Today it has been revealed that Michael Chabon, Jonathan Franzen, and and Gore Vidal will join Tom Wolfe in his guest appearance on The Simpsons. "We started with the idea of Moe as Charles Bukowski," explains Matt Warburton, who wrote the episode. "We brought Lisa in as the person who discovers in scuzzy, barfly Moe something that we've never seen before: a poet." Antics ensue, with Tom Wolfe and fellow guest stars Vidal, Chabon and Franzen voicing themselves. All were thrilled to participate." CalendarLive also revealed early sketches of Tom Wolfe Simpsonized.


The production code of HABF19 suggests the episode, which has yet to be titled, will air at the beginning of Season 18.

A motorist has been fined £30 after being told that the softly glowing blue hair of a Marge Simpson figure mounted on her dashboard could be confused with an emergency vehicle's flashing lights. Susan Gates, 57, was pulled over by a police patrol car after an officer noticed that the figures of Marge, Homer and Bart were illuminated by tiny blue lights. Mrs Gates was given a £30 fixed penalty notice. The three illuminated figures had been installed by her husband, Rod, who had added two more lights by the washer jets on the bonnet. The officers made Mrs Gates stand in the rain while they examined her car.

The Last Of The Red Hat Mamas scored 11 million viewers, once again keeping viewing figures for this season steadily above the 10 million mark. At 8:00, The Simpsons was third, behind Cold Case and Extreme Makeover: Home Edition. FOX's lineup overall gave them number three for the night, while in viewers aged 18 - 49 the network convincingly ranked second behind ABC. The Family Guy/American Dad hour placed the network in fourth place after 9pm. The Simpsons takes a break next week with two reruns from earlier in the season.

Homer has an altercation with the Easter Bunny at the Mayor's egg hunt, causing Marge to be shunned. A lonely Marge decides to join a women's group called the Cheery Red Tomatoes and agrees to help with an upcoming charity drive – robbing Mr. Burns of his Faberge egg collection. Meanwhile, Lisa's plans to spend a summer in Italy hit a bump when she learns the first requirement is being fluent in Italian, so she takes on a teacher from a classified ad – who turns out to be Milhouse. Lily Tomlin guest-stars.

Fox have released episode details as well as a promotional card for this year's Christmas episode. The episode will air a week before Christmas on December 18th, and will feature Simpsons characters telling three classic Christmas stories.

Homer Simpson will soon be telling drivers if they're going the right way or the wrong, as part of a new satellite navigation system to be launched next year. The system, 'Stars in your cars', has Homer groaning a "D'oh" in commiseration, whenever drivers take a wrong turn. It also includes the cartoon character's son Bart's cheeky quip of "Don't have a cow, man", when people get too stressed while driving. A spokesperson for the showbiz route-finder said that the new technology, which also includes voices of other celebrities such as David Beckham, will prove to be an interesting travelling companion. He added that if it proved to be successful, the company would try to rope in other A-list stars. "Having your favourite star give you directions will certainly make long journeys more interesting."

The Moscow City Court has rejected an appeal in a long-running court battle to take The Simpsons off the airwaves in Russia. Three years ago, Igor Smykov claimed that RenTV was promoting drugs, violence and homosexuality by running the animated series. He filed a suit against RenTV with the Khamovniki district court, asking for $10,000 in moral damages after he claimed the show had had an unwholesome effect on his son. He also demanded that the channel be banned from airing the series or at least be required to show it later in the evening to protect young audiences from its degenerating influence. The court rejected his suit, but a higher court overturned the Khamovniki judge's decision, citing a technical error arising from the replacement of the Russian media ministry with a federal media service as part of a government reorganization.

Sundays all-new episode 'See Homer Run' managed to pull in 10.3 million viewers -- the second lowest rating episode this season but still solid figures (last season's low was 7.3 million). 9 million tuned in at 9pm for Family Guy.

As usual FOX was no match for the competition, in particluar ABC's lineu Extreme Makeover and Desperate Housewives. The Simpsons came fourth in its slot although in the 18 - 49 age demographic age demographic it came third. The FOX network ranked 4th place overall for the night.

