I wish we could just let entertainment brands die. How many other opportunities were denied to other creators so the Simpsons could keep its budget over the decades.
I don't care about Fox's profits, it doesn't help me in my personal life or make new better shows.
I remember the cast of Friends wanted to stop after season 8 I think.
Then they got offered $1 million per episode along with residuals.
It's not just corporations that want to keep things going. The actors actually "unionized" (so they all got paid the same amount) and agreed that they wouldn't continue the show unless they all wanted to.
How I Met Your Mother got to the point that Jason Segal wanted to leave. The last season was just awful and you could tell that he was phoning it in.
I don’t think there’s Simpsons will ever die, even if all the voice actors pass on. They have way more than enough audio to train AI on their voices, and the Simpsons predates any agreement to not train on their voices. It’ll go for 60 years if it continues to bring in money.
You don't need AI, you can just find some one to recast, the Simpsons has done it before and recently Rick and Morty recast their primary voice actor that dies the voices for both titular characters.