Image Credit: Fox
And there’s your fashionable answer. It appears that the already-animated pop star will lose little in translation to cartoon, sporting a seafoam-and-white punky dress accented with a tiara and platform shoes. Behold the cool-as-ice queen! READ FULL STORY »
Image Credit: Getty Images/Fox
When Bart’s love life heats up again on The Simpsons, it will involve an old flame or two. Actually, make that five. Not only will Zooey Deschanel guest-star on the animated comedy by reprising her role as Mary Spuckler — that adorable hillbilly daughter of Cleetus whom Bart nearly married in season 19 — four other former girlfriends, voiced by Natalie Portman, Anne Hathaway, Sarah Michelle Gellar, and Sarah Silverman, make cameos in the same episode, EW has learned. READ FULL STORY »
The Simpsons took a little shot at Fox News during Fox’s anniversary celebrations Sunday night. Fox re-aired the original holiday special/pilot of its long-running animated hit as part of the network’s 25th anniversary specials. In the credits for the pilot, the card below appeared. Though Fox broadcast network and cable channel Fox News are both owned by Rupert Murdoch’s News Corporation and tend to get lumped together in the minds of some casual viewers, the networks are under separate day-to-day management and tend to have rather different personalities. And of course, this isn’t the first time The Simpsons have taken aim at the news network. Click below for the pic.
Image Credit: Fabrice Coffrini/Getty Images
Julian Assange’s upcoming talk show will debut on April 17, Russian network Russia Today (RT) announced this morning. Titled The World of Tomorrow, the 12-episode series will be broadcast online, as well as on RT, according to a statement released by the channel.
The guests on the 26-minute episodes will consist of “politicians, revolutionaries, intellectuals, artists and visionaries,” as well as “iconoclasts, visionaries, and power insiders,” though RT did not reveal the identity of the first guest.
Assange is currently under house arrest as he waits to hear on the UK Supreme Court ruling of his possible extradition to Sweden based on accusations of sexual assault.
Assange recently starred as himself on the 500th episode of The Simpsons that aired in February.
Read more:
WikiLeaks’ Julian Assange to guest on ‘The Simpsons’ — EXCLUSIVE
Image Credit: Andrew Evans/PR Photos
What’s in the cards for Jennifer Tilly? A guest spot on The Simpsons. The actress and poker expert will make a cameo appearance in an episode as herself, popping up in an instructional DVD that Lisa watches to brush up on her card skills. (It turns out that Homer doesn’t trust banks and has stashed Lisa’s college fund in an online poker site.) ”It was a real pleasure to have the Bride of Chucky on the show,” executive producer Al Jean tells EW. “Only three people in the crew were mysteriously killed.” READ FULL STORY »
Image Credit: Nicole WIlder/FOX
Have you ever won a marathon? No, we’re not talking about one of the 26.2 mile sort. That’s beginner stuff. We’re talking about sitting on your butt, watching episode after episode after episode after episode after episode of The Simpsons until you’re seeing double Disco Stus. Two California residents, Jeremiah Franco, 22, and Carin Shreve, 33, broke the Guinness World Record for longest continuous television viewing by absorbing 86 hours and 37 minutes of Homer’s exploits at an Ultimate Fan Marathon hosted by Fox from Feb. 8-12 in L.A. (The animated comedy presents its 500th episode on Sunday.) We caught up with the winning eye-hard fans, who were among 100 contestants and now are both $10,500 richer. READ FULL STORY »
Here’s some news that we couldn’t wait to leak: Julian Assange will play himself in the 500th episode of The Simpsons! EW has learned exclusively that the WikiLeaks founder/editor-in-chief recorded a guest spot over the summer that is part of the animated Fox comedy’s landmark episode airing Feb. 19.
So, how did this casting curveball come about? Simpsons exec producer Al Jean says that series creator Matt Groening heard a rumor that the polarizing and elusive activist who runs the whistle-blowing website was interested in guest-starring on the series, “so we asked our casting director Bonnie Pietila — who had been able to unearth Thomas Pynchon and got Tony Blair to do the show — to find Mr. Assange. And she did.” Assange recorded his lines at a location unknown to Simpsons producers — he was and is still under house arrest in Britain — as Jean directed him remotely from Los Angeles. (“I was just given a number to call,” sums up Jean.) READ FULL STORY »
Image Credit: ABC
The magic is still with ABC: Once Upon a Time led all non-sports shows Sunday night in the ratings.
