|
|
|
5.1 - Music, Merchandise, LiteratureHave any of the episodes been released on videotape? In North America, a wide selection of videotapes are now available, usually consisting of two full uncut episodes and one Tracey Ullman short. Several videotapes have been released to the UK, and as imports to the rest of Europe. A set of 12 SECAM VHS videotapes featuring 24 episodes from Season One and Season Two is available in France, released by Fox France. A set of 4 PAL VHS videotapes featuring 8 episodes from Season One is available in Finland. Several UK originals have been released in Finland too; the complete list is available in the Finnish L.I.S.A. A set of 3 PAL VHS videotapes featuring 6 episodes each from Season One were released to Italy in 1991. Please visit The Simpsons Audio and Video Releases Guide for more detailed information. DVD box sets up to Season Three have been released, and are available in North America, Europe, and Australasia. The sets, released in order of season number, contain all episodes in their entirety with restored footage previously cut in syndication, as well as outtakes, cut scenes, foreign language clips, audio commentary from Matt Groening, James Brooks, David Silverman, Al Jean, Mike Reiss, cast members, and others, plus many special goodies. The DVD box sets are available from most online retailers and sell for around US$30-40 each. The goal was originally for two new sets to be released every year, but that was soon proven to be rather ambitious, as only three seasons have been released to date. Season Four is tentatively scheduled for a June release. For updates, please see DVD News. What musical albums and compilations have been released? There are currently four full-length albums available:
The first two are rock/pop albums of original songs performed by the cast voices with various musical guests. The Yellow Album was finally released in November 1998, a full six years after the tracks were completed (because of that many fans feel it sounds horribly out of date). There are various singles and radio promotions from each. The latter two are compilations of musical clips and full songs used on the television show. Many clips contain dialogue from the show as well. Again, please visit The Simpsons Audio and Video Releases Guide for more detailed information. What books have been written about the show? A complete listing of books on all things Simpsons can be found at http://www.snpp.com/guides/booklist.html. How many Simpsons video games are there? Again, we'd be wasting our time listing them here as an extensive video game list already exists at http://www.snpp.com/guides/games.html. What is Bongo Comics Group/Simpsons Illustrated? Simpsons Illustrated was a quarterly "fan" magazine that is no longer in print. Issues of SI include cast and production staff interviews, fan artwork, and lots of trivia. A Simpsons annual and a special 3-D issue were also published. Back issues are nearly impossible to find. The publishers of the magazine (at least in the US) have gone on to collaborate with Matt Groening to form the Bongo Comics Group. Titles include three-issue limited series: "Radioactive Man", "Krusty Comics", and "Itchy & Scratchy Comics"; a one-off I&S holiday issue, and a Lisa comic, all of which have run their course. Currently in production is one bi-monthly title, "Simpsons Comics." A limited series featuring Ned Flanders was rumored for Fall 1996, however, it did not materialize. Bongo Comics does not offer subscriptions at this time. Has The Simpsons won any awards? Literally hundreds. As of this writing, the show has been nominated for 47 Emmys, with 20 victories, including several for "Outstanding Animated Program". For a comprehensive listing of all awards and nominations, please check out the new and improved Awards and Honours Page. Didn't the Simpsons used to do commercials for...? In the United States: Butterfinger candy bars, 1-800 COLLECT, Burger King, Intel, and most recently MasterCard. A new MasterCard "priceless" ad starring Homer aired during Super Bowl XXXVIII. The Simpsons have also advertised many products overseas, most of which you will never see on U.S. soil. In Australia, they were used in a series of CC's potato chip ads. And in Europe, there are actually some commercials where the characters are nude! Ads for C.C. Lemon, a Japanese Suntory company, have also been produced and begun airing in Japan.
