The Simpsons actor Harry Shearer to leave the show

It's worth noting that Sheare has spearheaded negotiations and threatened to leave before. A few years ago the cast agreed to lower their pay from $400k per episode to $300k.

He is also one of the only cast on an ongoing tv show I've ever heard of criticizing his own show publicly.

I don't blame him if he is tired of working on the show. It can't just be Internet pundits who are tired of the falling Simpsons quality.

More on Wikipedia http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harry_Shearer#The_Simpsons

If you like some of Harry Shearer's more notable character roles (Derek Smalls, bassist of Spinal Tap, probably foremost among them), or the sharper edge of the Simpsons, I highly recommend his radio show/podcast Le Show. It's been going on for years now and offers some of the sharpest topical satire out there.

In the biting-the-hand-that-feeds-you manner that seems to drive his public Simpsons comments (and well, from what I've read of him, his career generally), public radio is one of his favorite targets.

For folks who haven't watch The Simpsons in a while, the recent episode about piracy is worth watching [1]--I found it to be quite funny and clever.

[1] But how? :-)

I wonder what the latency on this is... given that "The Simpsons" is an animated show with a long lead time, when's the last episode that will air with Harry Shearer's voice? The end of the 2015-2016 season?

Ugh, recasting his roles is the absolute death knell of the show for me. Recent episodes have been good for one or two good laughs per episode, which was enough for me to keep watching. Even though some have been absolutely abysmal.

But having someone else voice so many of the characters? It's just not gonna work. So sad.

I hope the rest join him. Its a sad show now, with the occasional funny episode that reminds you of how all the episodes were. If all the voice talent left tomorrow they'd have to fold. Heaven forbid, giving it a planned send-off with dignity instead of milking and producing a less quality product year after year until all of its goodwill is gone.

Television, you just don't know when to quit.

Or do something risky like move the show up 20 years to the future they sometimes show where Bart is a divorced dad with two boys and Lisa is married to Milhouse. There's some amusing territory there, especially the Futurama-esque absurdism like when Homer bought the first hover car, which predictably was full of bugs, loud, and just a terrible vehicle.

I've seen every episode multiple times and I always find it intriguing when people complain about declining quality and get up in arms about it. One of the hallmarks of the show and the storylines has always been its irreverence and it's lack of desire to be taken seriously. The fact that it continues to go on with silly episodes is only part of that funny, irreverent quality, in my view.

I wonder if it's a negotiation tactic.

the Simpsons died years ago