The Simpsons Treehouse of Horror XXXIV is scheduled for Sunday, November 5, a rare post-Halloween airing for the annual event. The episode sees Bart turned into a non-fungible token (NFT) and Marge fight through the blockchain to rescue her son. Meanwhile, Lisa turns into a murderer from her past to track down a gruesome serial killer, and an outbreak in Springfield turns the residents into a bunch of lazy, beer-loving oafs. 

There’s also a Silence of the Lambs parody, according to various reports, with Lisa as Clarice Starling and Sideshow Bob as Hannibal Lecter. 

The Simpsons airs on Fox. Treehouse of Horror happens annually around Halloween. 

Last year’s Treehouse of Horror aired on two nights, October 23 and October 30. In 2021, it ran on October 10. In 2020, it was pushed to November 1 due to the World Series going long, the first November appearance of Treehouse in a decade. 

Fox typically schedules Treehouse of Horror to run after an NFL doubleheader to reach a large audience. That is why it is on November 5 this year. 

Sideshow Bob teases “a grisly murder-mystery that marks the return of my oversized shoes to the Simpsons stage,” in a letter from Springfield Maximum Security Prison about the 2023 program. 

Dan Castellaneta voices Homer and Julie Kavner handles Marge. Nancy Cartwright voices Bart and Yeardley Smith plays Lisa. 

Matt Selman is Simpsons showrunner and executive producer. Matt Groening created the show. The Simpsons premiered on Fox in 1990. 

Last year’s Treehouse of Horror featured two episodes, including a satire of the horror novel and film It. In 2021, it was an homage to Edgar Allen Poe and horror illustrator Edward Gorey. In 2020, Treehouse tipped its cap to the presidential election, Toy Story, Spider Man and Netflix comedy-drama Russian Doll. 

Fox has shared its fall programming premieres, which includes season 10 of The Masked Singer beginning September 27, Hell’s Kitchen on a day later, and season 35 of The Simpsons starting October 1. 

Unscripted programming has an outsize presence on broadcast networks’ new schedules as the writers’ strike continues. 

Celebrity Name That Tune begins on Tuesday, September 19. Jane Krakowski hosts and Randy Jackson is the band leader. Another musical competition series, I Can See Your Voice, hosted by Ken Jeong, follows. 

Animated comedy Krapopolis premieres September 24, with two episodes airing. Dan Harmon is behind the show, set in ancient Greece. 

Gordon Ramsay’s Kitchen Nightmares returns Monday, September 25, followed by season two of competition series Special Forces: World’s Toughest Test. Kitchen Nightmares was on Fox 2007 to 2014, and is back with new episodes. Each episode follows Ramsay as he revamps a restaurant in crisis. Special Forces sees a celebrity cast pushed through grueling challenges from the Special Forces playbook. 

Season 10 of The Masked Singer starts Wednesday, September 27, followed by David Spade-hosted game show Snake Oil. Fox promises “the biggest and boldest costumes in the show’s history,” marking the anniversary milestone, “with the buzziest and brightest celebrities underneath.” Nick Cannon hosts, with Jenny McCarthy Wahlberg, Nicole Scherzinger, Ken Jeong and Robin Thicke on the panel. 

Snake Oil sees entrepreneurs pitched unique products, some of which are legit business ventures and some of which are bogus. Contestants must determine what is real and what is a sham. 

Hell’s Kitchen starts season 22 on Thursday, September 28, followed by season four of Lego Masters. Gordon Ramsay is behind Hell’s Kitchen, which has an “American Dream” theme this time, and Will Arnett hosts Lego Masters. For the first time, the winning Lego build will be transformed into a set and displayed at a Lego flagship store. 

WWE Friday Night SmackDown is on Fridays throughout the season. 

Fox Animation Domination premieres Sunday, October 1. Krapopolis makes its time-period premiere that night, and new seasons of The Simpsons, Bob’s Burgers and Family Guy kick off. It will be season 35 for The Simpsons. Marge experiences a series of nightmares about young Bart’s childhood coming to an end; Homer accidentally volunteers for a school crossing guard position; and Lisa recounts the story of how Homer was scapegoated for a power outage that plunged Springfield into darkness days before Thanksgiving 60 years earlier. 

Bob’s Burgers will be on season 14 and Family Guy starts season 22. 

Fox will promote new shows and existing shows’ new seasons during the MLB All-Star Game July 11. 

Additional series to premiere in the upcoming season include dramas 9-1-1: Lone Star, Accused, Alert: Missing Persons Unit, The Cleaning Lady, Doc and Rescue: HI-Surf; comedies Animal Control and Grimsburg, and unscripted programs Farmer Wants a Wife, Lego Masters: Celebrity Holiday Bricktacular, Next Level Chef and We Are Family.

Fox has renewed The Simpsons, Family Guy and Bob’s Burgers, all part of Fox Animation Domination. Each got two additional seasons, extending the comedies through the 2024-2025 season. 

The Simpsons gets seasons 35 and 36, Family Guy receives seasons 22 and 23, and Bob’s Burgers gets seasons 14 and 15. 

“With this trio of renewals, we celebrate excellence in animation on Fox, our wonderful, long-time partnership with 20th Television and the brilliant creators and incredible voices behind these forever favorites,” said Michael Thorn, president of scripted programming, Fox Entertainment. “Three-plus decades of The Simpsons, more than two decades of Family Guy and over a decade of Bob’s Burgers proves the enduring power of the animation genre on our network and the infinite fan affinity for these outrageously funny comedy classics.”

The Simpsons started on Fox in 1989, Family Guy in 1998 and Bob’s Burgers in 2011. The Animation Domination block debuted in 2005. 

“Across 750 episodes of The Simpsons, 400 episodes of Family Guy, and 250 episodes of Bob’s Burgers, we couldn’t be more proud to continue delivering these three animated hits with the most brilliant teams in animation,” Marci Proietto, executive VP of 20th Television Animation, said. “Our relationship with Fox over the past three decades has allowed this trio of shows to thrive, grow and deliver immeasurable moments of hilarious and irreverent entertainment for fans, and we are absolutely thrilled that Fox is doubling down on each of these iconic shows.” ■

Disney Plus is offering fans of The Simpsons a Christmas gift, as the short film The Simpsons Meet the Bocellis in 'Feliz Navidad' launches December 15. In the short, Homer surprises Marge with the ultimate gift: An unforgettable performance from Italian opera superstar Andrea Bocelli, and his 25-year-old son Matteo and 10-year-old daughter Virginia.

