“The Simpsons” Renewed For Two More Seasons

The Huffington Post reports:

“The Simpsons” will live on, after all.
On the verge of cancellation after producer 20th Century Fox TV demanded that the voice cast of the seminal animated series take a 45% pay cut, the producers and talent came to a last minute agreement on Friday that will extend the show for two more seasons. It was thought that the showwould last only one more season after this, its 23rd, even if an agreement was reached, but the groundbreaking series will reach a record-setting 25 years on television.
The cast had agreed to lower their salaries, but asked in exchange for a cut of the backend profits, including DVD, syndication and merchandise sales. Star Harry Shearer released a statement earlier on Friday, saying that he was willing to take up to an up to 70% cut in pay in exchange for the back end. Fox balked at the offer, though terms of the new agreement have not been released.
Here’s the official announcement from Fox:

• FOX has renewed THE SIMPSONS, the longest-running comedy in television history, for an incredible 24th and 25th season, bringing the series total to an astonishing 559 episodes. THE SIMPSONS airs Sundays (8:00-8:30 PM ET/PT) on FOX.
• In the words of Homer Simpson, “Woo Hoo! I outlasted Andy Rooney!”
• The longest-running scripted show in television history, THE SIMPSONS exploded into a cultural phenomenon in 1990 and has remained one of the most groundbreaking and innovative entertainment franchises, recognizable throughout the world. Matt Groening created the iconic family: Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa and Maggie. In February 2012, THE SIMPSONS will celebrate its historic 500th episode. The series has won 27 Emmy Awards, been the subject of a hit feature film, created “Krustyland” and a revolutionary virtual coaster – The Simpsons Ride – at Universal Studios, received a star on The Hollywood Walk of Fame, been honored with five U.S. postal stamps personally designed by Matt Groening, and named the “Best Show of the 20th Century” by Time Magazine.

“The Simpsons” Facing Cancellation Over Contract Issues With FOX

The Huffington Post reports:

UPDATE (2:22 PM EST): 20th Century Fox TV released a statement about the negotiations, sounding a bit dire.
23 seasons in, The Simpsons is as creatively vibrant as ever and beloved by millions around the world. We believe this brilliant series can and should continue, but we cannot produce future seasons under its current financial model. We are hopeful that we can reach an agreement with the voice cast that allows The Simpsons to go on entertaining audiences with original episodes for many years to come.
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PREVIOUSLY: Despite Homer Simpson’s best efforts, it may not be a nuclear meltdown that brings about Springfield’s doom. Instead, its end may come thanks to the business of Hollywood that the show has lampooned for so long.
According to a new report from The Daily Beast, the show’s voice actors are locked in a bitter contract negotiation with 20th Century Fox, with the studio threatening to end production if the talent does not take a 45% pay cut. The actors are countering with an agreement that nets them a 30% reduction in salary but a small slice of the show’s back-end earnings, which include the billion dollar syndication and merchandising empire that the studio has built over the past two plus decades.
At the moment, the Daily Beast reports, the show’s voice actors — Dan Castellaneta, Julie Kavner, Nancy Cartwright, Yeardley Smith (Lisa), Hank Azaria and Harry Shearer — earn about $8 million a year, but do not get a cut of the show’s much bigger ancillary profits.
The stars re-upped their contracts in 2008, receiving significant raises; it was reported that they went from $360,000 to $500,000 an episode.
Most of the actors, who each play a number of characters, have other gigs; Azaria, who voices Apu and Chief Wiggums, leads the way with his own NBC sitcom, “Free Agents,” though the new show is already in danger of being cancelled thanks to low ratings. He also played a part in this fall’s hit film, “Contagion” and starred in this summer’s big hit, “The Smurfs.”
Castellaneta, the voice of Homer, has had a recurring role in ABC Family’s “Greek.” Nancy Cartwright, Bart Simpson’s voice, also did voices for “Rugrats” and the shows “The Replacements” and “Betsy’s Kindergarten Adventures.” Harry Shearer has also starred in Christopher Guest’s mockumentaries.

