Harry Shearer is Leaving The Simpsons

UPDATE: As Professor Farnsworth would say, "Good News Everybody!" Looks like Harry Shearer is returning to The Simpsons!

Harry Shearer, the voice of some of the most prolific characters on The Simpsons, is finally leaving the show after 26 seasons. While he doesn't voice any of the actual Simpsons, he does do a lot of major characters.

Among them are:

• Ned Flanders
• Principal Seymour Skinner
• Reverend Lovejoy
• Kent Brockman
• Otto Man
• Dr. Hibbert
• Waylon Smithers
• Kang
• Lenny Leonard
• Rainier Wolfcastle
• C. Montgomery Burns

Admittedly, I could probably count the episodes I've seen the last 10 years on one hand, but the show still garners a sizable audience. The Simpsons has retired characters before when a voice actor has died like Troy McClure voiced by Phil Hartman or Edna Krabappel voiced by the recently deceased Marcia Wallace, but the loss of a couple of characters pales in comparison to the huge chunk that is going away here. For starters, Homer would lose all his neighborly interactions with Ned, and all his work interactions with Mr. Burns, and Bart can no longer go toe to toe with Principal Skinner. Unless they go ahead and recast the voices, The Simpsons won't survive without these supporting characters.

On a side note, here's Harry Shearer and Martin Short in their legendary Saturday Night Live men's synchronized swimming skit!

Game of Thrones Parodies

With Game of Thrones premiering today, let's get into something a little silly. Game of Thrones parodies! Here are a few of my favorites.

From The Warp Zone comes this Game of Thrones medley which is pretty spot on. It starts with Dany Targaryen covering "Titanium" by Sia. C'mon, you can hear her sing "I am Targaryen!" Followed by the Lannisters covering Katy Perry's "Roar" mainly because their motto is "Hear Me Roar." Arya, Jon Snow and Robb Stark cover Eminem's "The Monster" which is probably the weakest entry. And everyone joins in a the end for Imagine Dragon's "Demons."

I Have Been And Always Shall Be Your Friend

Thirty-plus years later, that quote from the end of Wrath of Khan always gets me. Leonard Nimoy passed away today at the age of 83 from complications from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. It's impossible to sum up his 60+ year career since he'll forever be remembered as Spock from Star Trek, and I'm not even going to try. The only way I know how to honor a man who has influenced me so much growing up is to share some moments that I enjoyed the most.

The Big Bang Theory

Nimoy retired from acting in 2010, but that didn't preclude him from doing voice-over work. Nimoy is one of Sheldon's idols, and in the episode "The Transporter Malfunction, he dreams about his Spock action figure giving him advice on what to do with his newly acquired Star Trek transporter toy.

Simpsorama Best Moments

Did you miss last night's Simpsons/Futurama crossover? Well, it wasn't exactly epic, but it definitely made me miss Futurama. I'm trying something new so here's what I think were the best moments from "Simpsorama."

Homer's first encounter with Bender

The Simpsons Futurama Couch Gag

This Sunday Nov 9th, Futurama visits The Simpsons, and they're not even shy about being out of ideas on the episode titled "Simpsorama." And FOX has already released the couch gag for the episode featuring Hedonismbot as the Simpson couch. I'm hoping this is just a tease and we get to see the Planet Express Ship fly through Springfield. This is already the second crossover this year for The Simpsons as they visited Quahog and Family Guy earlier this season. It was probably the first Simpsons episode I've seen in years, and I plan to watch this one as well because we could all do with some more Futurama.



And here are a couple of images from the episode courtesy of Entertainment Weekly.

Credit: ew.com

Credit: ew.com

LEGO Simpsons!

Credit: gizmodo.com

Gizmodo has pix of all 16 LEGO Simpsons mini-figs! And I must have them all! They are set to release before the LEGO themed episode of The Simpsons premiering on May 4th. Check them out here!