Goodman Signs With 20th Century Fox TV

Goodman Signs With 20th Century Fox TV: "David Goodman, who along with Family Guy creator Seth MacFarlane, exec produces the hit animated series, has signed a two-year deal with 20th Century Fox TV.

Under the terms of the agreement, Goodman will continue to serve as the program's showrunner, and will create new series for the studio.

Goodman's writing credits include The Golden Girls, Dream On, and Star Trek: Enterprise. He also was a co-exec producer on Fox's Futurama. "

TV Squad

TV Squad: "Holy crap! Not only has Family Guy executive producer David Goodman signed a two-year deal with Fox to produce more shows for the network, the ink has also just dried on a new 22-episode deal for the show. A fifth season of Family Guy is all but a done deal at this point. With Goodman's deal, I wonder if a succesful release of the upcoming Futurama DVD movie will bring it back to life."

The intelligent design of the "Family Guy" (9/24/05)

USNews.com: Culture: The intelligent design of the "Family Guy" (9/24/05)

Dismal ratings convinced Fox to boot the cartoon comedy Family Guy in 2002, but after ravenous fans devoured the DVDs of the Griffin clan's adventures, the network brought the series back–much to the surprise of creator Seth MacFarlane. Now that it's a hit on TV, MacFarlane's giving the DVD devotees a thank-you note with the straight-to-DVD Family Guy Presents Stewie Griffin–the Untold Story ($30), which tells the tale of the Brit-accent baby's desire to prove that fat slob Peter Griffin is not his real father. With the cocktail-swilling family dog, Brian, in tow, Stewie flees to San Francisco to track down the man he thinks is his dad.

How are you like Stewie?

Only in my frustration with the world around me. He's a guy easily set off by the smallest thing, but–with the exception of George Bush–I'm not.

Is there a big temptation to get into political humor?

We try to stay away from it. Every once in a while we do it, but it's very easy as a Hollywood liberal to get on a soapbox. We have two stories this season. One is on the teaching of intelligent design in schools. Peter's Irish-Catholic father comes to town and gets the school to start teaching creationism. This sends Peter on a journey to find religion, and he ends up worshiping the Fonz. And we're doing one on gay marriage. Brian's gay cousin, Jasper, is getting married to his Filipino boyfriend, but Mayor Adam West is passing a law against gay marriage. We dance around the fact that one of them is a dog, and no one reacts to that [aspect], which is probably how it would actually be in this country.

Now that you're back on the air after being canceled, does Fox feel so guilty?

What people forget is that they kept the show on longer than other networks would have. It was probably the right move to cancel it at the time. And it was the right move to bring it back after it developed an audience through the DVDs.

I'm amazed you can get by with some of the stuff on the show, like calling that character "Asian reporter Trisha Takanawa."

That one came out of one of our writers noticing that the white people on broadcast news are always behind the anchor desk, and they send the minority reporters out into the field in danger.

So no one tells you what you can't do?

The FCC is more restrictive than it used to be. The trigger finger is at the ready. The message to us is it isn't sex and violence that's the problem–it's poop jokes. Public enemy No. 1 is doody. I feel like I'm living in The Twilight Zone. I want to do a mass mailing of the book Everybody Poops. It's tough for me to believe that's the real problem.

Toilet humor is getting chopped, then?

There was an episode called "Blind Ambition" last season. Peter wants to beat a world record, so he decides to eat the most nickels. We had a scene with him sitting on the john as many cartoon characters have in the past, and he's talking to Lois. But all you hear is a slot machine payout. That's benign compared to what you'd see on the local news, but it didn't make it. An example of something that did get in that episode is that [a character] is lying naked with a ceiling fan near his genitals while his friends show him pictures of women to help wean him from sex. I don't make the rules.

The nice thing about the DVD releases is that they're really financially important, so we've taken a hint from that and made them creatively important, too. So we have one edit for the DVD and another for the network airing. It's great that there's a venue for that. This release is an experiment, and if it does well, the next one might be a theatrical release.

Any idea of what that would be like?

It's something we haven't figured out yet. It's difficult to translate something that works in a half-hour to a two-hour format. Remember the Family Ties movie from the 1980s?

Unfortunately, no.

The show was a wonderfully written family comedy, but the TV movie was in Russia, and somehow [in the plot] they got possession of a microfilm. It could have been James Bond instead of the Seavers. So we don't want to do that. –Vicky Hallett

Family Guy - Volume 3 Artwork!

Family Guy - Volume 3 Artwork!

'Futurama' writer is elected to head guild

calendarlive.com: 'Futurama' writer is elected to head guild: "Animation writer Patric M. Verrone was overwhelmingly elected Tuesday to head the union representing Hollywood screen and TV writers, vowing to take a tougher stance with studios and pledging to step up organizing efforts.

Verrone, whose TV credits include 'Futurama,' 'Muppets Tonight' and 'Rugrats,' won 69% of the 2,012 ballots cast by the Writers Guild of America, West. Currently secretary-treasurer of the 9,000-member union, Verrone defeated 'Pirates of the Caribbean' writer Ted Elliott, who had been endorsed by outgoing president Daniel Petrie Jr."

