Matt Groeing's comments, The end of the Simpsons?

Check out this article from Reuters. Matt discusses the possible end of the Simpsons. I particularly liked his comments about Fox.

http://www.cnn.com/2002/SHOWBIZ/TV/04/30/simpsons.reut/index.html

--Larry

Upon close inspection, did Larry really say the following on the subject of "Matt Groeing's comments, The end of the Simpsons?" in alt.tv.futurama on Wed, 01 May 2002 07:17:06 GMT:

The "Simpsons ending" is a misquote.

Upon close inspection, did Larry really say the following on the subject of "Matt Groeing's comments, The end of the Simpsons?" in alt.tv.futurama on Wed, 01 May 2002 07:17:06 GMT:

Correction:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/entertainment/tv_and_radio/newsid_1963000/1963395.stm

Thursday, 2 May, 2002, 07:54 GMT 08:54 UK Simpsons 'to carry on for years'

The creator of The Simpsons has denied reports that he was considering bringing an end to his hit cartoon series.

Matt Groening was reported on Tuesday as having told the UK newspaper the Financial Times he was thinking of ending the show.

But on Wednesday he said he had been misquoted and that The Simpsons would be around for years to come.

Groening has been the inspiration behind Homer and his family since 1990, when they got their first regular show.

I just said that given the fact the we just finished our 300th episode, I would guess we are closer to the end of our life than the beginning

The Financial Times reported Groening saying he was planning to wind up the series because it was harder and harder to find funny things to say.

But on Wednesday Groening retorted: "I was misquoted and misunderstood. I don't want anyone to think I am predicting the demise of The Simpsons.

"They will live on with new adventures for years to come. As long as there are things to make fun of we will be around."

Misunderstood

The Simpsons is one of the most successful cartoon series in TV history. It is now seen by 60 million people worldwide.

Hints that the show was on its last legs therefore created an international fuss.

The paper quoted Groening as saying: "I think we are closer to winding it up.

"Although what happens generally if we win the Emmy for best animation show is that that gives us another couple of years to run it into the ground.

"It becomes increasingly difficult as the years go by to keep on not only surprising the audience, but surprising ourselves."

Groening said these were comments he had often made before but on this occasion been taken our of context and misunderstood.

"I just said that given the fact the we just finished our 300th episode, I would guess we are closer to the end of our life than the beginning," Groening explained on Wednesday.

"At the end of our 100th episode (one of our writers) said we were halfway home. Now we think the show will last, our ratings are better than ever," he continued.

He added that he was not bored or unhappy with the programme.

In fact, he concluded, that he and his team were always striving to make the characters and storylines better and better.

On Fri, 03 May 2002 00:37:04 +0200, Bart Van Hemelen wrote:

I read your first post and I was wondering what you meant about the misquote. Thanks for the link.

I liked what he said about fox squeezing every penny out of it.

I would love to see them cut the Simpsons to fewer eps per season. Perhaps if they did 12 per year and got a lot pickier about content, the overall quality would be better. I think there have been some great episodes recently, but the percentage has slipped.

And then they could give Futurama a better time slot.

--Larry

Upon close inspection, did Larry really say the following on the subject of "Re: Matt Groeing's comments, The end of the Simpsons?" in alt.tv.futurama on Fri, 03 May 2002 08:41:27 GMT:

I'd only read it on BBC Ceefax and didn't feel like retyping it all. I'd wanted to look it up but wasn't online for that long.

I'm still amazed Channel 4 is paying � 700,000 *per episode* for the Simpsons (the BBC was only paying � 100,000). That's insane money. No wonder they're so slow with the DVDs.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/entertainment/tv_and_radio/newsid_1832000/1832715.stm

Doug Warner wrote in message news:[email]... Larry wrote:

What's the point? Futurama will be long gone by the time The Simpsons ends.