I don’t see that anyone working a job for 25 should surprise anybody by quitting/retiring, no matter how easy the gig or how well paid. Whatever the minutia are about the details, I’m sure the issue is, he’s tired of doing it. Good for him. Does he owe Fox and/or the rest of the cast another decade? No way!
Nope he doesn’t owe anything to anyone. He was at the end of a contract. It is up to him if he wants to sign a new one or not. However it is easy to see how his cast mates might feel differently. It seems like most sources point to him to be the instigator in the earlier contract dispute. The rest of the cast followed his lead and as a result they all became extremely rich. At that time they all could have signed their own deals which would make them less extremely rich and left him out. They did not. But now he is leaving for his own personal reasons. I don’t care much about it personally. To say I’ve watched the last ten years sporadically would be stretching it. Mostly I’m following the story because I find him to be an interesting character.
Is there enough recorded dialogue from his characters to be clipped and pasted together for new episodes?
Let’s see.
“Ex-cellent!”
“Release the hounds!”
“Who is that man, Smithers?”
They seem to have been. They apparently felt his work justified it.
However, as I said, the situation appears to have changed. Gracie Films is now asking Shearer to sign a contract which would give them the power to tell Shearer he had to do things their way or quit his other job. Shearer has apparently decided he doesn’t want to work under those conditions.
I’m not saying who’s right and who’s wrong. I’m just saying the question doesn’t really seem to be “Why is Harry Shearer leaving the show after all these years?” It really seems to be more “Why is Gracie Films changing its position after all these years?”
So he quits, effectively having them tell him what to do.
And I’m glad his character will be recast–ever since I learned he refused the Simpson’s ride, which was supposed to be about the Nuclear Plant originally, I’ve been hoping he would be recast.
Not that they’ll likely put his characters in now.
Didn’t The Simpsons leave The Simpsons like 10 years ago?
Haven’t the Simpsons been chugging on fumes for a while now? He has a reputation as a bit of a pill but it’s been on the air so long I can see him wanting out.
The Simpsons has been bad for 15 years
I wish it would just f–king die already
it’s sad to see one of the best shows of all time reduced to this
it’s just a sad sign of our times. literally everything is bad in 2015
Listen. Most people can do an acceptable version of all Simpson characters. Bringing in other voice actors to do his hals dozen rolls won’t even be noticed.
Hell, Rich Little dubbed lines in movies for decades with no one noticing.
That should be *half *dozen. Sorry.
I’m pretty Simpsons ignorant, aside from watching the first 5 or so seasons and being reasonably up to date on pop culture. Can you elaborate what this is referring to?
Thanks!
Jeff
The Simpsons ride they built at Universal Studios Hollywood and Orlando. The actor refused to partake, so none of his characters appear in a speaking role.
It’s still a pretty fun ride though 
Totally off topic, but I used to love reading the Donato cartoons in the Toronto Sun, and seeing the backroom boys make up a dummy politician, and declaring that Rich Little is flying in from LA.
Declan
I always thought of Shearer as a pretty neat guy, but I have heard him not hesitate to speak ill of others he’s worked with in show business, so maybe he’s difficult. He spent one season as a regular cast member of SNL ('84 I think) and has forever since referred to Lorne Michaels as an asshole.
I read a column that summed up The Simpsons/Shearer situation as having three (but really only two) possible outcomes:
[ol]
[li]They’ll recast his roles. This is the one that is discounted as being unlikely, and I agree. Doing this would be a disaster and would cause such bad buzz as to all but guarantee the show’s cancellation after limping thru an awful last season w/o Shearer (and more awful than it currently is would be pretty awful*!*) I don’t think the suits are so stupid as to not see this as a very bad business decision.[/li][li]Foreseeing #1 they’ll simply use his departure as an impetus to (finally) cancel the show outright. Can’t say I’d care much at this point (or for the last 10+ years!)[/li][li]Most likely they will come to an agreement, i.e. give Shearer a raise and/or more freedom to do other projects and soldier on.[/li][/ol]
I think their firing him may have a lot to do with Shearer being the only cast member to be outspokenly critical of how bad the show’s writing has gotten over the last 10-15 years. Remembering how great the show used to be I can’t help but respect Shearer for this…
Do you have a link to an article that mentions this new clause specifically? None of the articles I’ve read so far have brought it up explicitly as you have. It’s all been vague, inferred he-said-she-said type stuff- Shearer says it’s all because he wants freedom to work, whereas Al Jean says he would be free to pursue other work as he’s always done. No mentions of any new clauses. So, someone is massaging the truth there. For all we know, what Shearer tweeted was just a PR move and it really is just about his lingering resentment about not getting any backend points.
Anyway, can you post a link?
Yeah, I really don’t understand what all the fuss is about. Actors don’t own their parts, and roles are recast all the time. This isn’t like Dick Sargent replacing Dick York on Bewitched, where the new actor doesn’t look or sound anything like the old one; there are probably hundreds of voice actors out there who can do spot-on Burns, Smithers, and Flanders voices.
Shearer is past 70, has all the money he needs, and is tired of the job. His motives for bailing aren’t particularly mysterious or unusual.
Shearer has been publicly complaining about the scripts for years and years. He was particularly vocal about “The Principal and the Pauper,” an episode from 1997. If Gracie Films was firing him for disloyalty, they sure took their time getting around to it.
Wait, wait, wait. One of the funniest, most memorable, most daring episodes of all time is hated by some people? Good freakin’ grief.