Yeardley Smith, the actress known for her voice work as Lisa on “The Simpsons,” will star in her solo show Yeardley Smith: More at the Union Square Theatre Off Broadway, starting March 1. The solo play written by Smith will officially open March 22 at the downtown Manhattan venue. Judith Ivey – the actress recently seen in Women on Fire — directs. More follows the autobiographical story of an actress who has had her ups and down in show business. On her quest for fame, the star tells all – from her regrets of having played the slutty girl in “Ginger Ale Afternoon” to her Broadway debut in Tom Stoppard’s The Real Thing. Smith won an Emmy Award in 1992 for her work on “The Simpsons.” The Paris-born actress has also been seen on big screen in “City Slickers,” “As Good as It Gets” and on television in “Herman’s Head,” and “Dharma & Greg.” Read More >>>
Author: Adam
Mike’s Lessons From Bart
The bright, refurbished Great Hall of the Student Union was crowded Monday night. The speaker, a short, turtleneck-clad man, was a consultant for “The PJs,” helped put out “Alf” and wrote jokes for “Airplane II: The Sequel”. He also helps produce a lesser-known program called The Simpsons. Mike Reiss, a consulting producer on the show, has been behind America’s favorite four-fingered family for more than 200 episodes. His 11 years of comedy experience shone through in his rapid-fire idiosyncratic routine. “Why do they have four fingers?” Reiss said, responding to a question about the family. “It’s 20 percent cheaper.” The event ran a lighthearted 45 minutes. The auditorium that had seen a more somber Chuck D presentation less than a week ago was packed with Simpsons devotees. But Reiss didn’t neglect his responsibilities to his sponsors. He spoke of his quirky childhood in the Jewish community, tossed off with well-honed wit. Read More >>>
Ratings: Smart And Smarter
This Sunday saw a Simpsons double, with new episode Smart & Smarter at 8:00pm, followed by a rerun of I, D’oh-Bot at 8:30pm. This is the standard schedule for a Simpsons double, and once again Fox received the standard result. 12.5 million viewers tuned in for Simon Cowell’s appearance at 8pm while 12.8 million caught the rerun.
The End Of WoS; Save Maude
Once the hottest items on toy store shelves, Playmates Toys has recently confirmed that their “World of Springfield” Simpsons action figure line will end this year after releasing Series 16. Unfortunately, due to the untimely departure of Maggie Roswell from the show, an interactive Maude Flanders figure was never released. While The SCS is doing their best to urge Playmates to develop the figure, staff member Michael Crawford has created a poll to determine the interest in the Maude figure and other final WoS products. Only one vote per person, please. Read More >>>
Smart And Smarter Airing Tonight
Tonight’s new episode has been in the spotlight moreso than most of the episodes this season. The episode titled “Smart And Smarter” sees Simon Cowell as the voice of an interviewer for a pre-school that Homer and Marge are trying to get Maggie into. When she gets in, Lisa doesn’t take it particularly well. Cowell is well known for his acerbic comments on TV and will be seen making cruel jibes at the Simpsons’ youngest child Maggie. On the appearance, Cowell says “It’s the best thing I’ve ever been asked to do.” The episode airs tonight in North America (followed by a repeat of I, D’oh-Bot) and on May 23rd in the United Kingdom. We’ll bring you the ratings for the episode later this week.
Simpsons Win Writers Guild Award
With three nominations in total, the chance of The Simpsons winning a Writers Guild Award this year was fairly high. The 56th annual awards were presented in simultaneous ceremonies in New York and Los Angeles this Saturday, with “Lost in Translation” and “American Splendor” taking top screenwriting honors. The Simpsons tops the television winners in the animation category. The show received the award for the Season 14 episode “The Dad Who Knew Too Little” written by Matt Selman. Other episodes nominated were “Moe Baby Blues” by J. Stewart Burns, and “My Mother The Carjacker” by Michael Price, but these did not come out on top. This is the show’s first Writers Guild Award after a category for animation was introduced last year.