Hannan Turk and Mohammad Hunaidi as the Simpsons

albawaba.com middle east news information::Hannan Turk and Mohammad Hunaidi as the Simpsons

The Arab satellite television station MBC will be airing an Arabic version of the American cartoon comedy ‘The Simpsons’ during the holy month of Ramadan, marking the first time such an attempt has been made by an Arabic channel.simpson



‘The Simpsons,’ produced and Arabized by MBC, is a comedy and a family drama. A number of prominent young Egyptian actors like Mohammad Hunaidi and Hannan Turk will play the voices of the cartoon characters.



According to the London based Elaph, the Simpsons, despite being a cartoon, targets an older audience and tackles family and social issues.



Hannan has been nominated for the leading role in the upcoming film "Ous Wi Lazi'" (Cut and Paste) alongside young actor Sharif Muneer.



The film, directed by Hala Khalil, marks her second film, the first being "Ahla Al Awqat" (The Best of Times), which won her favorable reviews.



Hannan recently flew to Canada to take part in the Montreal International Film Festival, which featured Hannan’s new film “Dunia” (World), written and directed by Joe Sileen Saab. The film also stars Egyptian singer Mohammad Muneer, who plays a young performer who meets Hannan, and eventually the two make their way to Cairo to pursue their dreams.

BLABBERMOUTH.NET - METALLICA To Guest On 'The Simpsons'

BLABBERMOUTH.NET - METALLICA To Guest On 'The Simpsons'

The members of METALLICA were in the studio today (Sept. 20) to record their voices for an upcoming episode of "The Simpsons". The show will air sometime in May 2006, so you have plenty of time to set those recorders. More information will be made available soon. In the meantime, click here to check out the pictures of the guys saying their lines.

METALLICA have been keeping a relatively low profile since completing their world tour in late 2004. The band is expected to begin working on a new album sometime before the end of this year.

Homer ("D'OH!"), Marge, Bart, Lisa and "The Simpsons" gang set to help increase workplace safety

ORLANDO, FL, Sept. 20 /CNW/ - Victor House Publications, a leader in
worker safety awareness and training, unveiled a new line of workplace safety
products for US and Canadian businesses today featuring Homer Simpson and the
rest of Springfield's finest from FOX's hit show THE SIMPSONS in conjunction
with the National Safety Council's Orlando Congress.
In a series of entertaining posters designed to reduce workplace
injuries, Homer and the rest of THE SIMPSONS illustrate ways to work safely
using their unique brand of humor. Based on Victor House's own SAFE product
line and produced under license with Twentieth Century Fox Licensing &
Merchandising, Victor House will release two posters a month using 'SIMPSONS'
images created specifically to reduce worker accidents. The first posters were
revealed today on Victor House's web site at www.SafetyWorld.com.
"We have been working closely with the creative people at FOX to come up
with powerful and humorous graphics that reach out to employees", said Hugh
Owen, Victor House's President, "and if early reaction is any indication, we
have succeeded. We have never seen anything with the same impact as THE
SIMPSONS, especially among younger employees."
Helping stem a problem identified by OSHA of more than 5,000 worker
deaths and 4 million workplace injuries and illnesses annually, posters with
THE SIMPSONS characters are proving highly effective at getting safety
messages across. Their global recognition combined with amusing poster
graphics create an instant ability to cross cultural and language barriers
often existing in the workplace, offering an effective safety solution for
every business.
THE SIMPSONS safety posters are available at www.SafetyWorld.com or by
phone at 800-206-6548 and are designed to assist the majority of employers,
including industrial and transportation companies, hotels, restaurants and
large office employers such as financial services and high-tech organizations.
For sample images of THE SIMPSONS safety posters to accompany a published
article or broadcast news story or further information about Victor House, THE
SIMPSONS or FOX LICENSING & MERCHANDISING, visit www.safetyworld.com/press.

Simpson Movie News

Cinematical: "A tiny bit more on the Simpsons movie

Posted Sep 19, 2005, 4:01 PM ET by Karina Longworth
Filed under: Animation, DIY/Filmmaking, Comedy, RumorMonger
The Movie Blog points to these new details on the upcoming Simpsons feature. Producer David Mirkin maintains that quality is of utmost importance; to that end, they've decided not to rush production. 'It's all about the quality — the writing — which we're working on now,' he says. 'We are very quality conscious, and we don't want the series to suffer because of the movie.' Meanwhile, though the animation processes used will have to be altered slightly for the big screen, no one involved wants the film to look markedly different from the series. 'We're looking at various tests to get the right look,' Mirkin continues. 'We're taking it into the realm of cinema but not too far from how it looks on the show.' Still no details on plot, but it looks like many past and present Simpsons writers will be on board."

