Tomorrow is May 4. And for most people, that’s just going to be Tuesday, or maybe the day before Cinco de Mayo. But for “Star Wars” fans, May The Fourth is a holiday that celebrates the beloved space franchise because the date kinda, sorta rhymes with May the Force…be with you. Not a stretch at all. Regardless, it’s a day that Disney is hoping to capitalize on with the release of some new “Star Wars”-focused programming, including a new crossover between the franchise and the decades-old “The Simpsons.”

READ MORE: ‘Obi-Wan Kenobi’: ‘PEN 15’ Star Maya Erskine Joins The Disney+ Star Wars Series

According to Disney, on May 4, characters from “The Simpsons” will crossover with characters from “Star Wars” in a new short titled, “Maggie Simpson in ‘The Force Awakens From Its Nap.’” And as the title teases, the new “Star Wars”-inspired short focuses on the littlest Simpson, Maggie.

Continue reading ‘The Simpsons’ & ‘Star Wars’ Crossover For A New May 4th Short On Disney+ at The Playlist.

The Television Academy handed out the first wave of Emmy Awards this year with Saturday night’s Creative Arts Emmy ceremony in downtown Los Angeles. The winners of 46 awards were announced Saturday with another 49 awards getting their moment tomorrow night. The remaining honors will be announced on Sunday, Sept. 22nd during a primetime telecast on FOX.

READ MORE: A complete list of the 2019 Emmy Awards 

It was a huge night for Netflix and NatGeo as both networks dominated the proceedings.

Continue reading ‘Free Solo,’ ‘Queer Eye’ & ‘SNL’ Rule First Night Of 2019 Creative Arts Emmy Awards at The Playlist.

In simultaneous ceremonies in New York and Los Angeles, the Writers Guild of America handed out the winners for the 2019 WGA Awards.  Many of the winners were expected (shocker, “Marvelous Mrs. Maisel” wins again!) but in the film categories, the top winners were major surprises.

Bo Burnham’s script for “Eighth Grade,” which did not earn an Oscar nomination, beat major competition from “Roma” and “Green Book” in the Original Screenplay category.

Continue reading ‘Eighth Grade’ & ‘Can You Ever Forgive Me’ Surprise At 2019 WGA Awards at The Playlist.

There are multiple ways that people can handle controversy. You can tackle the issue head-on, addressing your situation, finding a solution, and moving forward with a plan. There’s also the opposite approach, where someone ignores the controversy, hoping that eventually it will fade away. Then you have option C, which is what the producers of “The Simpsons” seem to be doing — ignore the controversy, have actors publicly talk about the controversy (but ignore those solutions), make fun of the controversy, publicly dismiss the controversy, then hope people don’t get upset when you never address it again.

Continue reading ‘The Simpsons’ Will Reportedly Drop Apu From The Cast As More Comments Fuel Controversy at The Playlist.

While comic book fandom is elated at the news that the Disney-Fox merger is, in essence, a done deal, there are many in the film industry shaking in their boots. Not because the idea of a “Super Studio” is that scary, which it actually might be anyway, but because if you are one of the thousands that work at the studios, you could be out of a job. And if the Wall Street Journal is accurate, even if you’re signed on to make a movie for Fox, there’s no guarantee the studio will even exist next year.

Continue reading Report: Fox Studios Could Dissolve After Merger With Disney, With Major Films In Development Being Scrapped at The Playlist.

For a series that has been on the air for 30 years, you would think that the folks behind “The Simpsons” would have seen it all by now. But over the last year, the long-running Fox animated series has come under fire for their portrayal of the character of Apu. Thanks to a documentary about the subject, and social media backlash, the producers of the iconic sitcom now have to deal with controversy with no easy answer.

Continue reading Fox CEO Trusts The Producers Of ‘The Simpsons’ To Handle The Apu Controversy Themselves at The Playlist.

As we found out late last week, the last major hurdle in the merger between Disney and 20th Century Fox has been cleared. With shareholders for both companies agreeing to the sale, it looks like Disney will finally gain control of Fox’s assets sometime in the first half of 2019 when the deal officially closes. And those assets include some of the biggest franchises in the world.

Many fans — in particular the ones who have yearned to see the previously owned Fox/Marvel characters all under one roof and the control of Marvel Studio‘s Kevin Feige — are ecstatic, but the already-immense Disney owning and absorbing yet another huge movie studios is definitely cause for pause and even alarm. 

Continue reading Disney-Fox Merger: What Does It Mean For The Big Film Franchises? at The Playlist.