In or Out: Some Glee Cast to Stay Put

The Advocate reports:

Apparently you can go home again. Or back to school, at least. At a panel at last weekend’s San Diego Comic-Con, Gleeexecutive producer Brad Falchuk told a standing-room-only audience of Gleeks and geeks that three of the most popular actors on the show — Chris Colfer (Kurt), Lea Michele (Rachel), and Cory Monteith (Finn) — will not be canned after this season, as previously reported. When creator Ryan Murphy told The Hollywood Reporter the trio would be graduating and leaving McKinley High, it caused an uproar. (Gay fan fave Colfer, in fact, said he learned of the change via Twitter, though he took the announcement in stride).
Turns out, according to TV Line,the kids will be graduating in May, but, says Falchuk, they may very well be back for season 4 — if not beyond.
“Here’s the exact thing: [Rachel, Kurt and Finn] are seniors, so they’re graduating,” Falchuk explained, “but because they’re graduating doesn’t mean they’re leaving the show. If you have Lea Michele under contract, you don’t say, ‘We’re gonna let you go.’” Plus, the executive producer pointed out, “a number of the original [cast members’ characters] are not graduating this year.”
Falchuk reiterated, “It was never our plan or our intention to let them go. … They are not done with the show after this season.”
At the Comic-Con panel, which was moderated by TV Line editor in chief Michael Ausiello, Falchuk also said Chord Overstreet (pictured, who plays Sam) was offered a deal to return for 10 episodes, but the 22-year-old actor declined, “which we were really disappointed by.”
Added Falchuk, “We wanted him back because we like Chord personally and had some good stories planned for him and with Mercedes [played by Amber Riley]. He decided he would have opportunities elsewhere that he would like to pursue, and we can’t force him to work, so we wished him well.”
Some other cast members won’t be back, namely most of the big celebs. Kristin Chenoweth, who played Broadway-bound boozy floozy April Rhodes, told Zap2It she’s somewhat bummed that Murphy plans to do season 3 of the show without guest stars, as she loves her character, but she understands his rationale. “I think he’s trying to get his show back,” Chenoweth said. “I think he’s trying to really concentrate on his characters. I actually understand that. I get it. People want to see those characters.”

Glee’ Controversy: Lea Michele & Chris Colfer Getting NY Spinoff, Corey Monteith Looking For New Oportunities

The Huffington Post reports:

Just as “Glee” fans began to contemplate a life without Rachel Berry and Kurt Hummel, they may not end up having to say goodbye after all.
Yesterday, The Hollywood Reporter broke the newsthat stars Lea Michele (Rachel), Chris Colfer (Kurt) and Corey Monteith (Finn) would be graduating from the hit musical dramedy at the end of the coming third season. And while that has some fans bummed, a new report reveals that creator Ryan Murphy has bigger plans for the first two stars.
RumorFix.com says that Michele and Colfer will star in a spinoff show that places their characters in New York, a thread that began pulling near the end of last season. In New York for Nationals, their characters snuck onto the stage of “Wicked” and sang one of the songs. The characters decided that, following their graduation, they’d move out to the city.
While not announcing the news himself, Murphy said in his interview with The Hollywood Reporterthat he planned on focusing on that storyline during the upcoming third season.
“I’m much more interested in Lea’s character — not so much on her relationship with Finn, but more on what her dreams are beyond high school and how she plans on getting them,” he said.
Back in June, Murphy got the ball rolling on breaking the news of the upcoming graduation, telling Ryan Seacrest, “The thing that I wanted to do and the cast wanted to do, we didn’t want to have a show where they were in high school for 8 years. We really wanted it to be true to that experience. We thought it would be really cool if we were true to the timeline.”
As for Monteith, he’s looking at other opportunities.
“I’m thrilled with how the show’s done and with the opportunities it’s provided me, but at the same time I’m excited about doing other things,” he told Entertainment Weekly at the end of June.
Earlier on Thursday, Colfer was nominated for an Emmy, while Michele was not. The show itself was nominated for Outstanding Comedy Series.

Blaine and Kurt Kiss on Glee

Aww.