Homer's inability to embrace Lisa's Father's Day book the same way he does Bart's Father's Day Toolman causes Lisa to develop Disappointed Daughter Disorder. Meanwhile, Bart steals the "Bart Boulevard" street sign and causes a huge pile-up. While Mayor Quimby creates The Safety Salamander spokesperson in response to the accident, the town still forces the ineffective Mayor into a recall election. Homer, longing to win back his daughter's love, takes the spokesperson position, and after a heroic run as the Safety Salamander, he runs for Mayor -- along with every other unqualified Springfieldian.

Watching the creation of an episode of "The Simpsons" is exciting -- or at least hearing it is. After all, the series has been dubbed the greatest show of the 20th century by Time magazine. Each week, it begins at the "table read" on the Fox studio lot. Here, cast members try out a new script as writers and producers take careful notes, sometimes based on the reactions of the roughly three dozen guests ringing the room in padded blue chairs. Part assembly line and part creative gestation, it will take another nine months for the finished episode to see the light of a television screen -- such as the show's belated Halloween special, "Treehouse of Horrors," which aired Nov. 6 on Fox. And you thought putting a "Simpsons" episode together was some chaotic laugh riot thrown together in a week? D'oh!

Some years ago, the producers of The Simpsons toyed with the idea of spinning off some minor characters into their own television series — each of which failed. But that didn’t stop the studio marketing and licensing teams from creating comic book tie-ins for the quickly cancelled shows. Perhaps those books are best left on scrap heap of comic history, or maybe, just maybe, the time has come to present The Simpsons Spin-Off Showcase Quickly Cancelled Comic Cavalcade. Featuring the return of "Chief Wiggum P.I.," "The Love-matic Grampa," and "The Simpsons Family Smile-Time Variety Hour." Simpsons Comics #112 hits stands today!

The Simpsons managed to keep its viewing figures stable this week, with 11.4 million people tuning in to watch Sunday's Marge's Son Poisoning. While it was only ranked third most watched out of the five episodes that have aired this season, the drop off from week to week has been minimal. At 8pm, The Simpsons was third in its timeslot behind Cold Case on CBS and Extreme Makeover: Home Edition on ABC. The Fox network came third for the entire night amongst all viewers, but in the 18 - 49 age demographic it was second behind ABC. Desperate Housewives and Grey's Anatomy were the big winners of the night, scoring season-high viewing figures with 26.5 million and 20.7 million viewers respectively. The Simpsons returns next Sunday with an episode titled See Homer Run.

Another new episode makes its way to screens across North America tonight, this one's titled Marge's Son Poisoning. Bart sees that Marge is lonely so he offers to spend more time with her, going on tandem bicycle rides and redecorating the treehouse as a "teahouse", until bullies from school find out and accuse Bart of being a "mama's boy". When Marge learns of this, she gives him the necessary tools to win back his reputation. Meanwhile, Homer joins Moe in a professional arm-wrestling circuit. Be sure to catch the episode airing at 8pm tonight on Fox.

With the Marge head casing being offered as the packaging for The Simpsons: The Complete Seventh Season, fans who decided to forgo the previous Homer head packaging will want to continue their line of box-art. Fox announced last month that the set will be available to purchase in two different packages, the Marge casing, or a standard cardboard package like the first five sets. Today we can reveal the new box art, pictured left. It will feature a cutout in the photo shutter keeping it in line with the collection. Fox is labelling this the 'standard packaging' while the Marge head is limited edition. The set is due for release on December 13.

The Animation Writers Caucus (AWC) of the Writers Guild of America, west will present its eighth annual Animation Writing Award for lifetime achievement in the medium to veteran animation writers Al Jean and Michael Reiss at its annual reception held Wednesday, November 9, 2005, at WGAw headquarters in Los Angeles. WGA West president Patric Verrone presented the trophy. "Everyone knows how much they've contributed to the quality of the animated series they've worked on," caucus chair Craig Miller said. "Less well known are their efforts and involvement in bettering conditions and circumstances for their fellow writers." Jean and Reiss co-created animated series "The Critic." Jean is exec producer-showrunner of "The Simpsons," where he's worked since the show launched on Fox in 1989. Reiss has worked for 15 years on "The Simpsons," winning four Emmys and a Peabody, and created Showtime toontoon series "Queer Duck."