Who was the winner of 1995's 1-800-COLLECT 'Who Shot Mr Burns?' Contest? Fayla Gibson. Recently, the details of the outcome of the contest were divulged by former executive producers Bill Oakley and Josh Weinstein: "You had to use 1-800-COLLECT and submit your name and the name of the person you were calling, then a pool of eligible people was selected and it was about 200 people and they were called by MCI - plus YOU had to be home during the broadcast and the person you had called during the summer also HAD to be home during the broadcast. And not one of the people who they called had the right answer! So somebody was picked randomly from among those eligible." Ms Gibson did not watch The Simpsons and she took the cash prize instead of the opportunity to be animated on the show. As it turns out, the prize FOX claimed to offer wasn't all it was cracked up to be, as the contestant would have only received a drawing of themselves with the Simpsons, and not an actual animated appearance on the show as the ads led viewers to believe. What's this I hear about a real-life version of the Simpson house? Kaufman and Broad designed a 2,200 square ft., 4-bedroom house in Henderson, Nevada (just outside of Las Vegas) meant to be an exact replica of the Simpsons' house. Pepsi-Cola Company set up a contest to give this very house away to someone. With certain beverage products came a game piece with a number, which, if matched with the number flashed during the ninth season premiere of The Simpsons, would be the winning number. The winning number was 9786065. The winner, Barbara Howard, a 63-year-old great grandmother from Richmond, Kentucky, was given the keys to the $120,000 house on December 10th, 1997. She decided to let the house become a tourist attraction, but not after having its pink exterior painted a sand color to match all the other houses in the neighborhood. An article about the house can be found here.
5.2 - Broadcast Information & SyndicationIn what time slots have The Simpsons aired?In the United States: (All times EST)
Syndication is when a television series that has been around for a few seasons can sell the rights to its reruns to any television stations who want to buy them, regardless of network affiliation, and the stations may air them any time they wish. All the completed seasons are available for rebroadcast, and as the show completes further seasons, those can also be made available. The Simpsons began its syndication run in September 1994, a little after it reached its 100th show. 100 shows is usually the magic number needed for interest in syndication. After eight years of syndication, The Simpsons remains one of the highest-rated programs watched in reruns. Why are syndicated episodes cut? Syndicated episodes of a show are edited to allow more commercials to be shown. This means that some scenes are shortened or removed entirely. As such, the first material to be edited usually includes the title sequence (which is why the syndicated titles often are even shorter than the standard abridged sequence in recent US broadcasts by Fox) and scenes that are not integral to the plot - often meaning some of the most memorable lines are missing from the syndicated versions. A list of all cuts ever made, through Season Twelve, can be found within the Simpsons Syndication Cuts Guide. In addition, a list of all blackboard openings changed in syndication can be found at http://www.snpp.com/guides/syndicated.openings.html. A few episodes have never been cut. However, often they are compressed to gain additional seconds. Also, sometimes, the last two seconds of an act is cut for a commercial break. Here's the list of episodes that have never been cut:
7G04 is the shortest episode of The Simpsons ever. Only two episodes appear in syndication with full[er]-length openings. Those are Bart the Daredevil and Homer's Enemy. Some Season Ten episodes have also appeared in syndication with long openings, as well. The episode Team Homer was modified in syndication. A scene in which Homer anticipates winning a bowling tournament showcases him flushing a stolen supporting actor Oscar down the toilet. The name engraved on the award was Haing S. Ngor, an actor who was murdered February 25th, 1996. In syndication, the name was (apparently, briefly) changed to Don Ameche. A better explanation of syndication can be found at the Simpsons Syndication Cuts Guide FAQ. Is my local station cutting the episodes? Probably not, unless you're watching the syndicated versions of the episodes, which are edited (more on that in upcoming questions). Episodes broadcast in England and Australia are routinely censored to abide with younger children's viewing guidelines because of the time slots used by these countries (somewhat ironic in the latter case considering they allow profanity and full-frontal nudity after 8 p.m. on network television). This censoring usually consists of unusually violent or gory scenes, like many Itchy & Scratchy cartoons, for example. However, Alex Evans of the UK has informed us that BBC and Sky in England have now relaxed their censorship of The Simpsons. Reruns of episodes previously cut for violence, milder swearing ("ass" and "crap", cut by Sky in Seasons 5-8) or references to sex are now usually uncut. In Germany, the series runs now, usually without its end credits, at a late time slot. The abridgement of the title sequence in the US is done by the Fox network. Canadian viewers, who don't get the episodes through Fox are usually granted the pleasure of a full episode each week. In Belgium, the commercial broadcast station VT4 airs uncut episodes of The Simpsons on an irregular, but usually daily basis. Only the episodes 8F15 and 2F09 were edited. Thanks to Werner Peeters for supplying this information (corrections are welcome).