TrekWeb.com - Patrick Stewart Fancies Fanny in FOX Toons

TrekWeb.com - Patrick Stewart Fancies Fanny in FOX Toons

Ten years after NEXT GENERATION ended its seven-year run, now the truth has come out: Captain Jean-Luc Picard thinks Mr. Worf has a butt head. It became cartoon tongue-in-cheek canon last Sunday night on FOX, when Patrick Stewart, Jonathan Frakes, and Michael Dorn teamed up with FAMILY GUY creator Seth MacFarlane.

In season premiere "Peter's Got Woods," bizarre behavior from guest James Woods prompts Peter to blurt, "Boy, I haven't been this creeped out since I saw that episode of STAR TREK." At that point there's a flashback to the Enterprise-D...

Picard: "Number One."
Riker: "Yes, captain?"
Picard: "Let me ask you something. If I whispered in your ear that Commander Worf's head looks like a fanny, would you join me in a laugh?"
Riker: "Yeah, I could get in on that."
Picard: "All right, here it comes: Commander Worf's head looks like a fanny!"
Crew: "Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha..."
Worf: "You can both suck my ridges!"
Picard: "Oh, get a sense of humor, Rocky Dennis!"

Perhaps this is poetic payback from MacFarlane, who was humbled as a nervous crewman in ENTERPRISE episode "The Forgotten," penned by former TREK writer and current FAMILY GUY executive producer David A. Goodman.

Wil Wheaton has blogged, "[The] season premiere of FAMILY GUY was one of the greatest things I've ever seen on television ... Oh yeah, and seeing Wesley freaking Crusher!! I screamed so loud!"

Patrick Stewart also voices CIA deputy director Bullock in "Bullocks to Stan," the season premiere of AMERICAN DAD, in which Seth MacFarlane is the voice of agent Stan Smith. As Stan sucks up for a promotion, his rebellious 18 year-old daughter has a fling with Bullock.

It was weird. It was wacky. It was a typical Sunday night on FOX television. FAMILY GUY airs at 9pm ET, and AMERICAN DAD follows at 9:30pm.

A video clip of the TNG segment is posted at VRRRM, as well as a scandalous clip of Patrick Stewart as Bullock shaking his pink-terry booty while singing "I Love Little Girls."

King of the Hill - Hank says, 'Stop and buy this DVD!' - Season 5 art

King of the Hill - Hank says, 'Stop and buy this DVD!' - Season 5 art

"Simpsons" Keeps Going (and Going...) - Sep 13, 2005 - E! Online News

"Simpsons" Keeps Going (and Going...) - Sep 13, 2005 - E! Online News

Few in Hollywood age more gracefully than Homer Simpson.

The fat, bald patriarch of Fox's The Simpsons turned 17 seasons old Sunday night. Ancient by TV standards or no, Homer's vital stats remain strong. His season opener drew 11.1 million viewers, ranking ninth for the TV week ended Sunday, per Nielsen Media Research.

a d v e r t i s e m e n t
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E! News Live Top5 Videos

With 357 Simpsons episodes now having aired, the animated comedy ties Dallas for eighth among the longest-running entertainment programs of all-time, according to the Website Longest Running TV Shows.

By the end of this season, The Simpsons should have passed Alfred Hitchcock Presents (361 episodes) and My Three Sons (369), and moved within striking distance of fifth place and Death Valley Days (381).

The Simpsons hasn't just persevered, it has prospered. Last season, it averaged 9.6 million viewers, up from the 8.6 million it entertained a decade earlier.

The O.C., by comparison, might be the anti-Simpsons, slowly but surely regressing as it ages.

The Fox soap's third season premiere and cliffhanger tier-upper attracted 7.5 million diehards (31st place), down about 13 percent from its season-two opener and a ways away from its heady first days on the beach in Summer 2003.

Given that The O.C.'s premiere came against the National Football League's opening night match-up on ABC (first place, 18 million), a truer test for the show will come this week. That's when it'll go up against something arguably more fearsome than the Oakland Raiders: The new cast of CBS' Survivor: Guatemala.

Elsewhere:

