The Simpsons 10 Classic Characters You’ll Never See Again
It's not just Apu who has been removed from Springfield.
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00:00 Matt Groening's culture-changing, all-time great animated sitcom was built on the strength
00:04 of its cast of characters.
00:05 However, not everybody that has come through the town has stuck around.
00:08 I'm Scythe for WhatCulture.com and these are 10 classic characters from The Simpsons
00:12 you'll never see again.
00:14 10.
00:15 Herb Powell
00:16 Having a famous brother can come with its drawbacks.
00:18 In the case of Homer Simpson, the drawback is that you almost never see him.
00:22 In Brother Where Art Thou, Homer learns that he has a half-brother.
00:25 Upon connecting with Herb, the two get along great, despite their differences.
00:29 Compared to Homer's lazy nature, Herb has worked all of his life for success and is
00:33 an affluent individual because of it.
00:35 By the episode's close, his fortune is squandered by placing his trust in Homer's class and
00:40 sensibilities.
00:41 Herb was so popular with fans and with the producers that he was brought back for an
00:44 episode one year later.
00:46 In 1992, Powell returned for Brother Can You Spare Two Dimes to overcome his strained relationship
00:51 with Homer and regain his riches.
00:54 Because Unky Herb is voiced by Danny DeVito, a world-famous actor who can pretty much do
00:58 what he wants this late into his career, it makes his future on the show questionable.
01:03 Despite burying the hatchet, Herb is never seen and barely mentioned after 1992.
01:08 As part of a gag in 2011's Changing of the Guardian, it's briefly mentioned that Herb
01:12 is poor again.
01:13 He's more likely toiling away on another get-rich scheme and too busy to visit the
01:17 humble town of Springfield.
01:18 9.
01:19 Alice Glick
01:20 Alice Glick is hardly going to be a character that most people call their favourite, but
01:24 she's had her moments as part of the ensemble of Springfield's senior citizens.
01:28 Alice Glick has been around since season two, where Bart did all of her worst chores to
01:32 save up for a comic book.
01:33 She was also memorably part of a yard sale where she was intent on getting $90 for her
01:38 candy bowl.
01:39 Most importantly, Alice Glick is part of the elite group of Simpsons characters that have
01:42 been killed off.
01:43 In the 2011 episode Replaceable You, Bart collaborates with Martin for a science project
01:48 to create Robopets, which are eventually given to the folks at Springfield Retirement Castle.
01:53 However, bitter funeral directors cause the pets to go on a rampage that results in the
01:57 death of Alice.
01:58 What a supremely strange way to go, part of an extremely stretched storyline thread and
02:02 not to mention off-screen.
02:03 This entry is a bit of a wildcard though, because despite her death, it seems that Mrs
02:07 Glick - or someone who looks remarkably like her - has appeared in the background in several
02:12 episodes set thereafter.
02:13 However, despite this, in Flanders Ladder in 2018, she appeared alongside other dead
02:18 Simpsons characters as a ghost, presumably an official answer to the confusion to her
02:22 fate.
02:23 8.
02:24 Hank Scorpio
02:25 In the earlier seasons, when it wasn't building upon the classic American sitcom,
02:29 The Simpsons was paying homage to and referencing a great many films.
02:33 In You Only Move Twice, we are introduced to Hank Scorpio, CEO of Globex and passionate
02:37 James Bond villain - or in this case, Super Agent Bont.
02:41 He also just so happens to be Homer's new boss when the family moves to Cypress Creek.
02:45 Despite being designed as a one-off guest star, Hank remains today one of the most beloved
02:48 characters that the show's writers ever crafted.
02:51 There was something brilliant about the mad double-sidedness to his personality, the supervillain
02:55 that world leaders feared, that also was an affable employer who treated Homer with respect.
03:00 Which is exactly what has stopped him from returning.
03:02 At one stage, Hank was considered as the villain for The Simpsons movie, before writers decided
03:07 he was too nice.
03:08 To anyone watching, it was clear that Russ Cargill, also played by Albert Brooks, was
03:12 just a second-rate Scorpio.
03:14 Hank did make a speaking cameo in 2011's episode 500 Keys, but beyond that, he's
03:19 become his own Simpsons man of mystery due to his prolonged disappearance.
03:23 According to IMDB users, You Only Move Twice is the second highest-rated episode that the
03:27 show has ever produced.
03:29 7.
03:30 Mr. Winfield and Sylvia Winfield
03:32 If you came here looking for an obscure entry, look no further than Mr. and Mrs. Winfield.
03:37 This elderly, agitated couple actually made their debut in only the third episode of the
03:41 entire show.
03:42 The breakout hit of Homer's Odyssey shows Homer dragging a rock to a bridge as he contemplates
03:47 suicide, and the Winfields make some cutting remarks about it from their porch.
