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Bart Simpson Close to Returning
March 26, 1998 ©1999 ABC News Internet Ventures.
Don’t have a cow, man. The Bart Simpson you know and love is likely to return to the airwaves next season. Daily Variety reports that Nancy Cartwright, who provides the voice for the pointy-haired scamp, is thisclose to renewing her contract on Fox’s animated hit The Simpsons. Her payday? An estimated $50,000 per episode, double what she is currently making. But save for Julie Kavner, who voices Marge and her chain-smoking, MacGyver-loving sisters, Patty and Selma, and who already has a deal in place, none of the other cast members have come to terms. Hank Azaria, Yeardley Smith, Dan Castallaneta, and Harry Shearer are all still in negotiations, having recently banded together, à la Friends and Seinfeld, to ask for substantial raises to return to Springfield for another year. Twentieth Century Fox has reportedly already begun searching for possible replacements should the parties fail to come to terms before the start of the season, which is rapidly approaching. In its nine seasons on the air, The Simpsons has earned an estimated $500 million for Fox; cast members have been taking home $30,000 per episode or less.
