‘The Simpsons’ will have Harry Shearer; actor signs deal through season 30

It appears that “The Simpsons” is no longer going to be forced to find themselves a new Mr. Burns, after all. As first reported by Entertainment Weekly, the long-running Fox animated comedy has inked a new contract with Harry Shearer that will have him as a part of the voice cast presumably through season 30. The final two years of the deal are network options.

What is interesting is that despite the lengthy holdout and all of the back-and-forth over what had changed and what hadn’t, the deal Shearer ended up signing is actually the same one as many of his other cast members, including Dan Castellaneta, Yeardley Smith, Julie Kavner, Nancy Cartwright, and Hank Azaria. Each cast member is making around $300,000 an episode, which is slightly less than they were receiving at one point but still pretty darn great as far as voiceover work.Let’s put it this way: You are getting over $6 million annually (at least before taking out other costs) just to be a part of this show, and there may be other money that is picked up through other avenues.

While we think that executive producer Al Jean and the series would have been able to find other quality talent to voice Mr. Burns, Ned Flanders, and many other iconic characters, the original is for the most part always going to be the best. We never understood necessarily why there was such a holdout anyway, given that this is one of the best jobs that really anyone can have. You get paid well for a relatively small amount of hours compared to other shows, and you have time to work on other things.

The new season of “The Simpsons” will premiere on Fox this September. Stay tuned for some other news!

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