* In addition to The Simpsons, Fox used Sunday to roll out the season premieres of Family Guy (15th place, 9.1 million) and American Dad (28th place, 7.8 million), and the series premiere of the sitcom The War at Home (16th place, 8.7 million). All were top 10 hits among 18-to-49-year-old viewers.
* With a modest 37th place debut (6.6 million), Fox's murder-mystery-minded Reunion wasn't quite a blow-out bash.
* After a fast start, Fox's Prison Break (19th place, 8.5 million) slowed, but made headway with youngish penal-colony buffs (10th place in the 18-49 demo).
* With Survivor still on summer vacation, the Tuesday edition of CBS' Big Brother 6 (24th place, 8.1 million) took honors as the week's most watched reality show.
* A rerun of Desperate Housewives' first-season finale (40th place, 6.5 million) rang up the ABC show's biggest numbers since the episode originally aired in May.
* NBC's Tommy Lee Goes to College (74th place, 4 million) has all but flunked out.
* Tommy Hilfiger declared design student Chris Cortez to be "in style" in the season-finale of CBS' out-of-fashion The Cut (75th place, 3.9 million).
* ESPN, the future home of Monday Night Football, happily made due with Sunday night football last weekend, scoring a cable-high 11.2 million for its Indianapolis Colts-Baltimore Ravens contest.
* Rome hasn't won a lot of viewers (2.6 million), but it has won a second-season pickup from HBO.
* In the eternal battle of the Bradys versus the Partridges, the premiere of My Fair Brady (1.2 million), chronicling the May-October romance of model Adrianne Curry and Brady Bunch alum Christopher Knight, outdid the premiere of Breaking Bonaduce (just under 1 million), chronicling the attempted suicide of Partridge Family alum Danny Bonaduce, VH1 said.
* The Discovery Channel had a hit with its made-for-TV movie The Flight That Fought Back (7 million), about the passengers and crew of the lone hijacked 9-11 airplane that didn't take out a target.
* A combined 22.2 million watched Shelter from the Storm: A Concert for the Gulf Coast on 27 broadcast and cable networks Friday night. Three years ago, America: A Tribute to Heroes, a similar all-star telethon organized in the wake of 9-11, drew 59.3 million. Unlike Tribute to Heroes, Shelter from the Storm didn't have the market cornered on donation pleas. It was just one of three telethons held last weekend. MTV, VH1 and CMT drew a combined 12 million for its Hurricane Katrina benefit, ReAct Now: Music & Relief. BET's S.O.S. (Saving Ourselves drew 1.2 million.

Overall, football, both pro and college, powered ABC to wins in total viewers (8.3 million) and the 18-49 demo.

CBS' reruns edged Fox's new shows for second place in viewers (7.5 million to 7.4 million). NBC (6.3 million) was a distant fourth. The WB (2.16 million) closed the gap with UPN (2.19 million), but couldn't overtake its rival.

Here's a look of the 10 most watched prime-time shows for the week ended Sunday, according to Nielsen Media Research:

1. NFL Football Special Opener (Oakland Raiders vs. New England Patriots), ABC, 18 million viewers
2. 2005 NFL Showcase, ABC, 16 million viewers
3. CSI, CBS, 12.9 million viewers
4. 60 Minutes, CBS, 11.7 million viewers
5. Prime-time spillover of regional NFL football coverage, Fox, 11.5 million viewers
6. CSI: Miami, CBS, 11.3 million viewers
7. Without a Trace, CBS, 11.219 million viewers
8. Two and a Half Men (9:30 p.m., Monday), CBS, 11.216 million viewers
9. The Simpsons, Fox, 11.1 million viewers
10. Two and a Half Men (9 p.m., Monday), CBS, 10.5 million viewers

The Simpsons voted UK's perfect couple!:- - World News - Webindia123.com

The Simpsons voted UK's perfect couple!

It seems that perfect or true love is now only a figment of imagination and is only possible on screen. According to a survey, over 54 per cent of women believe that the cartoon couple Marge and Homer of the US hit comedy show, the Simpsons represent the essence of perfect love.

The fun revelation that over half of UK women respect the marriage of two yellow cartoon characters with four fingers, came from a survey conducted by DatingDirect.com.

The cartoon characters beat the once-golden 'Brand Beckham' ,with David and Victoria receiving only 5 per cent of the vote. Prince Charles and Camilla Parker-Bowles did marginally better, with a fifth of women looking to them as romance royalty. Television star Richard Madeley and Judy Finnigan got 22 per cent of the votes .Over 5,000 people were surveyed to coincide with the release of DatingDirect.com's love album, Perfect Love. (ANI)

Shearer Launches Label, Readies Several Projects

Shearer Launches Label, Readies Several Projects

Harry Shearer has put his stamp on such iconic roles as Spinal Tap bass player Derek Smalls and "The Simpsons" nosy neighbor Ned Flanders, but he's about to add record label owner to his resume. Along with his singer/pianist wife Judith Owen and her manager Bambi Moe, Shearer has founded Courgette Records, which will be distributed by Warner Music Group's Alternative Distribution Alliance (ADA).

"It grew out of the fact that so many record executives had seen Judith, and had said, 'She's great, we know she's great, we love her, we don't know what to do with her,'" Shearer tells Billboard.com. Owen picks up the rest of the story: "It came from me already being on major [labels] and having less than a joyful experience. One of the situations where 'new prez' comes in, the whole thing falls apart. After a situation like that, when you've lost your main guy, and you spend your life jumping through hoops trying to please people, it leaves you with the sensation of, 'God, wouldn't it be amazing just to be an artist?' It was a sense of Harry and I both being 'outside of the box artists' in our own fields."

The first release from Courgette (which is an English term for zucchini -- a wink to the infamous airport scene from "This Is Spinal Tap"), is Owen's latest album, "Lost and Found." Two singles are performing well at different radio formats: "Train Out of Hollywood" featuring Keb' Mo' on adult contemporary and "Sky High" featuring Tom Scott at triple-A. Owen describes the album as "Piano and vocal based, but it is passionate and sultry. It was all recorded live, in front of a few people, so it feels like I'm doing a show."

