Fox Want To Go Yellow With Simpsons Channel Plans
News Corp, owners of the Fox Network, have revealed that they have plans in the preliminary stages to launch hit animated sitcom, The Simpsons on its own dedicated channel. The move was first announced last week, as the Fox show prepared to air the first episode of its unprecedented 23rd season last weekend.
With this 23rd series set to feature the comedy’s 500th episode milestone, discussions on where to fit the show’s mass archive have already begun, with the most popular suggestion from executives seeming to be granting the Matt Groening-created format a cable network of its own, featuring 100% content from the yellow town of Springfield back-to-back.
While it is unknown if such an idea could be sustainable in the 24/7 format mooted in recent days (even with 500 episodes, all the content would have been screened once each within 10 days), there are several ways that the network proposal could become viable, such as featuring related shows (such as Matt Groening’s other sitcom Futurama), or what many channels do to fill out their schedule, teleshopping (paid programming).
News Corp’s COO Chase Carey first made a public suggestion of a Simpsons Channel last week, and later elaborated on his initial speech, stating: “The point I was making, which I will reemphasize, is that this is a unique franchise…and it provides us a unique opportunity to do some interesting things with it. The Simpsons has been on the air for 23 seasons, yielding a library of programming few series could ever amass. I wouldn’t say we’re drawing up plans to have a Simpsons channel, but, you know, there are a lot of Simpsons fans out there. That said, syndication agreements already in place would prevent anything like that from happening for the next 12 months at least.”
Since premiering as a prime-time animated sitcom in 1989 (a move that was unheard of in the era), The Simpsons has been a worldwide cultural phenomenon in the 22 years it has been on-air, and while many critics will claim that its best years are behind it, the series manages to maintain a decent level of ratings, and has lasted long enough to be listed as the 5th-longest (scripted) TV series of all-time, and not including two shows run by wrestling entertainment series WWE, the 3rd-longest production show (behind Gunslinger (633 episodes) and Lassie (588 episodes)).
While News Corp’s predictions put this new type of idea (a channel dedicated to one show) on hold for between one and five years (due to syndication rights), it is certainly one that has thrust The Simpsons back into the public spotlight just as new episodes are airing. If Fox follow through on their plans, how will viewers react to a yellow-only network?
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