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Simpsons (& friends) on strike!

With three-year contracts that expired months ago, and no progress on negotiations, the voice talents behind The Simpsons have skipped two script readings for the past few weeks, which threatens to hold up production on their 16th season. The castmembers current earn $125,000 per episode, and are reportedly looking for $360,000. Without knowing the details (such as, are these people seeing a piece of not only extended syndication deals, but DVD sales?) I really can't comment on how fair or unfair this might be. When they renegotiated their contracts in 1998 they had reportedly been making $30K each per episode, and the current negotation might be considered to be an attempt to make up for some earlier years, too.

Perhaps the most obscene item in the piece is word that Ray Romano makes between $1.7 and $2 million dollars per episode of Everybody Loves Raymond, a show I would only watch on a bet.

(I know, I know, with so much going on in the world, this is the sort of topic I choose to mention? It's really just a matter of the depth of subject I have time for this side of the weekend.)

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