Shearer says there will be no shortage of projects for the new label. "What we hope is to break Judith as a major artist," he says. "Secondly, I'm going to put my television stuff, both from 'Saturday Night Live' and HBO, on DVD for the first time, and package it with a CD of comedy material -- mainly from my radio show ['Le Show'] about the era of anchors who are leaving or have left: Brokaw, Rather, Koppel. And then to go down the line, Judith has a lot more material."

He continues: "Looking into next year and beyond that, there's a musical comedy that's on its way to the Broadway stage, called 'J. Edgar!', which stars Kelsey Grammer and John Goodman, and before it gets to Broadway, we're going to do the original cast recording of it, and release that. There are a couple of fairly interesting soundtrack situations that we can't yet announce, because we're still in negotiation. And beyond that, we'll start looking at other artists."

In addition to the aforementioned projects, Shearer has a few more on the horizon. "I'm in Christopher Guest's new film, 'For Your Consideration,' which starts shooting in October," he says. "It's co-written with Christopher and Eugene Levy. It's the usual cast that people recognize from 'A Mighty Wind.' It's a movie within a movie -- it's about the actors in that movie getting that whiff of something very intoxicating, when the buzz starts that they may be nominated for an Oscar. And I'm doing a pilot for TV Land, called 'I Did Not Know That.' It's co-produced by Paul Reiser -- the idea is to take the piss out of shows like 'Biography' -- all those kinds of shows that tell you what you didn't want to know about people you didn't care about."

"I have a book, my first comic novel, called 'Not Enough Indians,' and that comes out the fall of 2006," he says. "Season 17 of 'The Simpsons' premieres on Fox this month and my radio show is heard across the nation each week. Christopher, Michael [McKean] and I did a couple of music shows, just the three of us, doing music from 'Spinal Tap' and 'A Mighty Wind,' but not in costume. I think we may tour that next year."

But is there any chance of one more Spinal Tap reunion? "There's not a lot of talk," Shearer admits. "We kind of have felt that we may have done everything we wanted to do. Although, there's an offer on the table that we've not yet been able to do something about -- to do a show with a symphony orchestra. And that's the kind of pretentious twaddle that we think Spinal Tap should do."

NFL, 'Simpsons' Take Sunday for FOX

NFL, 'Simpsons' Take Sunday for FOX

LOS ANGELES (Zap2it.com) Fast National ratings for Sunday, Sept. 11, 2005

The opening of the National Football League season and the 17th-season premiere of "The Simpsons" led FOX to a ratings win Sunday.

FOX scored a 6.8 rating/11 share for the night, beating out CBS' 6.0/10 (numbers for both networks may change some as they had live sports bleed into primetime in part of the country). ABC and NBC tied for third at 4.5/7 -- ABC led in total viewers, 7.04 million to 6.31 million for NBC -- and The WB trailed with a 1.6/3.

Fine tuning: Simpsons start 17th season

Fine tuning: Simpsons start 17th seasonk

The Simpsons (season premiere)
Global, Fox

In tough times, you can always rely on an old friend to see you through the dark moments.

The Simpsons has seen better years -- few devotees would argue with that -- but there's something oddly reassuring about the return of Homer, Marge, Bart and the gang for a 17th -- count 'em, 17 -- season, even with an episode as plain as tonight's Bonfire of the Manatees.

There are laughs to be had to be sure -- Simpsons episodes are too densely packed with visual jokes and inside jabs to ever be a complete waste of time -- but when the final chapter is written on The Simpsons' place in TV history, Bonfire of the Manatees will not go down as one of The Simpsons' best.

No matter. It's simply good to have the old gang back in an episode we haven't seen countless times before. And it's hard to suppress a smile at the opening, as Bart writes over and over again on the chalk board, "Does any kid still do this anymore?" (On their computer keyboards, perhaps.)

The plot is straightforward, if a little far-fetched. Marge walks out on Homer after he racks up a gambling debt to Fat Tony (Mantegna, reprising his role as Springfield's best-known made man), and strikes up a tentative romance with a marine biologist (Alec Baldwin), who's out to save the manatees. Marge has a thing for large mammals -- she's been married to Homer all these years, remember -- but everything works out in the end, Simpsons-style.

There's a dig at reality TV along the way ("I'm joined in the broadcast booth by the stars of ABC's latest reality show, Billionaire vs. Bear"), a clever Fahrenheit 911 joke and a gentle message about conservation and saving the environment. It's all very warm and familiar.

The Simpsons has been on TV for 17 years now, but Bart and Lisa haven't aged a day. Imagine that.

American Dad
Global, Fox

From the sublime to the ridiculous: The season premiere of American Dad is rude, crude and lewd -- and outrageously funny. Whether or not you'll laugh depends on whether you appreciate the jokes in Family Guy and South Park.

