ANNOYED GRUNTS, THOSE CLOWNS IN CONGRESS

annoyed gruntThis one guy, Representative Mike Honda (D-CA), is real mad because the Post Office rolled out some stamps with The Simpsons on them, instead of some stamps honoring Japanese-American WWII veterans. Money quote: “I question the direction USPS is headed when it pays homage to Homer Simpson over the sacrifice of our venerable Nisei veterans.” BURN!!! The Stamp Police are all like, whoa, hey, we’re not supposed to honor specific military units, because all veterans are equal in the eyes of The Lord Almighty or whatever. According to them, stamps are supposed to be “a reflection of our culture,” which entails making literally a billion stamps with little pictures of cartoon characters plastered on them. These stamps are vitally important to America in order to “raise awareness about the show,” because apparently slapping Homer’s face onto every conceivable tacky piece of junk produced since 1990 just hasn’t been raising enough awareness of The Simpsons these days (it’s still on TV, you know!). Why does the Post Office, and by extension President Barack Obama, hate our veterans???

Also, ha ha, some nerd at Roll Call got a chance to show off his Simpsons knowledge by “incidentally” noting that Bart Simpson is a stamp collector, as mentioned in the fifth season episode “Homer the Vigilante” (episode 93, 5X12, original airdate 1/7/94, production code 1F10) [Roll Call]

TOON BEAT

Sit Down, Shut Up, the recently-premiered TV cartoon on the Fox Network created by the creator of Arrested Development and produced by one half of the former Josh Weinstein/Bill Oakley Simpsons showrunning superteam, was pretty much cancelled (TV channels never actually say the word “cancellation” because it is like saying Voldemort, basically) in order to make room for the upcoming Family Guy spin-off about the black guy, which was picked up for a second season even though it hasn’t even aired yet. Yes, the first episode of Sit Down, Shut Up (or SitShut, as those in the ‘biz call it) was real bad, but it was getting better, yes/maybe/kinda?? Anyway, doesn’t Seth MacFarlane already have enough cartoon shows, and also the whole Spawn thing? “Simpsons Spinoff Showcase” is becoming true except for Family Guy because nobody in the world watches The Simpsons anymore, and even less people are watching the new shows [SFGate]

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]

UNRELATED SIMPSONS IN THE NEWS

oj

Barrett Prody, the brother of Simpson’s former girlfriend, has created a nonprofit corporation and an Internet Web site, the Society Against Legal Injustice Inc., to raise money for Simpson.

“I hope to help out someone who has gotten to be a good friend,” Prody said by telephone from his home in Fargo, N.D. “I want to leverage his name in an effort to right an injustice out there in Las Vegas.”

[Tampa Bay Online]

GROEN DRAIN

Upon being reminded that Simpsons creator Matt Groening grew up in Portland, former Simpsons writer and future Tonight Show host Conan O’Brien said this:

“He’ll always be my boss. You know how you feel when you run into your third-grade teacher at the supermarket? Your worry that you’re going to get in trouble, even if you’re 45? That’s how I feel when I see Matt Groening.”

[Oregon Live]

GROEN DRAIN

The LA Weekly has dropped Matt Groening’s weekly comic strip Life in Hell after 22 years. As far as I can tell, no other Los Angeles periodicals are carrying it, which means Life in Hell is no longer available in the city that inspired it. [CNN]

VOICE BOX

Voice actor Hank Azaria (Comic Book Guy, Moe, Chief Wiggum) and his girlfriend are expecting a child. Imagine that! [E!]