Ratings: Milhouse Doesn’t Live Here
It’s another week of disappointing figures for The Simpsons after last week’s airing of “Margical History Tour” was trounced by the Grammy Awards as well as two other networks. “Milhouse Doesn’t Live Here Anymore” ranked #49 for the week with a total of 9.43 million viewers.
While CBS easily swept the four primetime hours on Sunday in total viewers, NBC pulled the same trick in the key young adult demos. Fox was once again no where to be seen, sitting at position #4 behind the ABC for the night. At 8pm, “Cold Case” kept CBS in first at, beating the conclusion of NBC’s airing of “Shrek.” ABC was a sold third with the 6.5/11 for “Extreme Makeover,” while FOX stayed fourth with “The Simpsons”(5.3/8).
Season Four DVD Update
After months with no talk about the Season 4 DVD, it looks as though things are finally starting to happen. DVDFanatic.com today announced that Conan O’Brien will be providing a commentary for the episodes Marge Vs. The Monorail and New Kid On The Block. “After seeing a Conan O’Brien show, one of our devoted readers asked Conan if he was going to do The Simpsons: Season 4 Commentary track. Apparently, Conan told him that he recorded them the week prior. “Tall Al” asked, “Even the Monorail?” and Conan replied back, “Yeah, Monorail!” In addition to this, early last week the website also announced Jon Lovitz would be providing commentaries for episodes he appeared in. There’s still no release date available for the fourth box set in the series, but we’ll let you know as soon as any news comes to hand.
Milhouse Doesn’t Live Here Anymore
Don’t miss tonights new episode of The Simpsons titled ‘Milhouse Doesn’t Live Here Anymore.’ A description of the episode follows and may contain spoilers. “Bart is heartbroken when Milhouse and his mother move away to Capitol City. Desperate to fill Milhouse’s shoes, Bart attempts to find a new best friend with no such luck. That is, until Marge asks him to wash the family car with Lisa, and the two have so much fun they begin to do everything together as best friends would. Later, Bart decides to pay Milhouse a visit and is shocked to see his once meek best friend has reinvented himself. The new Milhouse sports spiked blond hair, is popular and even gives Bart a wedgie in the halls at school.” The episode airs tonight at 8pm on Fox.
Happy Birthday Matt Groening!
The staff of The Simpsons Channel would like to wish Simpsons creator Matt Groening a happy birthday. The cartoonist who first brought our favorite family to life in a series of Tracey Ullman Shorts in 1987 celebrates his 50th birthday today. On behalf our visitors, we wish him all the best for today and in the future. Way to go, Matt!
Mike Reiss Pulled A Homer
Sure it’s great to be an Emmy Award-winning producer and writer for a legendary television show, but Mike Reiss, who has worked for years on The Simpsons is prepared to tell students at Weber State University today about the other half of that equation. While he was the executive producer and head of the classic animated Fox series during seasons three and four, “I worked 80 to 100 hours a week, 51 weeks a year. It nearly killed me,” he said. “That’s why I ran the show for only two years and that’s why people only do it for two or three years.” At the end of the fourth season, Reiss visited his doctor and learned he gained 70 pounds while he was head of the series. “My doctor said, ‘You’re morbidly obese. Do you know what that is?'” Reiss remembered. “I said, ‘That’s what Homer is.'” Read More >>>
Eugene Gets Simpsons Plug
After years of living in Springfield’s celebrity shadow, Eugene finally got its own moment in the spotlight. For 14 years, Eugene’s neighbor to the east has reveled in its status – earned or not – as hometown to The Simpsons. But on Sunday night, Eugene got a brief taste of the thrill when the writers deigned to put the city in the script, too. In the episode “Margical History Tour”, characters Lenny and Carl re-enact the Lewis and Clark expedition. Naturally, when the two reach the mouth of the Columbia River, the rain kicks in. “I say we give this lovely land a name,” says Lenny. “How about: Eugene, Oregon?” Executive producer Al Jean said writer, Michael Price, came up with the line because he thought it sounded funny and because Eugene’s a pretty well-known place. While Groening didn’t inspire the line himself, he was on hand for the final mixing of the show, when special sound effects are added, and was amused when he heard the line. Read More >>>