03:51 They would appear as bit-part players numerous times early in the show's run, including
03:55 the time Mr. Winfield told Homer in his new flowing locks in Simpson and Delilah to "get
03:59 a haircut, hippie".
04:00 If you're a Simpsons hit-and-run fan, you'll recognise Sylvia Winfield instantly as she
04:04 appears very prominently as an NPC in that video game.
04:07 In the 1992 episode New Kid on the Block, the Winfields are written out of the show.
04:12 Making her final appearance, Sylvia tells Homer that they are retiring to Florida and
04:16 moving out of the streets, making way for Bart's love interest, Laura Powers.
04:20 For a time, the Winfields did show up in the background of a few shots up until around
04:23 1996.
04:24 What's funny is that the seniors actually appeared briefly in the opening titles for
04:28 the Simpsons all the way up to season 20 in 2009.
04:32 Since then though, the Winfields have stayed firmly down in Florida, wherever that is relative
04:36 to the state that Springfield is apparently in.
04:38 6.
04:39 Fat Tony
04:40 Springfield explores all walks of life, from schoolchildren to the retirement home, from
04:43 the police force to the criminal underworld.
04:46 Mob boss Fat Tony and his henchmen are part of some great episodes, not to mention one-off
04:50 gags throughout Simpsons history.
04:51 However, if you abandoned the show before 2010, it seems pretty likely that you don't
04:56 know that Fat Tony has joined the dead Simpsons characters club.
04:59 Then again, if you tuned in today, you'd see a character that is essentially the same
05:02 person, so what gives?
05:04 In a supremely weird turn of events, season 22's Donnie Fatso has Fat Tony suffer from
05:09 a heart attack and pass on.
05:11 When Homer visits the grave of the former Mafia Don, he is abducted by Tony's cousin,
05:15 Fit Tony.
05:16 He's taken over the syndicate, gets the better of the skinnier mob boss and he begins to
05:19 pile on weight, becoming indistinguishable from the former character.
05:23 Thus Fit Tony became Fit Fat Tony, most often just referred to as Fat Tony.
05:28 This character change is so pointless, but they are, technically speaking, different
05:32 people.
05:33 Fat Tony's replacement has gone on to appear a great many times in the last decade, despite
05:37 the fact that his cousin, the original Fat Tony, is dead and buried.
05:41 5.
05:42 Maud Flanders
05:43 The last mention on this list of deceased Simpsons characters are no doubt one of the
05:46 most impactful, Maud Flanders' passing was quite a big deal.
05:49 It wasn't entirely designed as a ratings grab, but that was definitely a contributing
05:53 factor and was mostly a response to Maud's voice actor quitting the show.
05:57 Maggie Roswell had been flying from her home in Denver to Los Angeles, often twice a week,
06:01 to record her lines and was tired of the process and rising prices of airline travel.
06:06 As Marcia Mitzman-Gavin stepped in to pick up Roswell's roles, the show's writers
06:09 realised it was an opportunity to do something dramatic and have the characters of the show
06:13 react to real tragedy.
06:15 Thus Maud Flanders is killed in an incident involving, in typically silly Simpsons fashion,
06:20 a t-shirt launching cannon.
06:21 Whilst Maud did contribute to the show a little, her death definitely allowed her widower Ned
06:25 to evolve.
06:26 The episode in question, Alone Again, Natra Diddley, saw him have a crisis of faith and
06:30 face the very real struggles of being a single father, the kind of hard subject matter that
06:35 the show used to face head on.
06:36 Roswell returned to the show in 2002 to continue to voice her other roles, but Maud Flanders
06:41 is one deededly that can't be undone-edly.
06:43 4.
06:44 Edna Krabappel With Bart and Lisa being school kids, it
06:48 was important for the Simpsons writers to get a handle on members of the town's school
06:51 staff.
06:52 More than just props, many of these characters became beloved in their own right.
06:56 Few are more memorable than Bart's fourth grade tutor, Edna Krabappel.
06:59 Rather than the rosy and soft teachers of other sitcoms and TV shows, Edna was given
07:03 dry wit, a smoking habit and a loud sarcastic laugh.
07:07 Her more character-centric episodes were focused on her desires to find Mr. Right, which almost
07:11 always inevitably panned out for the worse.
07:14 Making her first appearance in the second ever episode of the show, Mrs. Krabappel was
07:17 portrayed for 23 years by Marcia Wallace.
07:20 However, in 2013, Wallace passed from complications due to breast cancer.
07:25 At the very least, later appearances of Edna saw opposites attract and her pursuit of love
07:28 finally found a happy conclusion.
07:31 Despite her very sarcastic and cynical nature, she wound up marrying the always chipper Ned
07:35 Flanders.
07:36 This meant that, even after already losing Maud, Ned was the character that was chosen
07:40 to carefully mourn Edna when the show acknowledged Wallace's death.