The much-heated “The Simpsons” controversy, is not dying down anytime soon. If you’ve paid even a fraction of attention of late, you’ll know the long-running animated FOX comedy has come under fire for its representation of the Indian character Apu. Or rather, modern culture in its social awakening and reconsideration of well, everything – in its waking up to just how offensive Apu is. The character Apu is a jovial Indian man who owns a convenience store.

Continue reading ‘The Simpsons’ Creator Matt Groening Dismissively Responds To The Apu Controversy at The Playlist.

Over the past few weeks, there has been a lot of debate over the character of Apu on “The Simpsons.” After the character’s problematic nature was brought to light recently, with the help of the documentary “The Problem with Apu,” many fans have been waiting to see how the animated sitcom dealt with the issue. And when the sitcom kinda, sorta made light of the issue in a recent episode, people were less-than-pleased.

Continue reading Hank Azaria Says He’s “Willing And Happy” To Step Aside As Voice Of Apu On ‘The Simpsons’ at The Playlist.

After almost 30 years, “The Simpsons” still knows how to make headlines. As you may already know, the animated sitcom has been under fire recently for its portrayal of Indian character Apu. For a while, the cast and crew of the series didn’t really talk about the character. Until last week. We talked about the most recent episode earlier this week, which mentioned how there’s really nothing they can do about political correctness and hinted strongly that maybe nothing would change with the series’ portrayal of Apu.

Continue reading ‘The Simpsons’ Showrunner Promises To Find “Popular” And “Right” Answer To The Apu Situation at The Playlist.

We don’t normally do episode recaps on The Playlist, especially about an almost-30-year-old animated sitcom, but this week’s episode of “The Simpsons” should probably be discussed. However, the episode isn’t noteworthy about the voice-acting. There’s nothing particularly revolutionary about the animation or story. The reason last night’s episode of “The Simpsons” will be a topic of conversation today is about what wasn’t said.

The episode, titled “No Good Read Goes Unpunished,” had a subplot that included Marge trying to get her daughter, Lisa, to read a childhood favorite book.

Continue reading The ‘Simpson’s’ Weak Response To The Apu Problem Only Makes Matters Worse at The Playlist.

In the peak TV era, much of the attention has gone to the drama shows — the dark, morally complex, violence-filled series like “The Sopranos,” “The Wire,” “Game Of Thrones,” “Fargo” and many more. But that’s only half the story. While they might not fuel thinkpieces and fan theories in the same way, we’re in a golden age of small-screen comedy, as this month has demonstrated: the excellent “Master Of None” and “I Love Dick,” and the wonderful “Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt” have all recently landed.

Continue reading The 50 Best TV Comedies Of All Time at The Playlist.

After nearly 20 years on TV, “The Simpsons” made their feature film debut in 2007 with “The Simpsons Movie.” That film, debuting in the middle of the summer, went on to gross over $500 million worldwide. Now, almost 10 years later, the question remains if we’ll ever see a sequel to the animated hit film. Producer James L. Brooks spoke with LRM and was asked that very question.

Continue reading James L. Brooks Says Fox Wants Another ‘Simpsons’ Movie at The Playlist.

Read Script Pages From Prince's Rejected Cameo On 'The Simpsons'

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Watch: 3-Minute Supercut Highlights The Many, Many Film References In ‘The Simpsons’

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Check Out A Page From Judd Apatow's 'Simpsons' Script, Episode Airs This Weekend

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Watch: 'The Simpsons' Halloween Tribute To Stanley Kubrick Riffs On 'Eyes Wide Shut,' 'Full Metal Jacket,' 'Barry Lyndon' & '2001'

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10 Controversial TV Episodes Pulled From Air

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Watch: Trailer For Lego Themed 'The Simpsons' Episode 'Brick Like Me'

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Watch: ‘The Simpsons’ Tribute To Marcia Wallace, The Voice Of Edna Krabappel

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Watch: 'The Simpsons' Couch Gag Directed By Sylvain Chomet Plus 'True Detective' Parody

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'The Simpsons' Get Lego Episode, David Michod To Direct Ballet Drama Pilot 'Flesh And Bone' & More

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Watch: 'The Simpsons’ Tribute To Hayao Miyazaki & Studio Ghibli

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Watch: Guillermo Del Toro's Monster-Filled Opening For 'The Simpsons' Halloween Episode

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Watch: 20-Minute Supercut Of Every Movie Reference From Seasons 6-10 Of 'The Simpsons'

Continue reading Watch: 20-Minute Supercut Of Every Movie Reference From Seasons 6-10 Of ‘The Simpsons’ at The Playlist.