11.63 million viewers tuned in to watch Treehouse Of Horror XVI on Sunday night, making it the highest rating episode out of the four that have aired this season. This had Fox slotted into third place at 8pm, behind ABC's Extreme Makeover Home Edition and CBS's Cold Case. For the 18 - 49 age demographic The Simpsons ranked #2 in its timeslot. This wasn't enough to help the night's lineup for Fox which came fourth overall for the night. Family Guy's figures continue to dip, scoring only 8.6 million viewers, while American Dad held onto most of its lead-in with 7.3 million at 9:30pm. The big winner was ABC, which is proving unstoppable on Sundays with hits EM: HE, Desperate Housewives, and Grey's Anatomy. Another new episode of The Simpsons airs next week, details are on your left.

Season 17 returns tonight with the fourth episode of the season, Treehouse Of Horror XVI. In “B.I.: Bartificial Intelligence”, The Simpsons adopt David, a newly developed artificial robot son, to replace Bart after he falls into a coma. In “Survival of the Fattest,” Mr. Burns invites Homer and his friends to his gigantic estate for a hunting tournament, but Homer and the gang learn they are the ones being the hunted on “The World Series Of Manhunter” hosted by Bradshaw. In “I’ve Grown a Costume on Your Face,” a costume contest goes awry when a real witch turns all the Springfieldians into real-life versions of their costumes, leaving Maggie dressed like a witch with the only real power to reverse the spell. It all starts tonight at 8pm on Fox.

The Simpsons are back with another holiday-themed DVD! On February 7th, just a week before Valentine's Day, Fox is releasing The Simpsons - Kiss and Tell. This single-disc release comes with 4 episodes:
# Natural Born Kissers
# Large Marge
# Three Gays Of The Condo
# The Way We Weren't
There are also extras in the form of an Animatic and a Multi-Angle Animation Showcase on this release, which runs 88 minutes.

Russian MPs have issued a final threat to TV stations to scale back on violent shows like The Simpsons if they want to avoid censorship. State Duma deputies overwhelmingly voted for a motion warning television channels to cut down on the amount of violence they show. First Deputy Speaker Lyubov Sliska said it was a "yellow card" for the channels. It asks for television companies to more strictly adhere to a voluntary code of conduct signed in June by the chief executives of six leading channels to avoid promoting a "cult of violence and cruelty". MP Yelena Afanasyeva stated, "The experts gave just the result we feared. They found The Simpsons were crammed with violent and aggressive episodes. These cartoons also introduce antagonism between children and parents." The new push in the legislation came after The Simpsons was given a hard-core adults-only rating and blamed for corrupting Russian schoolchildren and degrading family values.

Tom Wolfe, declared by some to be America's greatest living writer, will appear as himself in an upcoming episode on The Simpsons. According to The New York Post, the author of such books as "The Bonfire Of The Vanities" (the title of which was used for season premiere Bonfire Of The Manatees) recorded his lines in Los Angeles and posed for photos to guide the animators. Wolfe says that The Simpsons is the only show he watches because it doesn't have a laugh track. He said, "I feel like I finally made it." Wolfe joins authors such as Stephen King, Thomas Pynchon, and Tom Clancy to lend their otherwise anonymous voices to the show. It is expected that his episode will appear as part of the current season beyond March.

Twentieth Century Fox Television and Gracie Films today announced a long-term deal that grants EA development rights to multiple videogame titles based on The Simpsons. Working closely with the television studio's Licensing and Merchandising division, Gracie Films and Simpsons writers, EA will create original Simpsons game content for next generation videogame systems. This groundbreaking deal between Fox and EA is the first development deal between these two entities. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. The first game of the multi-game deal will be launched on next generation systems; no launch date has been announced. "This is a great opportunity for our talented development team to collaborate with the brilliant minds of The Simpsons to bring original Simpsons material to videogame fans," said Nick Earl, Vice President and General Manager, EA Redwood Shores Studio.