That same day, in real life, Andrea, Matteo and Virginia release the single “Feliz Navidad,” which is featured in the short. The song appears on their new album, “A Family Christmas.”

The Simpsons marks 33 years on TV December 17, as the first episode aired on that date in 1989. Simpsons shorts were on The Tracey Ullman Show in 1987, and The Simpsons debuted on Fox two years later.  

Disney Plus has offered exclusive Simpsons shorts, including Welcome to the Club, When Billie Met Lisa and Maggie Simpson in The Force Awakens from Its Nap, in recent years. They typically run three to five minutes. 

Disney Plus has 33 Simpsons seasons on its platform. ■

Disney has come under fire from critics of the Chinese government for allegedly removing a Sino-focused episode of The Simpsons from Disney Plus in Hong Kong, a territory the subscription streaming service just launched in on Nov. 16.

Local users say the 12th episode of Season 16 of the show, titled "Goo Goo Gai Pan," is conspicuously unavailable in Hong Kong. In the episode, the Simpsons family travels to China to help Aunt Selma adopt a child. (Turns out she can't adopt a child from the country without having a husband, so Homer steps in and plays the role.)

Along the way, there are the usual pointed barbs that the animated series has been known for over its three-decade FOX run, including one in which Homer pays homage to the embalmed body of Mao Zedong, noting that he looks "just like a little angel who killed 50 million people."

References are also made to locally touchy issues including Tiananmen Square. 

Disney didn't immediately respond to Next TV's email inquiry Monday morning. 

“Disney obviously sent out a clear signal to the local audience that it will remove controversial programs in order to please” the Chinese government, said Grace Leung, an expert in media regulation at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, to The New York Times. “Their credibility will definitely be hurt.”

Fox offers the annual The Simpsons Halloween special Treehouse of Horror Sunday, Oct. 10. For the first time, Treehouse of Horror, this one No. XXXII, offers five “spooky” segments, teases Fox. One is inspired by Edward Gorey’s animation. 

“Words come to life in the reading of the children’s book The Telltale Bart,” summarizes Fox, “chronicling Bart’s evil deeds each month of the year.”

Edgar Allan Poe wrote The Tell-Tale Heart. 

An illustrator with a knack for unsettling drawings, Gorey’s works include The Gashlycrumb Tinies, The Hapless Child and The Wuggly Ump. He died in 2000. 

Last year’s Treehouse of Horror episode touched on the 2020 election. 

The Simpsons is a Gracie Films production in association with 20th Television Animation. James L. Brooks, Matt Groening, Al Jean and Matt Selman are the executive producers. 

Dan Castellaneta voices Homer, Julie Kavner portrays Marge, Nancy Cartwright handles Bart and Yeardley Smith voices Lisa. 

The Simpsons has been renewed for seasons 33 and 34 on Fox, bringing the show into 2023 and a total of 757 episodes. 

The Simpsons premiered in 1990. It is a Gracie Films Production in association with 20th Television. James L. Brooks, Matt Groening, Al Jean and Matt Selman are the executive producers. 

“It’s a sincere pleasure to announce the season 33 and 34 pick-ups for The Simpsons. We keep hoping that, eventually, they’ll get it right,” said Charlie Collier, CEO, Fox Entertainment. “Profound respect for and congratulations to Matt, Jim, Al and the many other wonderful partners working really hard to finally elevate The Tracey Ullman Show. As they say, ‘practice makes perfect.’”

This season, The Simpsons is averaging 7 million viewers across all platforms.

“Everyone at The Simpsons is thrilled to be renewed once more, and we are planning lots of big surprises,” said Matt Groening, creator and executive producer. “Homer will lose a hair, Milhouse will get contact lenses, and Bart will celebrate his tenth birthday for the thirty-third time.”

Dana Walden, chairman of entertainment, Walt Disney Television, called The Simpsons “original, brilliant, outrageously funny, prophetic.”

“Jim Brooks, Matt Groening and Al Jean lead a team of all-stars who hold such a high bar for themselves and leap over it with each spectacular episode,” she added. “On behalf of everyone at our studio and the millions of fans of The Simpsons around the world, I want to thank our wonderful partners at Fox for making this a truly great day.”

The series finale of Supernatural airs on The CW on Nov. 19, wrapping up 15 seasons of the fantasy drama, which sees the Winchester brothers face off with a variety of demons and monsters. The CW will air special Supernatural: The Long Way Home leading into the finale. 

It’s an extraordinary run for a series in an era when more and more shows on the streaming platforms have struggled to get past season three. “I can count on two hands — one hand — the series that reach 300 episodes and 15 years,” said Peter Roth, chairman of Warner Bros. Television Group, which produces Supernatural. “Supernatural has the basic fundamentals of success — great writing, great performances, great execution, and two stars whose skills and charisma and presence keep growing and growing and growing.”

Jared Padalecki and Jensen Ackles play the Winchester brothers, racing around the country in a 1967 Chevy Impala. As rare as 15 seasons may be, Supernatural is hardly the only series extending well past the industry norm these days. NCIS begins season 18 on CBS Nov. 17. Season 22 of Law & Order: SVU started on NBC Nov. 12, the same day season 17 of Grey’s Anatomy premiered on ABC. On Fox, season 32 of The Simpsons is plugging along. Also on Fox, season 19 of Hell’s Kitchen starts in January. 

Series lasting 15 or more seasons may well be going the way of Major League Baseball pitchers winning 300 games. “I don’t think it will ever happen again,” said Steven D. Binder, executive producer on NCIS. “People have been trained to binge-watch a whole season, which is leaning them away from watching each week. Getting people to come back and watch week after week for 12 years is really hard.”