The episode finds Stan (Seth MacFarlane) in line for a much sought-after promotion at the CIA, only his daughter -- a dead ringer for a 15-year-old Janeane Garofalo, both physically and philosophically -- provokes a brawl with Stan's boss at the CIA company picnic.

What happens next is definitely not family viewing. American Dad, like South Park, is meant to be satire, but I'm sure not everyone will get the joke. The Parents Television Council will no doubt be on the blower to the Fox network first thing Monday morning. And my guess is they'll be none too happy.

This season is last for `King of the Hill`

This season is last for `King of the Hill`: "NEW YORK, NY, United States (UPI) -- 'King of the Hill' creator Mike Judge says he`s going to end the animated Fox TV show with the 10th season finale.

'There is an end in sight here,' Judge told the New York Post. 'I think 10 (seasons) is a good, round number.'

Fox refused to confirm the impending demise of the popular Sunday night cartoon, saying 'no decisions had been made' regarding the show`s fate, the Post said Thursday. 'King' makes its season debut Sept. 18.

Judge, however, is already eulogizing 'King of the Hill,' saying he`s hopeful it will be remembered for 'portraying normal, unhip middle-Americans with dignity -- instead of just making fun of them in a crass way.'"

The Simpsons enters its 17th season

The Simpsons enters its 17th season

Over 356 half-hour episodes, 48 cartoon shorts and 18 years of comic madness, The Simpsons has gotten away with TV's most cutting humor, skewering topical trends and timeless human nature with gonzo impudence. That's been its slant ever since creator Matt Groening made the first crude Simpsons shorts for The Tracy Ullman Show .
Fox
The 17th-season premiere of The Simpsons airs Sunday on Fox. It is the longest-running prime-time comedy in TV history.

"We attack everything equally," producer-writer David Mirkin said. "Government is a big idiot. Big business is a big idiot. Any authority figures are big idiots. All religions are made fun of."

And that will again be the show's game plan when The Simpsons starts its 17th season Sunday on Fox (Channel 26).

Born in shorts for The Tracey Ullman Show in 1987 before shifting to Fox in 1989, The Simpsons not only is the longest-running prime-time comedy in TV history, but it's also thriving on DVD. Fox recently issued a season six box set, and season seven should arrive by year's end.

Using the same voice cast and the same ageless characters in a fractured family, The Simpsons has maintained high standards of humor, invention and subversiveness. TV's funniest show also doesn't need the crutch of most sitcoms: a laugh track. Its creators trust viewers to provide their own.

Mirkin said live-action sitcoms also suffer from other network restraints not felt by The Simpsons. They're test-screened and edited "to get rid of everything that can be offensive," he said.

"If people saw (Simpsons' humor) in live-action, they'd be much more offended, but a cartoon makes it cute. People don't realize how dark The Simpsons is, because it's a brightly colored, happy-looking cartoon. That's how we get away with it.

"Almost every joke offends someone, yet the networks try to please everybody, and when you do that, you please nobody. You wind up with nothing funny."

"What amazes me about The Simpsons is how they've been going this long and continuing to be a good quality comedy," said filmmaker Terry Gilliam, a member of the Monty Python troupe that pioneered subversive comedy on TV. He sees The Simpsons and South Park as carrying that torch.

"Obviously the ( Simpsons) writers keep changing, but it's a great team of writers," Gilliam said. "And they have a great team of performers. So the animation can be as crude as it is, which is fine."

Mirkin said the secret of The Simpsons' subversive success is that "we're not beholden to a network. Our criteria is simple: Is it funny?"

Usually it is. Mirkin also attributed the show's appeal to its veteran voice cast and its stories.

He called the former "irreplaceable."

Last year, the cast held out for more money, and got it. Dan Castellaneta (Homer) and Nancy Cartwright (Bart) reportedly now earn $8 million per season.

Just as many actors can mimic Christopher Walken, many can ape The Simpsons' Homer, Marge, Lisa or Bart. But the show's creators aren't interested in imitations.

The Simpsons' voice actors "are fantastic actors, not just voice actors," Mirkin said. "It was (executive producer) Jim Brooks' vision to get actors of this caliber. I'd hate to see The Simpsons with the loss of any of those voices."

Voices are recorded before animation, and Castellaneta sometimes ad libs. Since the animation style has only 16 mouth positions for characters, Mirkin said, "we can change anything they say up to three days before we go on the air."

Simpsons plots also are bold for TV. They don't go from A to B, but from A to M to Z.

"Most sitcoms have two acts, but we have a three-act structure," Mirkin said. "Often the first act has nothing to do with anything else on the show."

It's all part of the magic that has made the show a cross-generational success, on the small screen and through a mountain of other merchandise.

New to the pile is The Simpsons Season Six , a four-DVD set that is packaged in a box shaped like Homer's head. (Always fan loyal, the set's producers also offer a standard-size box as a replacement for any buyer who doesn't like the novelty package. To do so, call (800) 223-2369 or visit www.simpsonsbox.com. The only cost is $2.95 for shipping.)