07:43 Out of respect for her work, Edna's character was retired from the Simpsons with dignity.
07:47 3.
07:48 Seymour Skinner
07:49 Speaking of Springfield School Board, where would the Simpsons be without Principal Skinner?
07:53 The bureaucratic bookworm was always a strong cornerstone of the show, playing the perfect
07:57 foil to the rebellious Bart and featuring in several moments that have become classic
08:01 meme templates and viral hits.
08:03 Naturally, he's not going anywhere.
08:05 So let's get into the controversy that is the Principal and the Pauper.
08:09 In this season 9 episode, a party in Skinner's honour is crashed by a war veteran who claims
08:14 to be the real Seymour Skinner.
08:15 It's then explained that the Principal, real name Armin Tamzerian, returned from Vietnam
08:20 to tell Agnes Skinner of her son's presumed passing, but wound up pretending to be him
08:24 instead to save the heartbreak.
08:26 The episode, memorably, finishes right where it began.
08:29 Despite this revelation, the real Skinner, played by Hollywood megastar Martin Sheen,
08:33 is tied up and sent out of town and Springfield agrees to never speak of it again on threat
08:37 of death.
08:38 Whilst this might have been a gag, it's something that the show has pretty much kept
08:41 to with very few exceptions ever since, surely just because of the backlash.
08:46 Fans hated the episode and it's often called the end of the show's golden era.
08:50 Delightfully devilish, this ain't.
08:52 As such, the real Seymour Skinner will never be seen, heard from or likely mentioned ever
08:57 again.
08:58 2.
08:59 Apu Nahasipinapetilon
09:00 The strength of The Simpsons was always in its extensive cast.
09:03 Outside of the family, the show had buckets of brilliant and funny characters.
09:06 From the gibberish, blurting Professor Frink to the adorably slow-witted Ralph Wiggum,
09:11 from the belligerent Krusty the Clown to the warmth of the quickie-marts Apu Nahasipinapetilon.
09:15 As the years went on, however, Apu appeared less and less due to a rise in conversation
09:19 about the character as a negative stereotype.
09:22 Despite being enjoyed by many fans, a lot of The Simpsons Asian viewers found understandable
09:25 issues with the character.
09:27 They compared Apu's stereotypical accents, performed by the Caucasian Hank Azaria, as
09:31 brown voice.
09:33 Maldesi creators made comments across the years about the character, with Indian actors
09:36 telling stories of being told to "do the Apu voice".
09:40 In 2017, the controversy reached full peak with the release of Harry Kondabolu's The
09:44 Problem With Apu documentary.
09:46 Hank Azaria himself went to the studio to ask to be relieved of the role in 2020.
09:51 Despite the show at first desperately trying to stick to its gun, it has in recent years
09:55 started to correct its unconscious harm by recasting the likes of Carl and Dr. Hibbert
09:59 with black actors.
10:00 As of March 2020, creator Matt Groening has said that he's looking for a new actor and
10:04 a way to reintroduce the character of Apu, but more than a year and a half later, it
10:08 remains to be seen.
10:10 1.
10:11 Lionel Hutz & Troy McClure
10:12 When it comes to characters that had so much left to give, Phil Hartman's duo of Lionel
10:16 Hutz and Troy McClure are about as big as you can get in The Simpsons.
10:20 The two characters occupied very specific roles in the show's canon.
10:23 Hutz, the fraudulent lawyer and persistent shyster, and McClure, a washed up actor reduced
10:28 to appearing in infomercials and educational videos.
10:31 Despite Springfield growing every season with new faces, these two guest characters always
10:35 shined.
10:36 Hutz's better-call-Saul-esque tomfoolery is still quotable today, and "Hi, I'm
10:41 Troy McClure, and you may remember me" is one of the show's simplest and most memorable
10:45 catchphrases.
10:46 With such strong identities, together these two characters provided some of the consistently
10:50 biggest laughs between seasons 2 and 10.
10:52 Phil Hartman's inimitable voice and presence made them solid fan favorites, which makes
10:57 it all the sadder that they were retired from the show due to the shocking murder of the
11:01 actor.
11:02 Hartman's contributions to The Simpsons are immovable.
11:04 In honor, season 10's Bart the Mother, the final appearance of Troy McClure, is dedicated
11:08 to his memory, and Matt Groening even went on to name the main character of his next
11:12 creation Futurama after him as Philip J. Fry.
11:16 And that's the list!
11:17 Let us know what you thought of this video down in the comments below.
11:20 Which of these classic Simpsons characters would you most like to see a return of, if
11:24 possible?
11:25 And of course, let us know of any others that we missed down there as well.
11:28 Make sure you like this video, share it with your friends, subscribe and hit that notification
11:32 bell.
11:33 I've been Scythe for What Culture, and have a good week.
11:35 [BLANK_AUDIO]