Created by Eric Kripke, Supernatural is so old that it premiered on The WB, back in 2005. When The CW launched a year later, it slotted Supernatural into its primetime. Mark Pedowitz, chairman and CEO of The CW, said the edgy kinship between the Winchester brothers — older brother Dean is something of a guardian for Sam, who often wishes to quit demon hunting and live a normal life — is what has sustained the series over the many years. “The two brothers’ relationship is so identifiable to so many people,” he said. ‘Super’ Star The CW has frequently used Supernatural, which CW insiders say features a broad demographic audience, to promote new programs over the years, including Arrow, The Flash, The Vampire Diaries and Riverdale. “It’s stunning how many shows have been paired with Supernatural,” said Pedowitz. 

He added that the low-maintenance nature of Padalecki and Ackles has been a model for talent on other CW shows. “They set a tone that permeates the whole network,” Pedowitz said. 

The key to any show lasting for 15 seasons is a pleasant and productive atmosphere on the set. Executive producers on every show speak of the family atmosphere on their series, but only the shows that exist for 300 or so episodes can truly boast of it. “Bob [Singer, executive producer] and Eric [Kripke] did a good job creating an atmosphere that is functional and friendly,” said Andrew Dabb, executive producer and showrunner of Supernatural. “It’s a place that people want to be part of.” 

A long-running show ideally experiences an evolution over its lifetime. In the early years of Supernatural, a season would be composed mostly of standalone episodes, with a half-dozen tied to ongoing mythology. Over time, those numbers flipped, and Supernatural became more serialized. 

NCIS, about a team investigating wrongdoing within the Naval Criminal Investigative Service, rarely delved into its characters’ at-home happenings in the early days. “Season six took off when we started getting more into their personal lives,” executive producer Frank Cardea said. 

That became part of the NCIS game plan as each season went on. “For a character-based show, the evolution of the characters is the evolution of the show,” Binder said. 

So vital to the CBS primetime lineup is NCIS that spinoffs NCIS: Los Angeles and NCIS: New Orleans just began seasons 12 and seven, respectively. 

For Grey’s Anatomy, staying relevant to viewers is a matter of having the show reflect, to a degree, what’s happening in the world today. “We’ve worked really hard to make our storytelling a balance between the core conceit of the series — the personal and professional lives of surgeons at Grey Sloan Memorial — and the changing world around us,” said Grey’s executive producer Meg Marinis. “We adapt and manage to keep the show feeling true to itself.” 

Season 19 of unscripted Hell’s Kitchen starts on Fox in January. Executive producer Arthur Smith said the key to its longevity, besides a unique talent in Gordon Ramsay, is spicing it up just the right amount each season. “It’s a fine line between keeping it fresh and changing it so much that the show becomes something else,” he said. 

The new season of Hell’s happens in Las Vegas, not Los Angeles, for the first time. “Vegas provides us with a great new way to energize the show,” said Smith. Then again, an early episode of The Simpsons doesn’t feel all that different from one in season 32. The rules may be different for what works in animated comedies. “Animation is evergreen,” said Al Jean, executive producer and showrunner, noting that viewers seeing Bart Simpson in shorts and spiky hair at age 40 would look ridiculous. “Animation just extends your life exponentially.” 

Indeed, Fox has signed up Family Guy for seasons 19 and 20 and Bob’s Burgers for seasons 12 and 13. Voice talent on an animated show has a bit more freedom than cast on live-action shows, making it easier to retain talent. “You can do The Simpsons and not have to give up other ambitions,” Jean said. “You can be the character and then not be the character.” 

Swimming in the Stream 

All the long-running shows have seen a streaming partner introduce the series to a new, younger audience. Having The Simpsons on Disney Plus has been “a huge, huge help,” said Jean. “Kids who haven’t seen the show are drawn in when they see the short [“Playdate with Destiny”]. They watch it and think, Oh my god, there’s an immersive library of 31 seasons!” 

Pedowitz mentioned “a true rebound” for Supernatural after it turned up on Netflix in 2011. “A whole new audience is finding it,” he said. “They may not find it on The CW, but they’re finding it.” 

Added Dabb: “It keeps renewing itself over and over again on Netflix. It’s been key to our longevity.” It’s been well-documented how many teen girls binge Grey’s Anatomy on Netflix, with many thinking of the medical drama as a Netflix original. That’s been essential to making new seasons on ABC. “Each month, we know many people start at season one, episode one,” said Marinis, “and then quickly binge 16 seasons to catch up to current times.” 

Besides crediting Netflix, the producers on NCIS single out USA Network, which airs the drama in syndication. They credit USA for helping NCIS move up to No. 1 in the Nielsen ratings in season six. 

Net Losses 

Original shows on those digital platforms rarely have extended runs. Netflix, for one, has been quicker to axe a show after a lackluster first season, with three seasons emerging as something of a norm on the platform for a successful series. Unlike broadcast, Netflix does not go through the pilot process, so tough decisions are made after season one. 

“Broadcast networks live and die by the ratings and streamers don’t — they live and die by monthly subscriptions,” said Dominic Caristi, professor of telecommunications at Ball State University. “They operate different business models.” 

The streaming model isn’t built for growing a series over time, believe some producers. “Everybody wants a hit, but Netflix wants something loud and bombastic,” Dabb said. “When they go to season two, they’re trying to sell people something they already have.” 

Streaming is, of course, becoming more the viewing norm every day, and broadcasters are investing heavily in their own streaming products, be it Peacock or CBS All Access or Hulu. “As more network content moves to streaming, it will be more like the Netflix model,” said Caristi. “It’s not ratings, it’s subscriptions.” 

With a greater number of actors getting used to the 10- or 20-episode model on streaming, getting cast on board for 300 episodes is harder to pull off than it has ever been. “In terms of talent, everyone is commitment-phobic now,” said Binder.

‘Supernatural’ Heads Home 

The Supernatural crew is geared up for the show’s big send-off. Pedowitz said it will be very strange to start a new season in January and not have Supernatural as part of it. Peter Roth admitted getting “quite weepy” while watching the finale’s earlier cuts. “It’s as perfect an ending to a fantasy as exists,” he said. “It’s a perfect conclusion to these brothers’ journey.” 

The producers are pleased with the Supernatural farewell, too. 

“Andrew and I are happy with the way we decided to conclude the show,” executive producer and showrunner Robert Singer said. “We don’t feel like we left anything on the table.”

