Matt, 50, is finding it increasingly tough to think up new ideas for the cartoon family.
He told The Sun: “The Simpsons’ success has been unbelievable. But the show gets harder and harder every year because we are trying to keep surprising the audience — and trying to surprise ourselves.”
Actors who do voices for Bart and co signed a four-year deal in May, doubling their salary to £147,000 an episode. That takes them up to series 19, in 2008.
Animator Matt hopes to do one more after that, to rival America's longest-running show Gunsmoke, a Western that ran for 20 series.
He said: “I’d love to get to 365 episodes, so there’s one for every day of the year with no repeats.”
The show is about to start its 16th series in the US, while series 12 is due on Channel 4 early next month.
But in the final five years lesser characters like Bart’s pal Milhouse will have stronger roles. Matt said: “I expect we’ll do more and more stories about the other citizens of Springfield.”
Hell its still funny, I'm a completely brain washed fan so I'll be watching it forever.
Personally I think the so called "decline" in quality has been blown way out of perportion.
Sure it might not be ijn it's prime anymore, but it's still better then 95% of TV. Hell maybe 99% now that their are no Whedon Shows, and Alias won't be on until January.
The Simpsons is one of those shows that is consistantly funny, no matter how old it gets. Seinfeld is another. I don't even want to think about The Simpsons ending. It's just too sad.
Originally posted by Luthien Tinuviel The Simpsons is one of those shows that is consistantly funny, no matter how old it gets. Seinfeld is another. I don't even want to think about The Simpsons ending. It's just too sad.
Yea, the simpsons is one of the best shows around...but at some point it'll end I just don't want to have to think about when. What will Sunday nights be without them
I think it will end soon....hopefully. It just isn't, in my opinion, funny anymore. They're supposed to release a movie after the show ends, but like everyone is saying, who knows when the hell that will be.
I'd hate to see the Simpsons end, but I would prefer that to have it degenerate into mediocracy. The last few seasons, while still maintaining a higher level of quality than most of the slop that gets on the air, have seemed a little stale in some ways. Maybe it's just that the show has gotten so familiar lately that it doesn't surprise me the way that it used to. It's still a very funny well written show, one that I feel sets a new standard for humor and satire on American television. I would love for it to go on forever if they can keep it fresh and inetersting but if that can't keep up the standards they've set it's probably better to let it end.
(Funny thing, when I first heard about the Simpsons, back when they were still one minute shorts on the Tracy Ullman Show, I didn't think it would last more than one season. Boy was I wrong! )
I can't remember what exactly prompted me to research this, but I remembered this thread, and Groening saying he wanted to end the show at 20 seasons, so I looked it up to see if they were planning to end it, seeing as right now they're nearing the end of their 19th season.
So I found this, from last summer when the movie premiered, and Groening says this:
It doesn't even matter to me when it ends now. It's been pretty terrible for the last 9 years or so, so I don't expect it to make any sudden changes. And I'm sure the final episode (whenever it airs) will disappoint greatly. Unless they happened to have written the finale back around season 6 or so and have been sitting on that (un-changed) episode ever since, I have absolutely no hopes for it.
Heh, in this thread on tv.com (back in '05 I think), someone said that they were planning on ending the series WITH the movie. Yeah, that didn't happen. If anything, it inspired them to truck on with the Simpsons machine for as long as they can milk it.
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