Aussie actor Nicole Kidman remains elusive to producers of The Simpsons, refusing invitations to make a guest appearance. "We approached Nicole (Kidman) when we were looking for a celebrity couple back when she was married to Tom Cruise," said executive producer Al Jean. "Some way, sooner or later, we should be able to get her, though."


Just two Australians have appeared on the show, actor Mel Gibson and media mogul Rupert Murdoch, both based in the United States. "It is amazingly popular in Australia and the UK, in some ways more popular than in the US," Jean said.

An appearance by Ricky Gervais and the live-action Simpsons opening were enough to boost The Simpsons viewers back up to a respectable 10.14 million viewers on Sunday. At 8pm The Simpsons was equal third, behind 60 Minutes and Extreme Makeover: Home Edition, while overall for the night, Fox came in fourth placed. The comedy lineup was enough to boost the network to third amongst the 18-49 demographic. A new episode of Family Guy at 8pm managed 8.15 million.

- Airs Tonight!
The live action opening sequence will be unveiled to audiences nationwide tonight, as part of the long awaited airing of the Ricky Gervais-written episode Homer Simpson, This Is Your Wife. Homer enters a contest to win a plasma TV but ends up winning a trip to Fox Studios, where he joins a new Fox reality TV series (which is suspiciously like Trading Spouses: Meet Your New Mommy) and ends up trading wives with another man (voiced by Gervais).

Harry Shearer has confirmed active work on the first Simpsons feature movie. Shearer broke the news during an appearance on the Mancow radio show, and a listener sent in a report to the AICN website: "Harry Shearer … mentioned the two year contract extension [for the TV series] and then was asked … if this [would] delay the movie project by two years. His response was that it would not delay it, because they were recording dialogue for it right now." Shearer stated that the language of the movie is going a little more edgy than what is run on TV, but not enough to receive a "restricted" rating.



Shearer's comments show just how quickly progress is being made on the Simpsons movie. When IGN reported on it last September, not even a script had been completed yet.

Composer Hans Zimmer is expected to write the score for the feature film version of The Simpsons. As a long-time composer for James Brooks - who produces the hit television show - Zimmer is an unlikely choice, as most people were expecting television series composer Alf Clausen (or even Danny Elfman, who wrote the main theme nearly 19 years ago) to be frontrunners. Work on the animated film is expected to begin later this summer.

An Online Petition has been set up by fans to get Danny Elfman on board so if it is of great interest to you, you might want to consider signing it.

Fox Broadcasting Company has ordered two additional seasons of The Simpsons and one additional season of King of the Hill. This will take The Simpsons, created by executive producer Matt Groening, through 19 seasons in 2007-2008. Mike Judge's King of the Hill is picked up for its 11th season.

Having debuted on Jan. 14, 1990, The Simpsons reigns as the longest-running animated series in history and the longest-running primetime series currently on television. The Simpsons is a cultural institution and will celebrate a milestone 400 episodes in May 2007.

A total of 8.75 million viewers tuned in to the new episode 'Bart Has Two Mommies,' usurping We're On The Road To D'ohwhere (9.04 million) as holder of the lowest ratings this season. The FOX network scored fourth place overall for the night and equal second with CBS for the 18 - 49 demographic.

At 8:00pm, 60 Minutes/Cold Case were in top place, followed by ABC's Extreme Makeover: Home Edition, NBC's The West Wing in third, and The Simpsons/The War At Home in fourth place. A rerun of Family Guy at 9.00pm had 7.28 million for FOX.

-Airs Tonight!
Ned Flanders wins a new computer which he offers to Marge, as he has no use for it. In return, Marge babysits the Flanders children so that Ned can attend the Left-Handed Convention, where he meets New York Yankees guest star Randy Johnson. With Marge spending so much time at The Flanders', Homer must look after Bart and Lisa. Homer takes the kids to an animal retirement home, but the trip goes awry when Toot-Toot the monkey pulls Bart into her cage and holds him hostage. Marge learns of the kidnapping when it is a breaking news report and she must figure out a way to get her son back.

Following on from our report two months ago regarding four direct-to-dvd Futurama movies being greenlit, Billy West has now unofficially confirmed that these have been put on the backberner in favour of 26 brand new episodes, meaning that Futurama as we know may well be back in business the same way Family Guy was revived last year.



Billy says: I'm this close to selling my show--''Billy Bastard--Amateur Human Being,'' And the other good news is that they're doing 26 new episodes of ''Futurama'' for TV and we're hammering out the deal now. The original plan was to have the DVD's first but that's no longer the case.I'm totaly jammed dude.

The ratings are in, and a steady 9.72 million viewers tuned in to watch Sunday's 'The Seemingly Never Ending Story'. This figure is very stable with the rest of the season and slightly up on this time last year (Goo Goo Gai Pan, 8.7 million). With a few weeks of straight new episodes, numbers may increase or even decrease accordingly.