Fox airs The Simpsons’ Treehouse of Horror XXXI Sunday, Oct. 18 at 8 p.m. ET/PT. 

Fox promises “a satire of the 2020 election almost as spirit-shattering as the real thing; as well as hilarious, yet blood-spattering, parodies of Toy Story, Spider Man: Into the Spider-verse and Russian Doll.”

The Simpsons has been doing a Treehouse of Horror episode around Halloween since 1990. 

Fox noted that, if a “Fox Sports Special” airs that night, The Simpsons, Bless the Harts, Bob’s Burgers and Family Guy will be preempted, with local programming airing in prime on the West Coast. 

Season 32 of The Simpsons is underway. Matt Groening created the show. 

Since the tragic death of George Floyd while in Minneapolis police custody on May 25, 2020, tens of thousands of people in the United States and around the world have gathered to protest police brutality and systemic racism.

From public statues to decade-old tweets, the sudden awaking of the broader culture to intractable racial issues is putting a lot things under scrutiny. This includes the programming and program libraries of the major streaming services and TV networks, which typically have operated under a the-deeper-the-better conventional wisdom, but now constitute a level of liability in some cases. 

SVOD platforms have overhauled their content libraries to better boost Black creators’ work and make educational documentaries and shows more easily accessible to consumers. Networks have taken a closer look at their linear programming, canceling shows that no longer have a place on their schedules, purging episodes with offending content, and making significant changes to forthcoming seasons.

Curation is Key

The biggest streaming company of them all, Netflix, has curated a special “Black Lives Matter” subsection of its service, curating more than 40 titles to encourage users to “learn more about racial injustice and the Black experience in America.”

The featured collection, showcased in this YouTube video, is proving how impactful a front-and-center collection can be on subscriber viewing habits. Emmy-winning director and writer Ava DuVernay’s miniseries When They See Us, about five young Black and Latino men falsely accused of assault and rape, jumped 83% in the proprietary blended metric used by Parrot Analytics to measure audience demand. 

Another DuVernay documentary, focused on the disproportionate number of Black people incarcerated in America, 13th, has had a 4,665% increase in viewership in the past three weeks, according to Netflix.

On Monday, Netflix announced that DuVernay will partner with Colin Kaepernick to produce a limited scripted series focused on the former NFL quarterback turned activist's early life, Colin in Black & White. 

“It’s rare,” DuVernay said to Reuters Television about the spike in viewers of her work. “It’s a once-in-a-generation mood that we’re in. I hope that people that might be engaging with this material now will look to work like this outside of these very tense cultural moments [and] just let it be a very steady stream of learning and enlightenment.”

Nearly all the major streaming services have now added curated categories amplifying Black creators’ work and Black stories. Apple TV Plus, for example, boasts Confronting Systemic Racism and Black in America sections, which helped propel the 2014 Academy Award Best Picture 12 Years a Slave to the No. 8 spot of top indie films for the week ending June 14.

Some companies have gone a step further and made select titles free to the public. 13th is currently free to watch in full on Netflix’s YouTube channel, while premium channel HBO made its 2019 limited series Watchmen—which addresses white supremacy and the Tulsa race massacre of 1921—free to watch over Juneteenth weekend. At the request of writer and director Terence Nance, HBO also made the first season of Random Acts of Flyness available for free on its YouTube channel through June 26. 

“I hope the show can help us heal in real time—from the violence: the misogynoir, the transphobia, the white supremacy, the socialism for whites that we misname capitalism,” Nance said in a statement. 

“I hope it can be a part of the understanding, the reading, the feeling, the healing. I intend this on behalf of my ancestors, backward and forward in spacetime, Season II coming soon,” he continued.

If It’s Broke, Fix It

In addition to amplifying Black stories and work by Black creators, SVOD platforms and television networks are taking a closer look at their movies and shows to determine what may not be beneficial to feature. Certain assets have become liabilities. 

Earlier in June, HBO Max pulled the 1939 classic Gone with the Wind from its library, citing “racist depictions” as a reason for its removal. The film has since returned to HBO Max with a four-and-a-half-minute introduction by University of Chicago cinema and media studies professor, and Turner Classic Movies host Jacqueline Stewart, attempting to provide viewers context on themes and characters in the film that are offensive to many audience members. 

In the introduction, Stewart says, “Watching Gone with the Wind can be uncomfortable, even painful. Still, it is important that classic Hollywood films are available to us in their original form for viewing and discussion.”

As protesters continue to demand the defunding or abolition of police, Paramount Network pulled the venerable police-themed reality show Cops from its schedule before canceling the series altogether ahead of its 33rd season. Similarly, A&E has canceled its top-rated show, Live PD, and asked stations to stop broadcasting its spin-off, Live PD Police Patrol, as well.

Some fans have wondered what other popular non-reality cop shows, such as the NBC workplace comedy Brooklyn Nine-Nine, might look like when or if they return. Brooklyn Nine-Nine showrunner Dan Goor and cast member Stephanie Beatriz (Rosa Diaz) have been vocal in their support of the protests; the cast and crew have collectively donated $100k to the National Bail Fund Network.

In a statement to Access Daily, Brooklyn Nine-Nine actor Terry Crews (who plays Detective Terry Jeffords) said all existing season eight plans for the show have been scrapped: “Our showrunner Dan Goor, they had four episodes all ready to go, and they just threw them in the trash. We have to start over. Right now, we don’t know which direction it’s going to go in.”

While NBC is busy planning what its future programming will look like, the company is also doing damage control removing insensitive content from its past. At the request of 30 Rock co-showrunners Tina Fey and Robert Carlock, four episodes of the 2006 comedy that feature characters in blackface have been removed from SVOD and syndication, and three episodes of the 2001 comedy Scrubs have been removed from Hulu for the same reason.

Fey said in a statement, “I understand now that ‘intent’ is not a free pass for white people to use these images. I apologize for pain they have caused. Going forward, no comedy-loving kid needs to stumble on these tropes and be stung by their ugliness. I thank NBCUniversal for honoring this request.”

