It's worth noting that Sheare has spearheaded negotiations and threatened to leave before. A few years ago the cast agreed to lower their pay from $400k per episode to $300k.
He is also one of the only cast on an ongoing tv show I've ever heard of criticizing his own show publicly.
I don't blame him if he is tired of working on the show. It can't just be Internet pundits who are tired of the falling Simpsons quality.
The Simpsons and HN have a lot in common - both still feasting on previous glories, both past their sale by date, both not even realising how tragic they have now become.
If you like some of Harry Shearer's more notable character roles (Derek Smalls, bassist of Spinal Tap, probably foremost among them), or the sharper edge of the Simpsons, I highly recommend his radio show/podcast Le Show. It's been going on for years now and offers some of the sharpest topical satire out there.
In the biting-the-hand-that-feeds-you manner that seems to drive his public Simpsons comments (and well, from what I've read of him, his career generally), public radio is one of his favorite targets.
The answer [1] is Hulu or re-runs on Fox ;) Which actually leads me to wonder why The Simpsons hasn't been toss around to any channel that will take it like Family Guy, American Dad, Cleveland Show, etc. did? I know FX has re-runs now, but man it would be neat to see some Simpsons on Adult Swim.
I wonder what the latency on this is... given that "The Simpsons" is an animated show with a long lead time, when's the last episode that will air with Harry Shearer's voice? The end of the 2015-2016 season?
See the notes at http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/AnimationLeadTime, there's a whole section on the Simpsons there. They use editing and rush animation to add in some topical items, but the majority of the content has to be voice-recorded months before the finished episodes are on TV.
Ugh, recasting his roles is the absolute death knell of the show for me. Recent episodes have been good for one or two good laughs per episode, which was enough for me to keep watching. Even though some have been absolutely abysmal.
But having someone else voice so many of the characters? It's just not gonna work. So sad.
Ah, but what if you could use machine learning to make the recording of the new actor sound exactly like the old one? They probably could. But yes, short of that, they have a problem on their hands...
I hope the rest join him. Its a sad show now, with the occasional funny episode that reminds you of how all the episodes were. If all the voice talent left tomorrow they'd have to fold. Heaven forbid, giving it a planned send-off with dignity instead of milking and producing a less quality product year after year until all of its goodwill is gone.
Television, you just don't know when to quit.
Or do something risky like move the show up 20 years to the future they sometimes show where Bart is a divorced dad with two boys and Lisa is married to Milhouse. There's some amusing territory there, especially the Futurama-esque absurdism like when Homer bought the first hover car, which predictably was full of bugs, loud, and just a terrible vehicle.
I've seen every episode multiple times and I always find it intriguing when people complain about declining quality and get up in arms about it. One of the hallmarks of the show and the storylines has always been its irreverence and it's lack of desire to be taken seriously. The fact that it continues to go on with silly episodes is only part of that funny, irreverent quality, in my view.
I've watched every single episode of the Simpsons. I thought the newer episodes were decent. However, the current season is a complete disaster story-wise. I don't know if they changed the lead writers, but there's a discernible quality gap.
"Let's Go Fly a Coot" is the worst episode ever. I'm shocked they thought it was ok to air such mess.
He is also one of the only cast on an ongoing tv show I've ever heard of criticizing his own show publicly.
I don't blame him if he is tired of working on the show. It can't just be Internet pundits who are tired of the falling Simpsons quality.
More on Wikipedia http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harry_Shearer#The_Simpsons