ROCK BOTTOM

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

A day after announcing plans to cut as many as 800 jobs, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation said Thursday it will cancel “The Simpsons” and “The Martha Stewart Show” in a cost-cutting maneuver.

[Yahoo! Canada]

ROCK BOTTOM

Up in the Simpsons unit, one of the artists, a person who’s been with the show a few years and knows which heads are rolling and who’s are likely to be lopped off next, confided:

None of us know if Fox is going to order another season of The Simpsons after we’re done with this one. The actors are signed, but Fox hasn’t said if it wants another twenty episodes. I think Gracie Films [the producing company of The Simpsons] would like another order, and so is offering up sacrifices to Fox to show that they’re serious about cutting costs. Some old hands have been let go.

[TAG Blog]

ROCK BOTTOM

In an episode aired in early 2003, Homer’s e-mail address is revealed to be Chunkylover53@aol.com. E-mails sent to that address would receive a response from “Homer,” which was actually written by writer Matt Selman (see some of the responses here). That account has remained largely dormant until recently, when it resurfaced on AIM to spread malware to those who had added “Homer” to their buddy list:

Since then, the screen name has been inactive, until a few days ago when Chunkylover53’s “Away” message appeared, prompting people to click on a link and run an executable in order to see “a *new* Internet-only exclusive Simpson’s episode.”

Of course, the file doesn’t show a Simpsons video. It infects the machine with a Trojan that throws up error messages, crashes the computer when attempting to open Windows Explorer and drops other nasty files onto the machine, making it part of what is believed to be a Turkish botnet, according to FaceTime, which secures IM, collaboration and Web apps for corporations.

The real question: why are Matt Selman and his Simpsons co-workers spreading viruses to their fans??? Developing… [CNET]

ROCK BOTTOM

Some music sites are reporting that rock band Fall Out Boy, whose name unintentionally comes from Radioactive Man’s young ward, will be on the upcoming Simpsons Movie soundtrack. But is it possible they were forced into it, in lieu of being sued by Fox for copyright infringement? What else is Fox forcing the band to do? Developing… [The Rock Radio]
ROCK BOTTOM

The Mexican voice actors who dub the show for Latin America, that is.

According to Gabriel Chavez, the Mexican equivalent of Harry Shearer, the voice actors had been told they’d be doing the dubbing for The Simpsons Movie as a condition to end their 2005 strike. If they get passed over, “there will be a boycott across Latin America of the film.” Which raises a question you don’t really hear asked much: Who will replace the Mexican workers? [KTRK]

ROCK BOTTOM

Yes, according to some random guy on the internet. Here’s a made-up quote purportedly from Matt Groening:

Die hard fans may get a long overdue recurring gag. Remember the episode where Lester and Eliza saved the day instead of Bart and Lisa? That was disturbing, and I personally expected them to come back and wreak more havoc. A decade later, we may finally get closure. “I think we put them in The Simpsons movie. They were in one draft. I’m not sure if they survive.”

[Rotten Tomatoes]

 

3/8/2007 UPDATE: I guess the quote wasn’t made up! You can see it here in this interview with Crave Online.