CBS and Fox shared second place for the night behind ABC. The Simpsons was third at 8pm behind Cold Case and Extreme Makeover Home Edition. A new Family Guy minus its follow-up partner American Dad had 7.98

-Airs Tonight!
Season 17 returns tonight with an episode titled The Seemingly Never-Ending Story. While cave exploring with his family, Homer causes the cave to crumble and finds himself stuck upside down in the ceiling. Marge and Bart search for help while Lisa passes the time by telling Homer a story, which turns into a chain of narrated tales. The episode is set to be an unusual one, whether that be good or bad remains to be seen. Here's the promo image:

Bongo's Simpsons Comics #116 will hit the shelves this Wednesday. Homer’s dream comes true when the Simpsons find themselves living in the middle of Springfield’s newest mall. But the reality of taking up residence in the consumer driven, commercialism laden mecca soon becomes a living nightmare for Lisa, who is determined to beat the land developers at their own game. Pick it up this week.

A video that recreates the introduction to "The Simpsons" with live actors is spreading across the Internet faster than Homer can say "D'oh" -- part of a viral marketing campaign by BSkyB. Painstakingly crafted by Sky and its ad agency Devilfish, the video was originally intended as an on-air promotion for the Sky One network.


The company decided to release it on the Internet as part of a word-of-mouth brand building exercise, tapping into the red-hot Web video sector. "If we had only showed it on air, you might turn to someone and say that was really cool," said BSkyB communications director Matthew Anderson. "Putting it online, there's a fantastic discussion between millions of people -- it's bringing the Simpsons to them instead of having them tune in."

After less than a week, the video has been viewed millions of times at online video sites like YouTube. The move to create word-of-mouth "viral" content follows similar guerrilla marketing efforts from major advertisers such as Nike and Microsoft, and comes amid a concerted push by traditional media companies to expand their online businesses.

The Simpsons Folder has received news from a source close to the show that both articles below regarding Madonna and Paris Hilton guest spots are not legitimate. There are currently no plans to feature either of these stars on the show.

It must be the week for uncertain guest voice information, with an appearance by Madonna doing the rounds the other day, socialite Paris Hilton may be the next making a guest appearance in The Simpsons. Creator of the show Matt Groening is reportedly desperate to get Hilton on board. Groening has said recently: "Her name is on the list. It could be a good show." He may want to make sure that she can read her lines first…


In other Hilton news, the Simple Life star has broken her toe and has no idea how! Speaking to the Daily Star before last night’s Oscar ceremony she said of her toe: “It’s the size of a water melon. How am I going to wear my Jimmy Choos?”

Madonna is set to make a guest appearance on The Simpsons. According to the Daily Star, the Queen of Pop will take a liking to Homer before going head-to-head with Marge in a battle for his heart. "It's Madge versus Marge, and Madonna will certainly show Homer a thing or two that Marge has never attempted," a source told the newspaper.


The singer is following in the footsteps of U2, Elton John, Tom Jones and Paul McCartney, who have all made visits to Springfield in the past.

The creators of The Simpsons have refilmed the show's opening titles using real actors, and you can be among the first to watch the hilarious titles, filmed over 18 months in Britain, by clicking one of the corresponding links below.

Site: YouTube
Quicktime: Low Med High.
RealOne: Low Med High
Windows Media: Low Med High
The clip re-enacts the title sequence to a tee beginning with the camera zooming into a schoolroom to see a blonde Bart scribbling lines on the blackboard.

Matt Groening has approved the human version of the show’s opening credits to promote the brand new series which Sky One will continue broadcasting on March 20th. "We used regular actors, not so much for their resemblance - as you can't copy a bunch of yellow characters - but becuase you can easily identify with them."

Americans know more about “The Simpsons” than they do about the First Amendment. Only one in four Americans can name more than one of the five freedoms guaranteed by the First Amendment. But more than half can name at least two members of the cartoon family, according to a survey. The study by the new McCormick Tribune Freedom Museum found that 22 percent of Americans could name all five Simpson family members, compared with just one in 1,000 people who could name all five First Amendment freedoms.

Joe Madeira, director of exhibitions at the museum, said he was surprised by the results. “Part of the survey really shows there are misconceptions, and part of our mission is to clear up these misconceptions,” said Madeira, whose museum will be dedicated to helping visitors understand the First Amendment when it opens in April. “It means we have our job cut out for us.”

A total of 9.51 million viewers tuned in to Sunday's new episode 'My Fair Laddy', despite the competition. NBC's coverage of the 2006 Winter Olympics closing ceremonies on Sunday night (Feb. 26) were the lowest rated among the adults 18-49 demo and in total viewers since the introduction of Nielsen People Meters in 1988. NBC, with a 3.5 rating on the night in 18-49 finished third, overall, behind ABC and Fox. Worse for the network, its Olympics coverage finished fourth out of five networks at 8 p.m., garnering a 3.4 rating in the demo, behind The Simpsons.