What's Up - Your guide to what's happening in Fayetteville, AR this week!
Issue link: https://www.epageflip.net/i/1272416
T10 WHATS UP! July 26 - August 1, 2020 Speaking of Fox animation veterans, the network naturally renewed the longest-running American sitcom ever, "The Simpsons," through its 32nd season back in 2019. This up- coming season will include the comedy's 700th episode, an in- credible milestone that's like the cherry on top of yet another record that the series broke in Season 31. "The Simpsons" tops the list of American scripted prime-time series with the most episodes, having sur- passed the former title-holder, "Gunsmoke," at 636 episodes. "The Simpsons" has been a ma- jor influence on popular cul- ture since the first episode aired in 1989, but that doesn't mean that there's no room to grow in 2020. The animation itself im- proves with time (I remember being a bit shocked when I saw the animation of the first itera- tion of "The Simpsons" as a short that my parents had re- corded from TV on a VHS tape), and so do the character- izations of Springfield's citi- zens. Apu Nahasapeemapetilon has been voiced by Hank Azaria ("Brockmire") — a white, American man — since the in- ception of the character. Apu has received criticism, though, as he is portrayed as a stereotype of a South Asian man, and the topic was even the subject explored in the 2017 feature documentary, "The Problem With Apu." While Az- aria announced in a statement this year that he will no longer voice the character, with Matt Groening, creator of "The Simpsons," announcing shortly after that Apu will remain on the show, more needs to be done to rebuild Apu than cast- ing a South Asian voice actor to speak for him. The news of an imminent recasting is hopeful, though, and the likelihood of seasons upon seasons of "The Simpsons" in the future means that there could be a lot more to look forward to for Apu. When "The Simpsons" was renewed back in 2019, "Family Guy" was also promised a spot on Fox's Sunday night lineup through its 19th season. The re- newal isn't that much of a sur- prise since not only has "Family Guy" been on the air for more than two decades, its creator, Seth MacFarlane ("The Or- ville"), is more powerful than ever, having signed a $200-mil- lion deal with NBC Universal this year. MacFarlane may be busy, but that won't stop him from reprising his voice acting duties as Peter Griffin, the bum- bling New England husband and father who constantly makes embarrassing situations even worse. Fox has shown that the net- work has hope for its fledgling shows, too, renewing "Duncan- ville" and fellow animated com- edy "Bless the Harts" for a sec- ond season. The latter really scratches an itch for those miss- ing "King of the Hill." "Bless the Harts" creator Emily Spivey was a story editor on "King of the Hill" and said in an inter- view with Decider that she had "always loved the sort of gentle, humane humor of the show and how authentic it was to Austin, to Arlen, to Texas," and that she "wanted to do the same thing with North Carolina" in "Bless the Harts." The series boasts some seri- ous star power in its voice actor cast, despite how down-to- earth its characters are. Kristen Wiig ("Saturday Night Live") voices Jenny Hart, a single mom whose mother, Betty (Maya Rudolph, "Big Mouth"), lives with her and her daughter, Violet (Jillian Bell, "Workahol- ics"), an artistic, sarcastic teen- ager. Fox has given its audiences a lot to look forward to laughing at, so keep an eye out for the re- turn of animated comedies "Bob's Burgers," "The Simp- sons," "Bless the Harts" and "Family Guy" this fall and the Season 2 premiere of "Duncan- ville" sometime in 2021. Tina, Bob, Louise, Linda and Gene Belcher from "Bob's Burgers" continued from page T2 Laugh out loud: Fox's animated comedies renewed for future seasons TV FEATURE