozy]

So instead of blaming Al Jean, is it safe to say that FOX is the reason to blame? I've been saying for a few weeks now (not on here) that if The Simpsons left FOX that they'd be rejuvenated and become a hit show again! Go to Comedy Central, they seem to be a good job taking care of their shows!

[Dark Homer]

I'd assume Gracie Films is making the budget decisions

[ManiacalRoboKiller]

Oh god I wonder how season 24 and 25 will turn out then.....will the animation get considerably worse or will it be unnoticeable? What about the writing? Everyone thought season 23 was bad....wait until this season...

[Zombies Rise from the Sea]

So instead of blaming Al Jean, is it safe to say that FOX is the reason to blame? I've been saying for a few weeks now (not on here) that if The Simpsons left FOX that they'd be rejuvenated and become a hit show again! Go to Comedy Central, they seem to be a good job taking care of their shows!

FOX is responsible for the cuts, Al Jean is responsible for the content of the show; that means dealing with the budgetary issues the best he can do. If it'd move to Comedy Central, they might get a relaxed budget but it would still be the same quality-wise; I mean look at Futurama, it's survived it's resurrection well but there are telling signs that this isn't the same show from 1999-2003. Just because it moves to Comedy Central does not mean it will be "rejuvenated".

[lolcats]

It's that time of year again.

[Flimpson Tide]

Oh god I wonder how season 24 and 25 will turn out then.....will the animation get considerably worse or will it be unnoticeable? What about the writing? Everyone thought season 23 was bad....wait until this season...

I'd put my money on unnoticeable. Futurama has far less staff today and it seems to be the same. In fact I really can't decipher between the look of a season 4 episode or a season 6. I think the coloring and whatnot on that show was pretty ahead for its time.

And shame on that British tabloid for reporting The Simpsons is "set" to end. That makes it sound like the staff has officially agreed on an ending date when all a voice actor did was speculate. Terrible journalism.

[Lionheart]

Only 2 more seasons? Screw you FOX, you didn't give the show a chance

[lolcats]

''They're about to end The Simpsons! Some have fear, some have waited for years!''

[Jesse Pinkman]

at least we still got that second movie to look forward to.

[D DEBBS]

FOX is turning into a 1970's Hanna-Barbera cartoon studio: el cheapo looking art by a once great company.

[Lionheart]

How would they even know when to start production for the second movie, since it's possible that the series could go on for >2 more years? I assume they would just wait until the series is completely finished?

[lolcats]

Don't worry, Al Jean! You can still live under Seth Macfarlane's car and eat out of the trash can at McDonalds.

[Jesse Pinkman]

apparently matt confirmed that they will make a sequel after the show is done.

if the show ended at s25 they could start production and it wouldn't be out till probably 2016-17 or so, so there'd still be time to speculate and rate and review and all that fun stuff.

[cymek]

I think it will be sooner than 2016-2017 because they won't be having to work simultaneously on the show and the movie, and they will probably want to release it while the memory of the show is still fresh in peoples' minds.

[biffwestwood]

apparently matt confirmed that they will make a sequel after the show is done.

if the show ended at s25 they could start production and it wouldn't be out till probably 2016-17 or so, so there'd still be time to speculate and rate and review and all that fun stuff.

That's what they said about the first movie. They said they wanted to "wait until the series ends first" and they didn't. So it wouldn't be surprising if they don't wait the second time around.

[Lionel Hutz]

I guess we now know why no one from the show participated in the 25th anniversary special. They're rushing to meet deadlines (and probably more than a little pissed with the network)

[biffwestwood]

I guess we now know why no one from the show participated in the 25th anniversary special. They're rushing to meet deadlines (and probably more than a little pissed with the network)

No one except the actual Simpsons characters perhaps.

[Lionel Hutz]

No one except the actual Simpsons characters perhaps.

Characters notwithstanding.

[cinco]

at least we still got that second movie to look forward to.

They can keep their second movie.
What purpose did the first one serve anyway?

Even The Powerpuff Girls had a movie that had a reason to exist. (as it established their origin story and also the origin of Mojo Jojo)
And the Transformers animated movie from the eighties killed off Optimus Prime and transformed Megatron into Galvatron.

So those movies based on animated series brought something to the table, which The Simpsons Movie didn't.

[Sinister Burns]

Can't you just enjoy it without complaining? Or if you must complain, complain about its content rather than its existence.

[cinco]

There's not so much complaining I do. I have the movie, I enjoy the movie. But did it really have to be a movie? The Who Shot Mr. Burns-twoparter had more reason to be a movie than the actual Simpsons Movie.
And why should we be looking forward to a second one if we already have 20+ episodes each year that hardly please the majority of the forum members...

I feel like people sometimes just want to look forward for the sake of looking forward.
But then again... speculation is the oil that keeps the wheels of the internet turning.

[zartok-35]

"They wanted to get rid of layout, but people convinced upper management that it would be a different show if it was board driven, so we've still got layout artists, just fewer of them. ..."

Thats depressing; Fox wants to make The Simpsons just like Family Guy.

[jbauer]

These are the same cuts that were done to Futurama. They didn't affect Futurama's animation quality at all. I'm pretty sure it won't affect The Simpsons.

When you're producing the same show after 23 seasons, you become pretty good at making it look good under a tight budget and deadline. A good example would be the Star Trek Next Gen films, which were all done under tight budgets, and still looked like expensive affairs.