Some people have been critical of NBC’s decision to simply remove the episodes as if they’d never been written or aired, however. In an opinion piece for the Washington Post, Alyssa Rosenberg wrote, “Yes, it may be baffling to some viewers that a mere eight years ago it was acceptable for a network television show to deploy blackface, even if it did so with the intention to satirize the white people who painted their faces. But making those episodes unavailable does more to sanitize Fey and Carlock’s records than it does to promote racial equality in Hollywood.”

At this time, it appears NBC has decided to shelve the episodes for good rather than reintroduce them with a content warning or educational introduction, à la HBO Max’s Gone with the Wind.

Representation in Animation

As creators and networks scramble to address insensitivity in their live-action programming, voice actors are deciding to terminate roles in which they voice animated characters whose races and ethnicities differ from their own. In an Instagram post dated June 24, actor and comedian Jenny Slate (Obvious Child) announced her decision to step away from voicing the character of Missy on Netflix’s Big Mouth, a role she’d had since the show premiered in 2017.

“At the start of the show, I reasoned with myself that it was permissible for me to play ‘Missy’ because her mom is Jewish and white — as am I,” Slate wrote. “But ‘Missy’ is also Black and Black characters on an animated show should be played by Black people. I acknowledge how my original reasoning was flawed, that it existed as an example of white privilege and unjust allowances made within a system of societal white supremacy, and that in me playing ‘Missy,’ I was engaging in an act of erasure of Black people.” 

Also read: ‘Simpsons’ Ends White Actors Playing Non-White Characters

Shortly after Slate’s announced departure from Big Mouth, actor Kristen Bell (Veronica Mars, The Good Place) said she will be leaving Apple TV Plus’ Central Park by Bob’s Burgers creator Loren Bouchard for similar reasons. 

“This is a time to acknowledge our acts of complicity. Here is one of mine,” Bell wrote in an Instagram caption on June 24. “Playing the character of Molly on Central Park shows a lack of awareness of my pervasive privilege. Casting a mixed race character with a white actress undermines the specificity of the mixed race and Black American experience. It was wrong and we, on the Central Park team, are pledging to make it right. I am happy to relinquish this role to someone who can give a much more accurate portrayal and I will commit to learning, growing and doing my part for equality and inclusion.”

Both Slate’s and Bell’s decisions to step away from their respective voice acting roles came shortly after BoJack Horseman showrunner Raphael Bob-Waksberg posted a lengthy Twitter thread addressing his regrets in casting and never replacing Alison Brie, a white woman, to voice the Vietnamese American character Diane Nguyen in his show. “Even in the small ways we wrote to Diane's experience as a woman of color, or more specifically an Asian woman, we rarely got specific enough to think about what it meant to be SPECIFICALLY VIETNAMESE-AMERICAN and that was a huge (racist!) error on my part,” Bob-Waksberg wrote. 

While these debates about who should voice what kinds of characters in animated shows have intensified in just the past week due to the protests, it has been a hot topic since Hank Azaria’s controversial decision in January to stop voicing venerable Indian-American character Apu on The Simpsons’ after three decades. In this fast-moving story, Fox Entertainment just announced that white actors will no longer voice any non-white characters on The Simpsons going forward. 

Making Progress

For White showrunners, White actors, networks and SVOD platforms, figuring out the most beneficial way to address existing insensitive content, amplify marginalized voices and promote stories about marginalized people, as well as continue to make progress in regard to inclusive storytelling and representation is a long overdue reckoning that hopefully has only just begun. 

And in the continued finessing and restructuring of SVOD libraries specifically, we could be seeing more collections centered around education and the amplification of marginalized voices than genre-based ones. As evidenced by the surge in viewership of titles like 13th, When They See Us, 12 Years a Slave and Dear White People, there is a desire to seek out this content—and there’s certainly a need. 

Putting these titles front and center can help viewers more easily discover the kind of content they want to watch while supporting the work of artists who are too often overshadowed. Although these categories are in some senses a reaction to current events, they should become permanent fixtures of the services we use daily, featured all year every year.

“Let’s not let this be the emergency kit that you pull out when something goes wrong,” DuVernay added, “because if we can educate ourselves to each other and be more connected, there may be less emergencies. And so, I think we should be looking at this material, reading these books, engaging with these films as preventative, as what you do as a part of a society when you value everyone.”

Disney Plus engineers managed this week to solve a little problem that had been irking a small but vocal portion of its global subscriber base—that is, enabling users to stream episodes of The Simpsons that were shot natively in 4x3 aspect ratio. 

But as Joe Rice, VP of media product at Disney Streaming Services explained it in a Medium blog post, the solution that allows users to seamlessly toggle back between 4x3 and 16x9  wasn’t easy to come by. 

Disney had to re-engineer the way it packages and streams content, he said.

“A content package consists of audiovisual components (video, various audio languages and formats, subtitles) and both functional and display metadata (artwork, title, description, credits, etc.). This generally means dozens of related assets for each episode, all of which must be identified for tracking as they make their way from Springfield to your town,” Rice explained.

Content packages are assigned an EIDR ID, a standard developed by the non-profit Entertainment Identifier Registry Association.

“An inherent assumption in the existing content model was that the video edit would be singular and unique. While multiple audio or subtitle components could be associated, the video would be the anchor for the EIDR ID,” Rice said.

To create the ability for Disney Plus users to stream both aspect ratios, Disney had to "make a fundamental change to the content model to break the assumption that only a single version of video would be present in any given package,” he added.

The gripe among I loyalists isn’t new—fans also complained back in 2014, when FX published the Simpsons World app entirely in 16x9. 

And the complaints aren’t just about aesthetics. The Simpsons has run on FOX for 30 seasons, but the first 20 were in 4x3, the aspect ration commonly used in TV’s pre-HD era. Many of the sight gags the venerable animated sitcom is known for got cut out of the picture when FX and Disney Plus aggregated the entire series into a more rectangular 16x9 frame. 

The still images below, included in Rice’s blog, are just a few examples.

Freeform has renewed its sophomore drama series Siren for a third season, part of several programming announcements made during the network's upfront presentation Tuesday. 

The mermaid-themed drama series -- which ranks as the network's most watched show among adults 18-49 and women 18-49 -- returns for the second half of its second season June 13, said network officials. The series stars Eline Powell, Alex Roe, Fola Evans-Akingbola, Ian Verdun and Rena Owen.

