The Simpsons
Season 27 Episodes 5: “Treehouse Of Horror XXVI”
Written by Joel H. Cohen
Created by James L. Brooks, Matt Groening, Sam Simon
Starring Dan Castellaneta, Nancy Cartwright, Julie Kavner, Yeardley Smith, Harry Shearer, Hank Azaria, Pamela Hayden, Kelsey Grammer
NBC
Air Date: Sunday, October 25th, 2015, 8pm

To crazed TV watchers, October means one thing: Halloween episodes! When I was a kid it was Roseanne. My parents and I gathered every year to watch the Conner family scare that crap out of us. At that point The Simpsons were just the weird yellow cartoon from Tracey Ullman’s show. Then I saw my first Treehouse of Horror episode, was introduced to Kang and Kodos, and the sweet sound of James Earl Jones reading Edgar Allan Poe’s The Raven to a scared Homer, I was hooked. Since then, we’ve witnessed over a quarter century’s worth of Treehouse of Horror episodes, each with 3 scary Simpsons segments, including classics like The Shinning, Nightmare on Evergreen Terrace, and Citizen Kang. I never could have imagined that when I watched the first Simpsons Halloween special back in 1990 at the age of 8, I’d be able to watch the 26th edition of that same special with my 11-year old son. As usual, The Simpsons prove cross-generational and timeless.

Some spoilers and check out the “couch gag” clip below.

A couple of months ago news broke which shocked the longtime fans of The Simpsons: Harry Shearer, the voice of many of the hit animated show’s characters including Mr. Burns, Ned Flanders, Principle Skinner, and many others, would not be returning after 26 seasons on the job.

Back then we said it was really hard to believe Shearer was actually leaving and this wasn’t just one of those disputes that would eventually be worked out. And as it turns out, much to the delight of said fans, that’s exactly what was going on as it’s now being reported that Shearer has officially signed on to return with the other voice actors.

One of the most important voice actors on The Simpsons, Harry Shearer, is leaving the show after 26 seasons. Shearer shared the news on the Twitter last night.

Shearer voices an insane amount of characters on the shows, including Ned Flanders, Mr. Burns, Principal Skinner, Smithers, Lenny, Kent Brockman, Reverend Lovejoy, Otto, and many more in the nearly 600 episodes he recorded for through to the end of the current 26th season. Only Hank Azaria and Dan Castellaneta voice more characters than Shearer. You can get a visual of idea of just how important Shearer is to the cast right here.

You can read more and see what Shearer had to say below.