Such sets have been big sellers. Even with a suggested price of $49.98, The Simpsons Season Six has ranked second on amazon.com's sales charts.

With two seasonal sets issued each year, the DVDs eventually could catch up with the series — probably around the time the DVD format becomes obsolete, Mirkin jokes.

"We're working on a chip you can imbed in your head, so you can just see the entire series running past your eyes all the time."

And there's further life in the series for fans.

The show lives on in syndication, though each episode is shortened by two minutes to allow for more advertising. "A lot of those two minutes are the funniest material," Mirkin said. "It broke my heart to cut for syndication. At least on DVD you get all the great humor that's been lost."

Those cuts are particularly tough for the creators because each episode takes around nine months to produce, from conception to final cut.

Such time and care can pay off in the final product. But it also means the eagerly awaited The Simpsons movie is taking longer than a Homer nap, despite being greenlighted early last summer.

"We don't have a (release) date," Mirkin said. (The Internet Movie Database projects it for 2008.) "It's all about the quality — the writing — which we're working on now. We are very quality conscious, and we don't want the series to suffer because of the movie."

The Simpsons will punch up its animation for the big screen.

Mirkin, who's directed such films as Romy & Michele's High School Reunion, wouldn't spill The Simpsons' big-screen plot, but did delve into its look.

"The animation will be tweaked," he said. "We're looking at various tests to get the right look. We're taking it into the realm of cinema but not too far from how it looks on the show."

That means the film will be largely hand-drawn, despite the fact that such movies have been staggered by computer-animated fare.

"The Simpsons is different," Mirkin said. "If we were coming with a brand new product, it would absolutely be CG (computer-generated). But we have a built-in audience, and CG wouldn't be the right look."

He can take comfort in the theatrical results for two other hand-drawn series that went big-screen. South Park: Bigger Longer and Uncut earned $52 million in theaters, while Beavis and Butthead Do America took $63 million. And neither veered far from its TV look.

Big box office would offer vindication since The Simpsons has never received its fair due from Emmy voters.

"It's unfair we're stuck in an animated category, but it's our choice to be there so we can win, quite frankly," Mirkin said. "People don't take animation as seriously. If you put us up against live-action sitcoms, they'd beat us.

"We tried that in the fifth season but got no nominations, even though it was one of our best seasons. So I put us back in the animated category." There, the show regularly is a big winner.

Of course, The Simpsons movie will wind up facing the same discrimination. At best, it will be lumped in a category of competing animated films. But Mirkin isn't deterred.

"It's really exciting, a fantastic challenge, to make The Simpsons for the big screen and have visual fun with it and create a larger story," he said. "We're having a blast writing it — and that's all I can say."

Doh!

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1994 Simpsons Set Tough Standard

Every fan of "The Simpsons" has favorite episodes. The more obsessive among them can even rank their favorite seasons. But what of the show's creators? Do they have their favorites (and least favorites) as well, and if so, can they admit even an iconic show like "The Simpsons" has its ups and downs?

"I really don't have a favorite episode from every season," says David Mirkin, longtime "Simpsons" writer and producer. "I think we're writing the 17th season now [premiering Sept. 11], so it's hard to remember even when episodes happen. I can certainly remember the seasons I was running and executive producing--I remember those.

"But beyond that time, where and when things happen blur together a little bit. You can only have so many favorites. If you have too many, they can't really be favorites, can they?"

Mirkin, a former aerospace engineer, served as "Simpsons" show runner--basically, the show's final word on what stays and what goes--on seasons five and six, the latter recently released on DVD (Fox, 1994, 575 minutes, NR, $49.98) in a typically indulgent, supplement-rich boxed set shaped like Homer's head ("If you're the kind of person who wants to store your DVDs inside a hollowed-out human head," quips Mirkin; everyone else can exchange the packaging for more traditional art at www.simpsonsbox.com). Mirkin came aboard after the exalted season four, which many "Simpsons" aficionados consider the series' early peak.

But many of the writers had moved on, and Mirkin had to start rebuilding the staff, which gave the series, he says, a particularly personal touch.

"When I ran the shows in the fifth and sixth season, that's really my point of view. You have the final say on everything. You're the head writer, you're making all the choices. You're choosing what stories to do, how to tell them, how to structure them. You're choosing what jokes are going to stay in and what jokes aren't going to stay in.

"Of course, you might have a little more propensity toward your own material," he notes with a chuckle.

"When I took over the show, it was a matter of getting back a little more into story and character," Mirkin explains. "The fourth season--which is one of my favorite, all-time seasons--got so fast-moving and so full of cutaways. I still did a lot of cutaways, and I was very surreal in my leanings, in terms of storytelling, but I wanted to bring it back to character and story. I explored the characters a little more, took them a little further. I had one of the first episodes where Homer was really tempted by another woman ("The Last Temptation of Homer" from season five and Bart having a girlfriend even nastier than himself ("Bart's Girlfriend," from season six), plus more of a focus on side characters. We did the first episode to really feature Apu as a main character ("Homer and Apu" from season five). Those were my goals."