The network will also begin airing episodes from all 30 seasons of the classic animated series The Simpsons -- which Disney acquired as part of its purchase of 21st Century Fox's  entertainment assets --beginning in September, the network said. 

Freeform also released trailers for several of its original series, including Motherland: Fort Salem, which is set in an alternative America where witches ended their persecution over 300 years ago by cutting a deal with the government to fight for their country. 

Also on tap for Freeform is Party of Five, a reboot of the popular 1990s series, which follows five Acosta children as they navigate daily life struggles to survive as a family after their parents are deported back to Mexico. 

Also, comedy series Everything's Gonna Be Okay, from Please Like Me creator Josh Thomas, follows a twenty-something man who has to care for his two teenage half-sisters after his father reveals that he is terminally ill.  

Non-football fans and pigskin aficionados sick of seeing the New England Patriots in the Super Bowl will have a bevy of other viewing choices before and during Sunday's big game.

In the hours prior to the 6 p.m. start of the Patriots/Los Angeles Rams Super Bowl LIII game on CBS, pet lovers will once again get to choose between watching playful and adoptable adults cats during Hallmark Channel’s 1st Annual Cat Bowl -- which follows the network’s Kitten Bowl VI-- or viewing adorable and adoptable baby canines during Animal Planet’s Puppy Bowl XV.

[embed]https://vimeo.com/308444073[/embed]

During the game, viewers can pick up the remote and choose between marathons of such TV shows as The Office (Comedy Central), Planet Earth: Blue Planet (BBC America), Botched (E!), Ridiculousness (MTV), 48 Hours (Investigation Discovery) and The Simpsons (FXX).

The WWE will step into the counterprogramming ring in an effort to draw wrestling fans away from Maroon 5’s Super Bowl halftime performance. The WWE will offer a live, tag-team wrestling performance on its WWE Network subscription streaming service, marking the first time in 20 years the pro wrestling outfit has offered a live match during halftime of a Super Bowl event.

Super Bowl LIII is projected to draw more than 100 million viewers, but there are plenty other viewing choices for the millions of people looking to pass on the big game. 

Actor Hank Azaria once again steps onto the scripted series field, this time as a boozing, down-on-his-luck minor-league baseball announcer in IFC’s new comedy series Brockmire.

Azaria, who lends his voice to Fox’s long-running animated hit The Simpsons and more recently appeared in Showtime’s Ray Donovan, spoke with Multichannel News programming editor R. Thomas Umstead about the new show and his love for sports-themed projects, as well as the opportunities for creating content in a competitive, multiplatform television industry. An edited transcript follows.

MCN:How did you come up with the concept for Brockmire?
Hank Azaria: It’s an idea that I’ve had in one way, shape or form since I was a teenager — the idea of a baseball announcer and whether they really sound in real life like they do during a broadcast. We did a short at Funny or Die about it a few years ago, and that went well, but once [Brockmire writer Joel Church-Cooper] started writing them and fleshing them out, it really came to life.

Related: IFC's 'Brockmire' Trailer

MCN:With scripted sports shows, is there a fine line you have to walk between providing authentic sports action to cater to sports fans while keeping it entertaining for nonsports fans?
HA: When it’s done well, it’s amazing, and those are some of my favorite movies like The Bad News Bears or Slapshot or Hoosiers. Joel and I share a huge love of the sport, of broadcasters, of movies and of TV shows like that. Baseball is a metaphor for the aging — and maybe dying — America, and Joel is able to capture that and make it funny in the embodiment of this man that gets caught up in nostalgia — forget about 1978 for him, but 1948. Some of the best sports stuff does that; it realizes how the sport is a metaphor for something bigger.

MCN:Was this the perfect time to pitch Brockmire, given the number of distribution platforms and outlets available to content providers?
HA: Yes. There’s more and more competition as more people realize that cable in particular is a great place to creatively do what you want to do. A show like this could not have existed maybe even five years ago — certainly not 10 years ago — and definitely not on a [broadcast] network, just for language alone. I’ve been wanting to make shows like this for years, so it’s very gratifying to be able to do it.

Related > MCN Review: 'Brockmire' Takes a Swing for the Fences

MCN:Having done both television and movies, do you find working on a scripted series easier or harder than on a theatrical film?
HA: Shooting is shooting, especially nowadays where everything is so good on cable. I’ve done movies that are a lot worse that what we see on cable now — it all feels very creative.

MCN:What other projects are you working on?
HA: Hopefully we’ll do season two of this, and I have a movie coming out on HBO with [Robert] De Niro called The Wizard of Lies about the Bernie Madoff scandal. I also have a movie coming out called Norman with Richard Gere, and, of course, The Simpsons always.

On Tuesday nights at 9 o’clock on Bounce TV, Tamela and David Mann play a fictional married couple in the original sitcom Mann & Wife, recently back for a third season.

Starting this Tuesday (April 4), the Manns are also starring in a new unscripted series about their real lives, The Manns, at 8 p.m. on basic-cable network TV One.

The gospel-singing duo — stars of the play, movie and TBS TV-series versions of Tyler Perry’s Meet the Browns, though as father and daughter, not husband and wife — told The Wire that in a perfect world, the shows would be scheduled on different nights. They’re confident, though, that viewers looking for good, family-themed television will find and watch both series.

David Mann even coined the tagline of “The Manns’ Takeover on Tuesday Nights” for the two-hour block of Mann family programming on two different African-American focused networks.

Tamela Mann said she likes the authenticity of doing the reality series because it allows her to be in a more relaxed, family element, whereas David Mann said both the scripted show and the docuseries offer viewers family-friendly content that counters some of the more salacious programming from cable networks.

TV producers “offered ratchet, so viewers now expect to see ratchet,” David Mann said, using a term website Urban Dictionary defines as, in part, diva behavior. “But there’s an audience for family programming.”

The March 28 return of Mann & Wife — in which the two play a newly married couple with a blended family of children from different marriages — drew nearly 450,000 viewers to become the most-watched original sitcom telecast in Bounce TV’s short history, the multicast network said, citing Nielsen.

