The Week In Geek: The Simpsons & Dexter Want ‘Mo Money, Disney Classics Returns, & DC News Galore
Could It Be Over For The Simpsons?
Most of you reading this have never lived in a world without The Simpsons. The show has been airing since the Fall of 1989, and with twenty three seasons in, it had never shown signs of going away anytime soon. But that might all change here very soon, and of course it will be due to money.
Apparently contract negotiation talks between the voice cast and Twentieth Century Fox have stalled, and the higher ups at Fox want the cast to take a 45% pay cut, which would leave the main cast members with something like $4 million a season. Even though the show is a perennial and a classic, the ratings are not what they were back in their 90’s heyday. Nevertheless, The Simpsons has a certain amount of prestige as the longest running scripted show on television, and as just part of the overall Fox brand. They don’t wanna let it go unless they’re forced to. But according to Fox “we cannot produce future seasons under its current financial model.”
There is one thing though that is keeping hope alive for Simpsons fans; if the show were to be cancelled, it would actually be more profitable to Fox ; a report on Deadline.com spelled it all out; according to a recent article there “Fox has been hamstrung by a 17-year-old deal that limits syndication to local TV stations. At the time, cable was a relatively insignificant contributor to major off-network syndication revenues… but over the ensuing years, cable grew to be as big an opportunity as (if not bigger than) local broadcast…But if the show is canceled, then the restriction evaporates and Fox can offer reruns to additional markets — especially cable or an online service such as Netflix. Fox can score $1.5M for each of 506 episodes. That delivers $750M.”
Since Deadline reported this fact, the cast of the series has reportedly backed down on their demands and is said to be ready to sign a new deal for a few more seasons as early as next week. But who knows, all it takes is one member of the cast to be unwilling to play ball, and the whole thing falls through… and then Homer will have eaten his last doughnut.
Dexter Wants More Money Too
Speaking of actors wanting more money, Michael C. Hall of Dexter is also having a tough time negotiating with his bosses at Showtime. His original contract was for six seasons of the show, and the sixth season is about to wrap up filming. But Dexter remains Showtime’s signature series, as well as their highest rated. Last week’s sixth season premiere was the series’ highest-rated premiere ever and Showtime’s best original series opener in at least 14 years. That fact alone should give Hall a bit of leverage.
Right now it seems Showtime wants to pay Hall $20 million for two more seasons of the show, while Hall wants $24 million. Hopefully Showtime realizes this isn’t a Two and a Half Men situation; Michael C Hall IS Dexter, he can’t be replaced with Ashton Kutcher or someone. Plus, the man turned in an awesome performance while battling cancer. I mean really…you should give him the extra four million just for that Showtime, ya greedy bastards.
As a huge fan of the show, I really just hope the show ends with the writers aware whichever season they are currently working on is the last one, giving them time to wrap up the series in a spectacular fashion. Whether the show ends with Dexter Morgan riding off into the sunset or in the Florida electric chair, it needs to go out in a creatively satisfying way.
Disney Once Again Re-Releases Their Classics To The Big Screen
With the massive success of The Lion King 3D behind them, Disney took the opportunity this week to announce even more big screen re-releases for some of their most beloved films. Coming in 2012 will be Beauty and the Beast 3D and Finding Nemo 3D. In 2013, Monsters, Inc. and The Little Mermaid will get the same treatment, probably with Blu-ray releases following soon after.
Now, usually in this column I rant and rave against all the 3D cash grabs by the studios, but I’m giving Disney not only a pass on this one, but kudos. For fifty plus years, Disney re-released their classic films to theater screens at least once a decade. This practice extended well into the video age and into the early 90’s. A movie like Peter Pan or Snow White and the Seven Dwarves would always get released to insure a new generation of kids got to enjoy the Disney theatrical experience. At some point though, around the time DVD took off in the late 90’s, Disney let go of this practice and simply released the classic films to home video, foregoing the theatrical run. While it is great that they are making them available for purchase, not giving kids the chance to see the classics on the big screen is a crime. The success of Lion King in theaters (despite the fact that it comes out on Blu-ray this very week) proves this. I wish they weren’t being released in 3D, but if that’s the only way I get to experience Ariel and Belle and Nemo again on the big screen, then so be it. I say bring it on Disney.
Details Emerge On Cartoon Network’s DC Nation
A few months back, I reported in this column about a new block of programming set to debut on Cartoon Network next year called DC Nation. It was said the block would contain two half hour DC Comics related series as well as “other things.” But just want those “other things” were has remained a mystery, until now.
This week at a press conference in the UK, Cartoon Network president of programming Sam Register unveiled the content of DC Nation. In addition to the currently running Young Justice animated show and the upcoming Green Lantern: The Animated Series, DC Nation would debut a brand new CGI Batman half hour show called Beware The Batman in 2013. The showrunner for this series is Glen Murakami, a protégé of Bruce Timm and the man behind Teen Titans and formerly Batman Beyond on the old Kid’s WB Network.
Beware the Batman would feature not only the titular Dark Knight, but also a “gun toting” Alfred as well as female ninja Katana as sort of female sidekick. (It was noted that Katana would not be a replacement for Robin, meaning Robin would likely show up at some point.) The character of Katana was first introduced as a member of Batman’s team The Outsiders in the comics, so making her part of the Bat-Family is not that far fetched really. Also the villains on the show would include more recent creations and not just the Joker, Two Face etc. Professor Pyg and the Circus of the Strange, introduced in Grant Morrison’s recent Batman run, are going to be among the first villains used on the show. That fact alone has me excited about this series.