Though NBC won the night, thanks to the Pro Bowl NFL game, ABC’s Once Upon (10.8 million viewers, 3.4 adults 18-49 rating) rose 6 percent and had its most-watched episode in 11 weeks. The fantasy drama led into a Hallmark movie that was actually called A Smile as Big as the Moon (6.9 million, 1.5). READ FULL STORY »
Image Credit: Charles Norfleet/PR Photos; Fox
Steve Carell said goodbye to The Office earlier this year, but he’ll be back in prime time next year to lend his voice to an episode of The Simpsons, EW has learned exclusively. Carell will play Dan Gillick, a tightly wound accountant for Fat Tony (returning guest Joe Mantegna), who may go from crunching numbers to crunching skulls when he’s put in charge of the mob by Fat Tony while the big boss serves jury duty. READ FULL STORY »
Image Credit: Jeffrey Neira/CBS
Was everyone watching football or at the movies catching another showing of Breaking Dawn? Dramas like Pan Am and The Good Wife hit some depressing lows on Sunday, which was dominated by football and the animated shows on Fox.
NBC won the night in the key demo (5.2 rating/13 share) and viewers (13.7 million), as the game between two probable NFC playoff times (Detroit and New Orleans) earned a 6.5/15, according to early results. Fox came in a close second (5.1/12), with The Simpsons earning a 4.0/10, followed by Allen Gregory (2.4/6), Family Guy (3.5/8), and The Cleveland Show (2.5/6).
ABC came in a distant third (2.2/5), with all of its shows hitting troubling lows. America’s Funniest Home Videos was down 22 percent to a 1.4/4, followed by Once Upon a Time (down 9 percent to a 3.1/7), Desperate Housewives (down 13 percent to a 2.6/6), and Pan Am (down 11 percent to a 1.6/4). We already know that the period drama is one step away from flat-out cancellation: The ABC drama’s co-star Karine Vanasse sent a tweet that heavily suggested the show was finished: “Well, we received THE call, #PanAm is only coming back for one more episode after Christmas. But up to the end, we’ll give it our all!”
CBS finished fourth with a 2.1/5, with 60 Minutes down 51 percent to a 1.8/5, followed by The Amazing Race (down 7 percent to a 2.7/6), The Good Wife (flat with a 1.9/4), and CSI: Miami (up 16 percent with a 2.2/5).
Read more:
NFL Week XIII: Monday Morning Talking Points
‘The Good Wife’ recap: The Missing
‘Once Upon a Time’ recap: Becoming David Nolan
‘The Amazing Race’ recap: Panamaniacs
What if we were to tell you that on the night before Halloween, you will witness an unprecedented act of flatulence from Homer Simpson? What if we also were to point out that this was all part of a send-up of the acclaimed 2007 French film The Diving Bell and the Butterfly? Would that excite/intrigue/slightly disturb you? We thought so. That is why we have scored a first look at one of the three segments from this Sunday’s “Treehouse of Horror XXII.” In “The Diving Bell and the Butterball,” Homer becomes paralyzed after being bitten by a spider, and Lisa soon discovers that the only way he can communicate is via his derriere. This year’s trilogy also includes winks to 127 Hours, Avatar, and Dexter, but we think you might agree that it’s the following scene which breaks terrifying new ground wind. READ FULL STORY »
Fans of The Simpsons will not be having a cow for at least two more years, given last Friday’s announcement that Fox has renewed the animated comedy for a 24th and 25th season. Clearly in a festive mood after those touch-and-go negotiations, the show’s writers have put together a Simpsons promo for you that riffs on the big announcement via clips from past episodes. As a bonus, Dan Castellaneta, who voices Homer, has even updated the lyrics from the season 13 song “They’ll Never Stop The Simpsons.” To sneak a peek, press play and celebrate the family that doesn’t know the meaning of the word “canceled.” READ FULL STORY »
Image Credit: Frazer Harrison/Getty Images; Fox
Crack open those cans of Duff beer: The Simpsons is staying on TV. After a public round of negotiations between the voice actors and the show’s studio, 20th Century Fox TV, Fox announced on Friday afternoon that the venerable animated comedy has been renewed for two additional years, bringing its run to at least 25 seasons and — holy Homer! — 559 episodes. “In the words of Mark Twain: Woo Hoo! Two more seasons!” Simpsons exec producer Al Jean summed up to EW. “Our mood is elation, mixed with a sense of ‘Man, we’ve got a lot of work to do.’ Believe me, we don’t look at this as these will definitely be the last two [seasons]. We just want to keep fighting and go as long as we can…. We really feel this isn’t an end but a beginning. It’s a cliché, but it’s the truth.”
James Hibberd
@James_Hibberd
Lynette Rice
@EWLynette
