I’m thinking it can’t really be a likeable character-- even as only slightly likeable as Maude. Since this is apparently meant as permanent killing-- not like Burns where it was fixed in the next episode, they won’t have much jolly-jolly possible if it’s permanent, and the Simpsons never gets terribly depressing. So a regular charcter, yes, but a central one, no. They tend to hype minor events as important ones beforehand (part of the joke) so I’m assuming it will be someone minor and detestable.
My main guesses:
The comic-book guy
Lionel Hutz is found dead somewhere
One of the old guys (not Abe)
Jub-jub the iguana
Kent Brockman or Troy MacClure (big celebrity death scandal)
Gil the pathetic salesman
Dr. Nick, but I’d hate to see him go
People it can’t be for various reasons:
any child or their parents (too sad (this includes Wiggam and Flanderinos))
Any of a close couple (like Apu and wife, Marges sisters, Lenny and Carl, etc.)
It just really can’t be Smithers, Moe, or Barney. They’re too central.
We should start a betting pool on this…
My WAG–Grampa Simpson.
Matt Groening is big on adding a skewed (sp?) kind of maturity to “The Simpsons”. He’s (Grampa S.)really old, & this may be a away to dramatically advance the show.
The message–“Everybody Dies”.
With magic, you can turn a frog into a prince. With science, you can turn a frog into a Ph.D, and you still have the frog you started with.
D’OH!
I wish I had realized this myself. A friend of mine pointed out “what makes you think someone will REALLY die?”
After all, soap operas kill off characters and bring them back. And if it’s not the same character, it’s their evil twin.
Certainly Groenig can do the same. They’ve had episodes where Krusty faked his death, where Homer faked his death, and where it was revealed that Skinner isn’t even Skinner.
So let’s say we have episode where Moe gets hit by a beer truck, or Maude gets set on by highwaymen. In a couple of weeks, Maude’s twin sister Maddie arrives in Springfield and Moe pops up out of the manhole he conveniently fell into just as the truck approached.
Well, if you believe the article I linked to above (and they swear they have the goods), it has to be either Moe the bartender, Maude Flanders, or Principal Skinner.
Toronto Sun published 3 scenarios but only 1 was corrct on Jan. 27th. The 3 scenarios are: “The Drinks Are On Me” Moe is run over by a beer truck driven by Homer. “The Blackboard Jugular” Groundskeeper Willie goes on a rampage after being asked to clean the teacher’s lounge and Principal Skinner dies. “Alone Again Natura-Diddly” Maude dies in an untimely accident and the Simpsons are left to console Ned and his sons. Which one is the correct one? We’ll find out Feb. 13th.
“Life is what happens to you when you’re busy making other plans”-John Lennon 1980
Here’s another article.
I’d really hate to see Maude go. She’s got a nice rack on her. And her butt is higher than Marge’s butt.
Uke
While this is off-topic (I’m playing the numbers and voting on Maude, struck by an un-Godly display of lightning)does the Maggie check-out display in the opening credits change in every episode? I’ve heard that it’s “NRA 4Ever” in every episode, and that it changes. And Lisa’s sax solo changes in every ep, right?
One must have chaos in oneself to give birth to a dancing star. -Nietzche
Got to www.thesimpsons.com for a site with a really good animated intro. Check there next week for a clue about the upcoming show. Also pay close attention to the end of Sunday’s episode, since they always show previews of the next episode.
I think it’s gonna be Maude Flanders.
>< DARWIN >
__L___L
“NRA4EVR” was the fake answer given by Troy McClure in a special highlight show, or “clip show,” as they call it in Hollywood. The register actually shows how much it’s supposed to cost to raise a baby in its first year (but I’ve forgotten the exact amount :().
Every time you go to The Simpsons Official Website, the message on Bart’s blackboard is different. “COOOOL!!!”
>< DARWIN >
__L___L
I taped the intro to “The Simpsons”, and as near as I could tell (and can remember) Maggie cost $83.47.
That sounds about right.
Of course, in the Simpsons special hosted by Troy McClure, they slow the tape down to show that the cash register says, “NRA4EVR”. Troy explains, “Just one of the hundreds of right-wing messages inserted by Matt Groening into the show every season.”
- Rick
Yep, that was what I saw. Of course, I saw it at a family reunion, and was probably ducking flying projectiles and attempting to drown out the screaming at the time, so my focus wasn’t 100%.
One must have chaos in oneself to give birth to a dancing star. -Nietzche
Here’s the answer: www.snpp.com/guides/lisa-2.html#Q1
This is an unoffical Simpsons website (its address is the abbreviation for Springfield Nuclear Power Plant), but Matt Groening has allowed them to use his drawings, so it’s an authorized, unofficial website, or so I’m guessing.
>< DARWIN >
__L___L
On a related question, the article in my local paper today (which says it’s Maude who gets it) said there would be a scene in a cemetery with tombstones for other “Simpsons” characters who’ve died. It mentioned Bleeding Gums Murphy (who shows up in the intro every week…creepy), Homer’s unlucky coworker, Abe’s girlfriend Beatrice and Dr Marvin Monroe. The only reference to Marvin Monroe’s death I’ve seen is in the anniversary special, in which saying that he and Bleeding Gums were the two popular “Simpsons” characters who’d died in the last year was wrong because “they were never that popular.” So when and how did Marvin Monroe die?
And speaking of death not being permanent, did anyone else catch the return of Poochie? Too bad Lionel Hutz has retired; I’d love to hear about the class action lawsuit filed on behalf of Krusty viewers for violation of the “Poochie’s never coming back ever” contract.
I read somewhere that Dr. Marvin Monroe’s death wasn’t actually shown in an episode, but once the Simpsons visited the “Dr. Marvin Monroe Memorial Hospital.” The reason given for killing him off was that the voice actor didn’t like doing the Dr. Marvin voice because it made his throat hurt.
This info might have been on the snpp site, but I don’t remember now.
“I hope life isn’t a big joke, because I don’t get it,” Jack Handy
I don’t think anyone posted this yet but…
I guess it’s final. Look at the schedule I got from “my Excite channel”:
Future Episodes
Alone Again Natura-Diddly, episode #1110 Sun Feb 13 7:00PM
Wow. I doubted it this whole time.
Ooooh! In tonight’s “Horse Whisperer” episode, Maude Flanders sure looked depressed when she pulled the shades!
With God as my witness, I thought turkey’s could fly.
Unfortunately whoever dies, it won’t be handled as nicely as with Abe’s girlfriend, Bea or Bleeding Gums. The Simpson’s has gotten too cartoonish and utterly unreal over the last few years. They haven’t had a touching moment in years.
And this pains me as I am a huge fan. Oh well…I will be watching I think it’ll be Maude. But with the stupid story lines lately…Flanders being 60 and Skinner isn’t himself…It is quite likely whoever is killed will return.
Even Poochie was brought back. It kills me in the original Krusty says they have a sworn affidavit that he’ll never reappear. But in syndication that line is cut…
Oh well what are you gonna do
You’d be depressed too if Homer was making seduction noises at you…
BTW, no apostrophe in the plural of “turkey.”