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Simpsons Pay Dispute Settled
ackthpt writes "Simpsons voice actors were receiving $125,000 per episode and considering how wildly profitable the show is for FOX, in syndication and merchandising, the actors felt they should get a bigger piece of the pie. The strike is settled with a 4 year contract for the actors, though FOX is mum about further details, so the show will go on. For a bit more on this see this article on BBC News or The Gate."
Just so everybody's clear on this... a four-year contract with the actors doesn't indicate that the show has been promised four more years. TV actor contracts always are conditional on the show going on. So, what this contract means is that the production studio and the actors have agreed on the pay rate table to be used for the next four years, assuming the show goes on that long. If The Simpsons goes five more years into a 20th season, the actors and studio will need to go back to the table to talk money again.
So, as long as the show keeps going, we can be sure that there's going to be no major cast defections over the next four years.
Maggies sucking sound was recorded once by Groening himself. It's replayed on a synthesizer.
Oh, sorry, I forgot my tags in that last one.
In the TV world, 125K per episode is NOTHING for such a popular show. Ray Romano gets 16 times that much (around $2,000,000) per episode of "Everybody Loves Raymond".
I know there's a big difference between live actors and voice actors, but if you're going to be complaining about people making too much, don't complain about these guys.
That's likely because whatever radio station you were listening to has some sort of audio processing equipment in the "audio chain" between the studio switchboard and the broadcast tower. Most radio stations adjust things like bass and reverb so that their format of music sounds better than against a flat equalization.
TV stations, even though they have the same equipment available to them, don't do that because talk sounds best with a flat equalization, and that's what they're doing most of the time.
On in the post 9/11/01 days, a lot of music-format radio stations suddenly dumped their regular programming to air network news coverage of the events. A lot of FM music stations got exposed for what they were doing to the music, because there was often an AM talk station that had the same program which could be used as a reference. Several stations toned down their processing so that if they ever have go to flip to news again it would not sound as ugly.
..actually it was just "beep".
Let's not forget that almost all modern radio stations use computers to do their ID and commercial breaks these days. These computer based audio workstations will compress or expand content slightly to work around changes in the schedule.
For example, let's say an interview goes a little long during a live show. The computer will, over the course of the program, compress pre-recorded content slightly to make up for the overage. It's exactly the same thing that happens on TV. On a lot of daytime syndicated shows like Oprah it is almost indiscernible during the show, but if you watch the credits roll at the end you will notice a little "jump" every few seconds. That's the compressor pulling out a frame of video to squeeze the show. Shorter show... more commercials!
It's not that it sounds better with high bass, it's that many people like it that way, because their weak stereo systems have VERY POOR bass response (especially true of most cars). The radio stations know this, so they kick up the lower frequencies a few dB.
So, in the end, what the radio stations are trying to do is do the equalization for people that don't have the equipment or the know-how to do so for themselves. Ultimately, it's futile (I think), there's too many variables on the consumer side (speakers, processors, amps, and equalizers) all have an affect on the consumer's side.
For example, I have my car speaker system tuned pretty well. Of course, I have a sound pressure level meter, a decent 12 band equalizer, and a CD with test tones, and I know how to use them (whereas most people don't, don't and don't).
The result is that most clear channel stations (who like to pump the bass redicliously high) sound like shit. They even do this to the voice programs. I like the local morning DJs on 103.5 (KRFX-Denver), but to listen to them I've got to turn down the bass--they sound like giants (with really long voice boxes). Otherwise I'll get a fucking migrane. I've met them in person, and they don't have abnormally deep voices, but their engineers like to make them sound that way. It's very aggrivating.
NPR, and the local classic channel sound absolutely perfect on my system, because their engineers have some sense. That some engineers are willing to accomidate people with squak boxes is silly, it makes their stations sound like shit on pretty much everything (even the el cheapo radios they're trying to make sound better).
News Corp. was definitely part of the sides pushing for the ownership increases, as they were very ready to buy up stations as soon as that was allowed.
News Corp.'s position on the PTAR rule was a funny one... they were fine with it continuing to exist because Fox at the time was not programming enough primetime hours for it to have any impact on them. They just never wanted to see it modified so that it applied to their network, and as it played out it never was.
You're kidding yourself if you think the last two seasons have been impressive. At least seasons 9-13 had the tomacco episode, the Hell's Satans, and Apu's octuplets. Last season's lame Frank Grimes Jr. revenge episode left a bad taste in my mouth and paled in comparison to the original Frank Grimes episode, one of the best episodes ever.
I truly believe South Park is funnier than The Simpsons these days.
So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past.