TV One, in announcing The Manns series in February, called the Manns “a great modern-day example of a family that works together, plays together and prays together.” (A previous reality series about the family, It’s a Mann’s World, aired on BET in 2015 and 2016.)

Tamela and David said that, despite their busy TV schedules, their marriage and family remain their top priority. “We put God first, then our marriage and family — everything else follows that,” said Tamela, who will appear on TV One on Sunday, April 9, as part of the network’s taped coverage of the gospel music-themed Stellar Awards ceremony, where she took home six awards.
— R. Thomas Umstead

For Charter, Job Creation Starts At the Home Office
Charter Communications’s plans to keep adding thousands of employees, following last year’s acquisition of Time Warner Cable and Bright House Networks, earned chairman and CEO Tom Rutledge a March 24 visit with President Donald Trump in the Oval Office. Many of those thousands of jobs are to be at call centers. But the second-biggest U.S. cable operator also has been adding corporate-office jobs across the country, including its headquarters in downtown Stamford, Conn.

Sources tell The Wire Charter is starting to look for additional office space in Stamford to expand into — preferably in a building Charter could actually put its name on.

Rutledge moved Charter’s HQ to Stamford from St. Louis in late 2012, after receiving incentives from the state of Connecticut pegged to creating jobs there. Charter shares the 15-floor building at 400 Atlantic St. with other tenants, and continues to move into additional space there, but doesn’t own the building and can’t stick its brand on it prominently.

Charter wouldn’t comment, and sources said nothing was happening imminently along the lines of expanding the company’s footprint in its new hometown.
— Kent Gibbons

‘Simpsons’ Showrunner Tries Some New Tricks to Keep a Classic Current
More than 600 episodes into its run, Fox’s The Simpsons remains keen to try some new things to keep the show current, showrunner Al Jean says. It was a year ago that The Simpsons featured Homer live at the end of an episode, with viewers tweeting questions and comments his way. The show will give the next live honors to Bart at Comic-Con, Jean reports.

“We’ll have Bart animated live on the screen as he answers questions from people who are there,” Jean told The Wire and other outlets during a Fox call.

The show remains “adaptable” to new technological developments, the showrunner said, and “people want to work with us because of who we are.”

The Sunday, April 2, episode touched on current events just a bit, as Mr. Burns, disappointed with how Yale operates, decides to open a for-profit university. His professors have more star power than anything one might have found at Trump University. Jason Alexander was tasked with assembling teachers, and came up with Jeopardy! star Ken Jennings, financial wiz Suze Orman, scientist Neil deGrasse Tyson and screenwriting teacher Robert McKee.

“The topic is a really good one and Mr. Burns is the perfect guy to run [a for-profit university],” said Jean, who adds that the idea was mostly in motion before President Donald Trump was called on to defend his own for-profit university.

Asked if the president might tweet about the episode, Jean seemed to think it unlikely, but said he’d be “honored” if it happened.

The Simpsons crew will note a special anniversary on April 16, marking 30 years since The Simpsons shorts first appeared on The Tracey Ullman Show.

As season 28 winds down, Jean said The Simpsons is going strong. “I know we’ll go through 30 seasons, but I wouldn’t say that’s the end,” he said. “As long as the cast is willing and the economics work, it’ll go on.”
— Michael Malone

This article was updated on April 3 to correct the time that The Manns airs on TV One. It airs at 8 p.m., not 10 p.m.

“The Simpsons World” will make its entry into the online universe on Tuesday.

First announced during the TCA summer press tour, FX’s online portal will become the home of “all-things Simpsons” on Oct. 21, making all 25 seasons – 552 episodes -- of the animated series available on-demand. Moreover, installments from the current campaign will appear Mondays after they make their linear bows Sunday nights on Fox.

FXX has become the cable home of The Simpsons.

“We are thrilled to offer Simpsons fans a rich and immersive experience unlike any other,” said Chuck Saftler, president of program strategy and COO, FX Networks. “Featuring an unprecedented amount of digital content at their fingertips, ‘Simpsons World’ allows users to engage with this beloved property in a whole new way and we’re excited to see how this dynamic experience is embraced by fans.”

Noted Stephanie Gibbons, president of marketing and on-air promotions, FX Networks: “The Simpsons is one of the greatest shows ever made and our goal was to create a site that pays homage to this classic iconic brand while delivering a rich, personal experience. Fans will be able to seamlessly move in and out of the deepest digital archive of any TV series online ever - wherever they are and however they want - and dive deeper into this colorful world through many additional features built into this site.

Those entering The Simpsons World will find:

*Video content that will greet users the moment they enter the experience;

*“Everything Simpsons,” a dynamic newsfeed showcasing the latest Simpsons news, social media updates, “Did You Know” fun facts, featured episode playlists and clips;

·        

*“The Simpsons Heartbeat” which organizes the complete catalogue of episodes by popularity;

*A premium video player that will provide recommendations to other clips and episodes users would enjoy as well as the ability for users to share content on their social networks;

·

*A simple, intuitive way to browse through the catalogue by season, playlist, most popular episodes and exclusive video content; and

*A responsive search function allowing users to find video of their favorite characters and guest stars in the entire catalogue or any of the nearly 3,000 clips.

Netflix has partnered with producer/actor Judd Apatow on a new Netflix original series set to premiere in 2016.

Love, which stars Paul Rust (Inglorious Basterds) and Gillian Jacobs (Community, Girls), will take an honest take on modern relationships, according to Netflix officials. The OTT service has greenlit two seasons of Love, with the first debuting in 2016 with 10 episodes and the second in 2017 with 12 episodes.

Apatow Productions and Legendary Television will produce half-hour comedy series, with Brent Forrester (The Office, The Simpsons) serving as executive producer.

“Judd Apatow has a unique comedic voice that manages to be delightful, insightful, and shockingly frank -- often at the same time,” said Netflix Chief Content Officer Ted Sarandos in a statement. “Together with Paul and Lesley, he’s bringing a whole new level of agony and ecstasy to this modern day comedy of manners.”

FXX, which rode a 12-day August marathon of every episode of The Simpsons to a big ratings win, said its upcoming Thursday-night primetime string of Simpsons episodes will feature songs that will be part of the “The Simpsons Take the Bowl!” event at The Hollywood Bowl from Sept. 12-14.