Season six features such classic episodes as "Treehouse of Horror V" (with a great take on "The Shining"), "Homer: Bad Man" (in which Homer's accused of sexual harassment), "Lisa's Rival" (with another girl competing to be Springfield's top student) and "And Maggie Makes Three" (a sentimental look back at Maggie's birth).

Sometimes it seems that the show has strayed far from such highlights, long ago entering precarious hit-or-miss territory, but Mirkin isn't concerned.

"It is all perception, and the thing you learn when you do television is that everyone has different opinions," Mirkin says. "Season six, season four, season five--I just had someone say the show's as good as it's ever been!"

Mirkin himself sounds somewhat incredulous when he relates this, but he cautions against listening to the show's critics.

"If you ask the audience what they want, you get retreads because they're not creative," he points out. "It's not their job to be creative or tell you something new. The whole idea is to keep it fresh for the audience, so to do the exact same thing, I don't think the show would keep its longevity."

"I think you can't really compare the episodes we're doing now with the episodes we did then until there's the same distance in time," he stresses. "Old episodes become like members of the family, and they grow on you and take on mythic proportions. Maybe rightly so. But it's very possible that will happen with the episodes we're doing now, given that much time. We're trying to write timeless things. `The Simpsons' has so many jokes per square inch; it's about three times as dense as a regular sitcom."

Fox Holds Family Guy With Hurricane References - 9/8/2005 3:54:00 PM - Broadcasting & Cable - CA6255478

Fox Holds Family Guy With Hurricane References - : "Abstract: Fox has substituted one original episode of Family Guy for another on Sunday, the debut of its new fall season lineup that night, because the episode scheduled to air contained a “couple” references to a hurricane. “Out of sensitivity to what happened, we’re moving it back a couple weeks,” a Fox spokesman told B&C."

American Dad Season Premiere

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Best "American Dad" Ever!

Americandad_1_72OK, that's not much of a claim for a show that's only been on since May. But Seth MacFarlane and co. have a doozy of a season premiere scheduled for "American Dad" when it returns on Sunday. I've just viewed the episode, and it's absolutely brilliant. It's the closest thing to a "South Park" episode you'll see on broadcast TV ... uh, until later this month, when "South Park" reruns start syndicating on broadcast TV.

The episode is rated TV-14-LDSV. It's got everything. There's fornication, there's swearing, there's wildly gratuitous violence, there's the breaking of the fourth wall and of bones and of at least a couple of commandments. But man, is it funny.

I believe this is the episode referred to by Seth MacFarlane in his commentary to the Stewie Griffin DVD that you illegally downloaded last month. He wanted an episode that would satirize the FCC's ridiculous indecency crackdown. And I think he's got it. (By the way, care to guess how many indecency fines have been levied in 2005? Zero.)

All the Fox shows return Sunday, along with the token non-animated comedy, "The War at Home," which to my own personal surprise I wound up enjoying. It's the ideal hammock show, the "Yes, Dear" of Sunday nights, a show you wouldn't go out of your way to watch but smartly positioned between two favorites, "The Simpsons" and "Family Guy."

PRESS RELEASE 9 Squared Launches Exclusive Content From Fox TV's "American Dad"

PRESS RELEASE 9 Squared Launches Exclusive Content From Fox TV's "American Dad": "All the irreverence and offbeat humor that keeps audiences glued to FOX's new hit animated comedy 'American Dad' every Sunday night is coming to the mobile space. Leading mobile phones content provider 9 Squared, Inc. has partnered exclusively with 20th Century Fox Television's Fox Mobile Entertainment unit to introduce a line of mobile entertainment products inspired by the out-of-the-box success, 'American Dad,' and will distribute a collection of original 'American Dad' realtones, voice ringers, ringback tones, wallpapers, games and voicemail greetings. As part of the deal, 9 Squared and FOX will also join forces to promote 'American Dad' mobile content in television, radio and print campaigns."

RIA Novosti - Society - Moscow court orders Simpsons case retrial

RIA Novosti - Society - Moscow court orders Simpsons case retrial

MOSCOW, September 1 (RIA Novosti) - A Moscow court ordered a retrial Thursday of a long-running case involving the world's best-known animated family.

The Moscow city court ruled that a case centering on the Simpsons cartoon be returned to the Khamovniki district court, thereby upholding the plaintiff's appeal against the lower court's rejection of his lawsuit against the independent television channel RenTV. He claimed that by running the animated series, the television station was promoting drugs, violence and homosexuality.

Igor Smykov filed the suit against RenTV with the Khamovniki district court three years ago, asking for $10,000 in moral damages. He also demanded that the channel be banned from airing the series or at least be required to show it later in the evening to protect young audiences from its degenerating influence.

The city court overruled the Khamovniki judge's decision, citing a technical error arising from the replacement of the Russian media ministry with a federal media service as part of last March's government reorganization.

RenTV has already received one warning from the oversight agency, for broadcasting a talk show that was considered to promote drugs. A second warning could result in the channel having its license revoked.