The producers of The Simpsons have fired composer Alf Clausen, who has been with the show since 1990 and has scored over 560 episodes.
This story in Variety says that Clausen was given the standard we’re-going-in-a-different-direction excuse, but there is speculation that the cost of a 35-piece orchestra for every episode was a factor.
This is a terrible, terrible decision.
My mouth literally fell open when I read your thread title. Wow. Looking forward to reading the article and being outraged.
I thought they’d been going in another direction for the last, oh, twelve years or so. 
After a trial run, the producers have decided it wasn’t working out. Imagine if they’d gotten the right person, the show might have been a success.
Didn’t the voice cast get a salary cut a little while ago, from outrageous (something like $400,000 per episode) to the ridiculous? The explanation was that the show’s ratings are down from its heyday so they can’t afford the lavish salaries of previously. So this change is part of the cost cutting.
I’m sad to hear this. Way back in the early days of the SDMB, there was some GQ (Cafe Society hadn’t been around yet) question about some incidental music in a Simpsons episode, so I decided to email him on behalf of the thread, and he responded almost immediately with an answer!
Actually, here’s the thread, post #23. That was in 2005, so a little more recently than I thought. I think we did have CS by then. He must have responded within 24 hours, given the time stamps of my posts.
Total bummer. I think it lessens the show. Good thing I haven’t really been paying attention for ten years or so now, I guess.
Maybe this time The Simpsons really has jumped the shark.
Remember Alf? He’s back, in unemployed form.
Sad news. From the linked article:
Does that mean Groening no longer has the influence he used to?
Nice reference.
The article I read also stated he not only composed the score but also arranged all the original songs like the parodies and such. A huge loss to the show.
Simpsons are running only on momentum. Also when was the last good song parody on the Simpsons?
I feel bad for Alf, but I wonder how the show keeps going year after year.
To be fair, the show now has 20+ something years worth of its own music library to pull from. The odds that they don’t have something just perfect for any given moment is pretty unlikely. (Though, whether they have a good enough system for finding that music based on the specific need, in a timely manner, is another question.)
ive read rumors that the contract for the show will not be getting renewed … its served its purpose… especially if king of the hill comes back
Hadn’t heard about that, but great if it happens.
The Simpsons has been a shell of it’s former self for what, around 15 years or so?
As someone who’s been watching since the beginning and still tries to watch most new episodes, I’d say that’s a bit harsh. The show is long past its golden age, but it’s still recognizably the same show, and the better episodes of recent years wouldn’t (IMHO and for the most part) have seemed jarringly out of place if they had run sometime in the first dozen seasons. But the show has lost its freshness, if only from being around so long without substantially changing. It’s comfort food.