The Simpsons

[Dr. Insomniac]

[Daikun]

Did anyone see the latest episode? They treated it like a series finale.

[Daikun]

Pamela Hayden has retired.

[Avaitor]

Sad news, but at least she's leaving on her terms and has allowed the crew to replace Milhouse and her other characters.

What I'm curious to see is what will happen when one of the core six dies, but since Harry Shearer nearly left a few years ago and it seemed like they were ready to replace him, they may just keep truckin'.

[Daxdiv]

I'm still surprised at this being the first retirement of a cast member rather than one of them dying during the series. Still, good for her to move on. I also look forward to seeing what they do when a core member dies. I can only imagine the scramble they'll have to do when either Dan Castellaneta or Hank Azaria dies.

[Dr. Insomniac]

As long as any cast turnover doesn't happen under bad terms like a firing, I assume the show will just keep going regardless. Even if Castellaneta died and they needed to hire 5 people to do his characters, I just can't see it as enough of a dealbreaker to end things. It'll slow down production, sure, but I already saw the recent recasts for the black characters and Russi Taylor's characters as preparation in case this happens.

[Avaitor]

I remember reading that a long time ago when the cast demanded higher pay, Fox hired backups to replace them before giving in, so they may still be on call. But that would have been about 20 years ago.

[Dr. Insomniac]

I don't even think that rule's in effect, since if it were, wouldn't they have booted out Harry Shearer years ago since it's well known he's been literally phoning in his lines for ages? And I know he's been occasionally talking about wanting to leave, only to be persuaded to stay at the last minute. Even though his voices lately have gotten pretty rough. Mr. Burns sounds so out of breath.

[Daikun]

On that note, I wish Julie Kavner would be allowed to retire. Marge's voice sounds so strained nowadays that listening to her feels depressing.

[Dr. Insomniac]

Based on what I can find on Wikipedia, I conjecture that with her lack of non-Simpsons roles since 2006, and the absence of any public appearances of interviews since 2011, the crew lets her keep playing Marge because it's her one reason to get out of bed and talk to people. And without it, she'd be a total recluse. While at least with the other cast, they have something else going on if they ever leave. Yeardley Smith's got her true crime podcast, Cartwright's got her thetans. whereas what does Kavner have these days outside of Simpsons?

[Avaitor]

Kavner did also lose her husband recently, you may be right that she has nothing else going on.