Pay cuts might bring down ‘The Simpsons’

It’s hard to believe that after 23 seasons, sheer exhaustion won’t kill The Simpsons — but money just might.

It was announced Oct. 4 that unless the famed voice cast agrees to take a 45 percent pay cut — from the $8 million they receive a year to just over $4 million — Fox sees no other alternative but to cancel the show.

The uncomfortable reality is that despite the show’s incredible effect on pop culture, ratings are down. As it stands, despite the boatloads of money Fox makes on reruns and merchandising, Fox is losing money producing current episodes. Economically, the decision makes a depressing amount of sense.

The few recent episodes I have seen demonstrate the show can still bring it. Because only 7 percent of the audience is watching, the show rightly feels it can really stretch its boundaries and produce unique work. I’d hate to say the cast might need to take a pay-cut in order for the show to continue, but Fox could also give an inch: by giving the voices of the famed yellow family a percentage of the merchandising rights that they stubbornly refused to hand over earlier this year.

Of course, much discussion centered around when The Simpsons’ glory days ended, and how it should have gracefully exited years ago, but I have a hunch that even the “yellow purists” aren’t really contemplating what a world without The Simpsons would be like. No ‘SC undergrad has lived in a world without The Simpsons. This is a show that celebrated middle-class America, with all it’s foibles; it would truly be sad to see it go. =