How come I rarely see any episodes preceding Season Six in syndication? From 1994-1999, The Simpsons ran in reruns on a national syndication cycle, with Twentieth Television distributing the reruns. The contract dictated that Twentieth was in charge of the syndication schedule, and all the local carriers carrying the reruns had to air certain episodes based off of how many times a day and how many days a week the series aired on that station in reruns - and how many episodes per week were aired in addition to the length of the station's contract. In later years, many viewers noted that the more recent episodes seemed to pop up in reruns a lot more frequently than older episodes. The only possible reason as to why was that the newer ones were thought to have received higher ratings. The Simpsons' national syndication run is now over, so individual stations which bought the episodes now have the rights to run them in any order that they wish.
Why are some clips shown in commercials not in the transmitted episodes? Each episode is produced with extra and alternate animation, to allow the directors the freedom to decide just what will and won't work, up until a few days before a show goes to air. Fox has access to the footage before the final cuts are made, and so it's not unusual for extra material to materialize during the promotions. Also, the Fox network has taken to mixing clips from previous episodes with clips from upcoming episodes, supposedly to make episodes more enticing or exciting. The best example of this is the commercial for The Itchy and Scratchy and Poochie Show in which Homer's character Poochie is on TV and Lisa says "The network has sunk to a new low," the footage coming from Cape Feare.
I heard that The City of New York Vs. Homer Simpson was pulled from syndication after September 11. Is that true? Yes, it was true, albeit briefly. For those unfamiliar with this episode, there are scenes that prominently feature the World Trade Center buildings. In the immediate aftermath of Sept. 11, there was thought that, despite the relative innocence of the scenes in question, that viewers might have been too sensitive to seeing images of the building intact (even in cartoon form), with the events of that day still fresh in everyone's mind. Shortly after 9/11/01, FOX notified all of its syndicated carriers of the show about the episode and left it up to the discretion of the individual stations. A number of TV stations in America did in fact pull the episode and showed other reruns in its place temporarily. As time passed and sensitivity lessened, the episode began being aired again on a regular basis. As a side note, Mike Reiss recommended in a speech that the episode New Kids on the Blecch from Season Twelve also be pulled from reruns because of a scene involving a hijacked Navy submarine that rams into a building. This may be sensitive to those affected by the U.S.S. Cole incident, in which the same terrorist groups are suspected. It is not known whether any stations decided to follow through on this, though.
5.3 - RumorsWill there ever be a Simpsons movie?After years of rumor, speculation and countless false alarms, it finally appears that a Simpsons feature film will be a reality. James Brooks revealed to Variety magazine in February 2004 that an idea for a movie is in the very early stages of being formed. According to Mike Reiss, most of the senior staff members have been wanting to do a film as far back as Season Two, and apparently FOX has been gung-ho on the idea for a lengthy period of time. Writers recently signed contracts with Fox and a storyline is currently being developed but has not yet been revealed. Matt Groening, James Brooks, Al Jean, Mike Reiss, George Meyer, Mike Scully and David Mirkin are all reportedly involved in the project. At this point, it is much too early to speculate on any possible timetable surrounding the production and release of the film, but writers have stated it will be "a couple of years away." Please see http://www.snpp.com/news/movie.html for more information. Is the show being cancelled soon? Any current rumors indicating The Simpsons have been cancelled are just that: rumors. FOX has recently renewed the series through to completion of a sixteenth season, meaning that new Simpsons episodes will still be airing at least through 2006. Al Jean has speculated that a further three, and possibly even five, more seasons may be produced before all is said and done. While Matt Groening was quoted as saying "I think we are closer to winding it up" in a 2002 interview with the London-based Financial Times, he was quick to counter any notion that cancellation was remotely imminent. He later said that "rumors of The Simpsons demise have been greatly exaggerated." The voice cast has been signed on through to the duration, and are receiving substantial bonuses for each additional season that they stick around. Even after this many years the show still receives strong ratings for FOX and they will keep it going as long as it makes money for the network. Only time will tell, as Troy McClure said, "between now and whenever the show becomes unprofitable."
Copyright © 2004 by Tammy Hocking & Matt Rose
(See Sec 7.3)
|
||||||||||||||||||
