Is the End Nigh for The Simpsons?

Sebastian here, reporting some non-news that could turn out to be big news for a staple of Sunday night television.

What's on TV? Maybe not them.

The Simpsons has been on the air for over a quarter century, longer than any other U.S. primetime television series.* But every streak has to come to an end at some point, and it's possible that the end may come as soon as this fall.

As of right now, there has not been official word from Fox about a renewel of the show past the already ordered 22 episodes of the current production run. 15 of those will have aired by May 17, the end of The Simpsons' 26th broadcast season. That leaves seven episodes for a 27th season, and uncertainty after that.

How likely is cancellation? Website Dead Homer Society gives this analysis:

These negotiations have gone down to the wire several times over the (sigh) decades, and they always find a way to pull through because everyone involved keeps making money that way.  Yes, the ratings get lower every year, but that’s true for network teevee in general; and for all its many (many) problems, Zombie Simpsons is still strong among the youthful demographics that advertisers pay top dollar to reach.

But that was a week ago. Last night, Erika Isabel Verga, on The Simpsons' animation staff since 2006, tweeted:

That moment when a director goes around saying good-bye to the remaining crew saying "See you next season, if there is one..." #TheSimpsons

— Erika Isabel Vega (@eiVega) April 14, 2015

Wether they get cancelled tomorrow or continue to run for another 30 years, The Simpsons have without a doubt earned their place in the pantheon of popular entertainment. For the sake of the many hard-working artists employed by the show, let's hope there will be certainty on this matter soon.

*) This post originally stated that "The Simpsons has been on the air longer than any other scripted television series in the history of the medium," which is not true.

Michelle Pfeiffer to Return to Television

True story: I have had this tab open for 6 hours and 14 minutes and this is the first sentence I have typed. I am a bundle of inchoate feelings about this news and may never fully process it. Reports have been coming in since last night that TFE's unofficial goddess (aka Nathaniel's all time favorite Michelle Pfeiffer) is heading to the small screen where she started 36 years ago in "Delta House" (1979), a sorority comedy trying to capitalize on the success of Animal House and "Bad C.A.T.S" (1980) a drama about young undercover cops and car thieves. 

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In 'Hot Pursuit' of Counter-Programming

Is there any hope that summer action/comedy hopeful, Hot Pursuit, can be good? Reese & Sofia shared each others posters on social media the other day and it was endearing, albeit in a corporate mandated way. More...

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Box Office: Rusty "Chappie" Tops Weak Chart

Hi everyone! Anne Marie here with the weekend box office. We're about a week away from the first big releases of the year, so the news is mostly underwhelming. We had a handful of new releases this weekend with mixed results. Chappie, South African director Neill Blomkamp's third scifi film with a social message, underperformed in its opening weekend, making it Blomkamp's poorest opening yet. This probably won't affect his involvement in the Alien reboot, but I'm sure there are some sweating execs out there at Sony right now. The world gave a collective shrug to Unfinished Business, the Vince Vaughan vehicle that I kept forgetting about, even though it's been aggressively marketed. Other than that, things mostly faded, with Focus and Kingsman maintaining their unsteady hold, while post-Valentine's Day 50 Shades of Grey went soft and Jupiter Ascending finally crashed.

TOP OF THE BOX OFFICE
Click on the highlighted titles for past articles on that film

01 CHAPPIE $13.3 NEW
02 FOCUS $10.2 (cum $34.6)
03 SECOND BEST MARIGOLD HOTEL $8.6 NEW 
04 KINGSMAN $8.3 (cum $98)
05 SPONGEBOB MOVIE $7 (cum $149)
06 50 SHADES OF GREY  $5.6 (cum $156.4)
07 MCFARLAND USA $5.3 (cum $29.4)
08 THE LAZARUS EFFECT $5.1 (cum $17.4)
09 THE DUFF $4.8 (cum $26.1)
10 UNFINISHED BUSINESS $4.8 NEW 

In bolder news: American Sniper became the #1 movie of 2014 outgrossing the second Hunger Games sequel and Guardians of the Galaxy's franchise launcher.

In happier news:  Second Best Marigold Hotel opened in only 1,573 screens this weekend, but managed to make it to the #3 spot on the Box Office charts with the highest per screen average: $5,467. This is wonderful news for the Judi Dench and Maggie Smith fans of the world, though considering its low $8.6 opening, we can safely conclude this was an off weekend for movie watching. 

What did you watch this weekend?

Ripley is Forever

There are few movie characters as iconic as Lt. Ellen Ripley, the accidental but determined warrior so superbly played by Sigourney Weaver four times over in the five film Aliens franchise (1979-2012). Soon to be six or seven if Ridley pursues his Prometheus sequel and Neill Blomkamp and Sigourney actually make good on their plans to bring Ripley back in 2017 on the heels of their first collaboration Chappie (opening Friday). 

While James Cameron's Aliens (1986) hogs most of the attention when it comes to Weaver's franchise headlining work (including a well deserved but very out-of-comfort-zone Oscar nomination for Best Actress) she's actually pretty stellar in all four of the movies. [More...]

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