Also between half hour shows, DC Nation will showcase a series of shorts featuring a variety of characters from the DC Universe; Aardman Animation (Wallace and Gromit) will be creating new claymation Batman shorts, Plastic Man and the Doom Patrol will be getting animated shorts, and the creator behind My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic working on a series of animated shorts teaming Wonder Girl, Batgirl, Supergirl called Super Best Friends Forever. I am more excited about that last one than any grown man has any right to be.
DC Comics Crisis Clusterfuck:
So the first month of DC’s “New 52” relaunch is behind us, and by all accounts has been a massive sales success. One thing remains clear from reading the majority of the new 52 books though….DC Continuity is a giant freaking mess right now. And it might have just become even more confusing. This past weekend, DC Comics EIC Dan Didio went on Twitter and made this statement:
“Brace yourself, but after further review, there have been no Crisis events in the New DCU.”
Ok, this little nugget of information makes continuity an even bigger clusterfuck than it was before. Let’s examine the evidence of why (in young person’s terminology, as I’m way too old to use these phrases in real life) this is a FAIL, and why is some cases, it could be a WIN.
-No Crisis on Infinite Earths means Barry Allen never died, which means Wally West never became the Flash. That is a huge FAIL
-Also a huge mistake is that if the original Crisis never occurred, then the Anti-Monitor and Superboy-Prime, two villains who both had huge parts to play in the Sinestro Corps War, were never around. All the recent Green Lantern stuff is said to still be in continuity, but without those two characters, then that whole story falls apart without them. Another FAIL
…however, no Crisis means instead of just 52 worlds in the Multiverse, there are and infinite number again. That goes down as a WIN.
-No Identity Crisis means Ralph and Sue Dibny are probably still alive in the new DCU somewhere. This also means Sue Dibny was never raped aboard the JLA Satellite by Dr. Light and the League never performed a bunch of mind wipes on villains. I’m gonna go with WIN here if it means we get Mr. & Mrs. Elongated Man back alive and happily married.
-No Infinite Crisis means Blue Beetle Ted Kord never got shot in the head by Maxwell Lord, and Maxwell Lord never got killed by Wonder Woman. I’m not even sure Ted Kord is or was ever Blue Beetle in this new DCU, but it now means he could pop up at any time. So…tentative WIN?
–Final Crisis sucked, but no Final Crisis means Darkseid never shot Batman with the Omega Bullet, sending him back in time leaving Dick Grayson as Batman for a year. Except…it has already been revealed that Dick WAS Batman for a year in this new timeline, so how and why that happened remains unclear. So this is a FAIL.
Blackest Night and Brightest Day are said to have happened…both Swamp Thing #1 and Hawk and Dove #1 make mentions of their title characters coming back from beyond the grave in those series. However, other characters who died and came back like Firestorm are now “brand new” characters in the new DCU. Others like Martian Manhunter and Aquaman probably never kicked the bucket in the new DCU at all. Have a headache yet? ‘Cause I do. FAIL FAIL FAIL.
It is clear now that DC really is making this up as they go along, and really have no idea what they’re doing. They should have made this a totally clean reboot and just said so from the get go, but fear of alienating the long time fans kept them from doing so. DC needs to get their writers in a room for a weekend, hash out just what the fuck is part of this new five year timeline, and publish a new History of the DC Universe Mini Series and just settle what did or did not happen once and for all, and then everyone can move on and just enjoy (or not enjoy) the damn comics.
OK, One Last DC Comics Related Thing And Then I’ll Stop
Pics this week of Russell Crowe as Jor-El and Amy Adams as Lois Lane taken on the Vancouver set of Man of Steel surfaced. Jor-El looks kinda Lord of the Rings-ish, certainly a different look for Jor-El. But then, Krypton has never had a set “look.” Just this past decade alone we’ve had three versions of Krypton in the comics, and we’re about to get another one. So I’m ok with this.
Amy Adams it appears is going to be our first ginger Lois Lane. I know I’m being anal retentive and lame…. but seriously….Lois has ALWAYS been a brunette in the comics and in her media appearances. She’s one of the most famous brunette female characters in pop fiction. With all the millions she is getting for this part, she really couldn’t have just dyed her hair? I mean, Amy Adams has done so for other roles, but not for one as iconic as Lois Lane? *sigh* I know I’ll get over it, but stuff like this bugs me. And yes, it bugged me when Catwoman was a blonde in Batman Returns too. I still love Michelle Pfeiffer in the role, don’t get me wrong, but a little adherence to the looks of the characters matters to this comics geek.
New IDW Star Trek Comic Will Hint At Things For Trek Sequel
Star Trek recently returned to the world of comics with a new series coming out from IDW Publishing. This new Trek comic is unique in that Bob Orci, one of the screenwriters for the 2009 big screen reboot of the series, is “executive producer” for this new comic book. The mission statement of this new comic is to re-tell classic episodes of the original series, but with the twist that these versions of those stories will be taking place in the new timeline that the most recent movie takes place in. So things may play out differently than the versions that originally played on television screens back in 1967. Orci has recently stated that certain elements of what will be in the upcoming new Trek sequel (set to come out in either 2012 or 2013) will be first introduced in the new comic book series. So all you hard core Trek fans might want to start picking this series up just to have something new to pick apart and look for spoilers in.