The air order on Thursday, Sept. 11, will be: 8 p.m., “Marge vs. The Monorail” (Season 4): An unscrupulous profiteer sells the people of Springfield on a defective monorail system, with Homer as the conductor. Song highlighted at Bowl event: “Monorail Song.” 

8:30 p.m., “Homer’s Barbershop Quartet” (Season 5): Homer recounts his phenomenal rise to superstardom as a member of the barbershop quartet, The Be Sharps (pictured). Song: “Baby on Board.”

9 p.m., “Homer the Great” (Season 6): Homer’s popularity skyrockets when he is chosen as the leader of a secret organization. Song: “We Do – The Stonecutters Song.”

9:30 p.m., “Two Dozen and One Greyhounds” (Season 6): Bart and Lisa attempt to rescue 25 greyhound puppies from Mr. Burns, who wants to use their hides for a new tuxedo. Song: “See My Vest.”

10 p.m., “Who Shot Mr. Burns? Part 2” (Season 7): Lisa aids police with the investigation of the Burns shooting. Song: “Señor Burns.”

10:30 p.m., “A Fish Called Selma” (Season 7): Troy McClure stages a Hollywood comeback when he begins dating Selma. Songs:  “Dr. Zaius” and “Chimpan A to Chimpan Z.”

11 p.m., “Bart After Dark” (Season 8): While Marge is out of town, Homer allows Bart to work at a burlesque house. Song: “We Put the Spring in Springfield.”

11:30 p.m., “Simpsoncalifragilisticexpiala(Annoyed Grunt)cious” (Season 8):  The Simpsons hire a Mary Poppins-like nanny when Marge becomes overwhelmed by the demands of being a housewife. Song: “Minimum Wage Nanny.”

“The Simpsons Take the Bowl!,” hosted by Hank Azaria, will showcase classic Simpsons clips synchronized with live accompaniment by the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra, with performances by special guests including Nancy Cartwright and Yeardley Smith and behind-the-scenes anecdotes from creator Matt Groening. Additional special guest appearances will come from Beverly D’Angelo, Jon Lovitz, “Weird Al” Yankovic and more.

The milestone 26th season of The Simpsons will premiere Sunday, Sept. 28, at 8 p.m. ET/PT on Fox. 

FXX scored big with its 12-day marathon of The Simpsons animated series.

The network averaged 1.3 million viewers in primetime during the Aug. 21 to Sept. 1 12-day marathon – up a whopping 542% over the network’s year to date audience, as well as 841,000 adults 18-49, an increase of 855% over the network’s 2014 average in the demo.

 Over a 24-hour basis, the network drew 955,000 total viewers and 633,000 adults 18-49. Overall the marathon was watched by nearly 25 million people, said FXX officials.

The Simpsons marathon propelled FXX to a fifth place finish among all cable networks in primetime averaging 1.4 million viewers, and third place total day finish (1.0 million viewers) during the week of Aug 25 to Aug. 31, according to Nielsen.    

FXX will air The Simpsons on Mondays from 6PM-Midnight E/P; Tuesdays from 8PM-Midnight E/P; Thursdays from 8PM-Midnight E/P; Fridays from 6PM-Midnight E/P; and Sundays from 4-8PM E/P. FXX will air movies and original series on Wednesdays and Saturdays, said the network.

For fans of Homer, Bart and Marge, it’s always been a world colored by The Simpsons. In October, "Simpsons World" will be the digital home for the first 25 seasons of the acclaimed animated series and beyond.

FXX, which last November acquired the cable syndicated rights to the Emmy-winning series, will bow the ultimate Simpsons digital experience featuring enriched branded content through SimpsonsWorld.com and handheld/connected devices via FXNOW, the authenticated multinetwork, on-demand video service supporting FX, FXX and FXM.  Through its deal with Twentieth Century Fox Television, FXX and FXNOW soon will become the respective exclusive cable network and non-linear homes for all seasons of The Simpsons, excluding those airing in their first run on Fox   FXX will get subsequent campaigns of The Simpsons as new seasons begin their first run on Fox.

FX Networks announced the digital domain name at the Television Critics Association summer press tour in Beverly Hills, Calif. on Monday, July 21.

For the first time, all authenticated viewers will have instant and on-demand access to every single Simpsons episode ever, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week via SimpsonsWorld.com, and FXNOW apps for iPhone, iPad, Xbox One, Xbox 360, Android phones and tablets, Smart TVs, and additional set-tops devices. Additional exclusive offerings include new ways to explore Springfield’s characters and locations, the ability for users to curate their own personalized playlists and share their favorite show clips and quotes.

“I think there’s been a lot of criticism of an ecosystem that’s struggling to evolve and adapt in the face of consumption change and this is an example of the fact that we really want to,” said FX Networks chief John Landgraf during the programmer's TCA panel. “We just have to figure out how to work out all of the technical and creative and business aspects of how to do that. But I think this is how people who love The Simpsons want to access it.”

At launch, about 60% of MPVDs are expected to offer the authenticated app, according to Chuck Saftler, FX Networks president of program strategy and COO. A complete rollout is expected in a little more than a year, he said. Non-authenticated subs only will have access to show clips.

FXX will launch its landmark acquisition via a record-breaking, late-summer marathon, encompassing 12 days. Starting on Aug. 21 at 10 a.m. and concluding at midnight on Sept. 1, FXX will air 552 Simpsons’ installments through the end of its first 25 seasons in chronological order. That skein only will be interrupted by the airing of The Simpsons Movie, following the series’ 400th episode.   

Beginning Sept. 2, FXX will regularly schedule The Simpsons episodes in fringe, primetime and late-night dayparts on weekdays and weekends. Additionally, every Sunday the network will broadcast a thematic mini-marathon consisting of eight Simpsons episodes beginning at 4 p.m., leading into the 8 p.m.broadcast on Fox.

Through its deal with Twentieth Century Fox Television, FXX and FXNOW will become the exclusive cable network and non-linear homes for all seasons of The Simpsons, excluding those airing in their first run on Fox   FXX will get subsequent campaigns of The Simpsons as new seasons begin their first run on Fox.