There is tragic news. Harry Shearer has quit The Simpsons

[Hassled]

Goodbye, Mr Burns, Ned Flanders, Wayland Smithers, Reverend Lovejoy, Principal Skinner, Lenny, Otto and almost certainly hundreds more. How are they going to manage this? Guardian says they will recast - but it will have to be someone who can do a damn good impersonation of Harry Shearer doing Burns etc. I am distraught, I tell you.

Are they still making The Simpsons? I thought it was old hat.

They are - definitely patchy these days though. This is probably the moment to stop.

I haven't seen any recently, I think it might be time. i wonder who their audience is? My teens (13 and 15) don't watch anymore.

Funnily enough I was talking to DD about this yesterday, saying that if any of the main cast either left or died they'd probably end the show.

I think it's time they ended it, Bart and Lisa should be in their late thirties by now if time passed normally in Springfield. I've always been a fan but it can't go on forever and the quality has been dropping for a few years now.

I haven't actually watched it for years, but he is a legend.

I think they ought to end it.

We . are . sad . and . shocked

Excellent ;-)

The last few series have been weird they should release the hounds its probably going to end

No more Ned? But what will happen to Rod and Tod?!

Poor Rod and Tod. They've already lost the sainted Maud - damn that T-Shirt cannon.

It makes me feel like this.

I still watch it every day (and have done since I was a kid - I'm 27 now ) but I'm really not that fussed for newer episodes (although I do think it has picked back up again the past series).

Problem is that Harry Shearer does that many voices (and not small characters either) it'll surely be impossible to recast them all. I think they would be wise to call it a day.

we watch the repeats on ch4.

ds looks at me like when I laugh before they've said the joke.

The Simpsons voice actors earn crazy money. I'm not surprised by this. They could probably pay for 20 no-name voice actors for a tenth of the cost.

Is he retiring or is he just leaving to do something more interesting? In the interviews I've heard he seemed to be a very funny man in his own right, so perhaps he'll do something that I'll enjoy more than the Simpsons.

Oh man, really

We have watched the more recent episodes and they aren't a patch on the earlier seasons.

It'll be so weird if they end it, and sort of sad. ..

Harry Shearer is a very funny man, agreed

The more I think about it the more I think they can't carry on. There are just too many characters involved - they could lose Hank Azaria more easily in terms of fewer people to replace.

I have a weird crush on Hank Azaria anyway we were talking about this over dinner Harry sherar is half the characters they would need to kill some of them off

A crush on Hank Azaria is not weird at all. It's completely reasonable.

contractual reasons though? i reckon they'll pay up ;)

They've commissioned two new series. They are already making them using old recordings of Shearer.

Shearer is leaving because the new contracts prohibit them from working on other programs, and that's never been a clause before. The producers won't back down. So, he's leaving.

I expect they'll use old recordings rather than kill off the characters but they may use his back up (I believe there's one from a few series' ago?) or kill off some of his characters.

ah ok :)

he'll be missed

Tbh I adore the Simpsons, but wouldn't be too sad if it ended, most of the really funny stuff was a long time ago, some recent episodes are very meh, that one with moe's dishrag was a new low, must have seen the Iceland one about 50 times too, thanks sky1. I still watch it every day though, because there is feck all else on between the hours of 6-8, sad that he is leaving