Yes. That and liquor stores around here. (ETA: And gas stations and Dunkin Donuts for some reason.) Although there’s also the doctor and tech support stereotype, too. Not so much spelling bee champs, AFAIK.
I’m sure I’ve seen Indian or Indian subcontinent guys working at 7-11s- just that I don’t know if that’s what people think of when they think of Indians now. And for the record the last six winners of the Scripps spelling bee have been Indian-American - not that positive stereotypes are OK, but I’m not sure Apu represents what he once might have. I’d like to think his development as a character makes him far more than a stereotype anyway, but I can understand that people of Indian descent might feel differently.
I certainly think the convenience store stereotype is eroding, but it’s still out there, in my experience.
As for the spelling bee, I don’t think enough people follow that to know the last 6 winners were Indian Americans. My guess is if you stopped a random person on the street and asked them what ethnicity the last six spelling bee winners were, the stereotypes would lead them to East Asian rather than South Asian. That’s my guess.
I’ll go with Rabbi Krustofski, too.
The regular characters are probably contractually immortal.
Yes and Subway sandwich shop & motel owner/operators, too.
Around here the first generation of Indian immigrants came because of the local university. So the doctor stereotype came first.
A promo for the season said there will be a Sideshow Bob episode this season. Maybe they’ll kill him off.
Interesting note: Kelsey Grammer has been playing Sideshow Bob for more years than he played Fraser Crane.
The shark.
Bye everybody
I was going to reply “same here” and then realized our "here"s are the same.
Edna Krabapple
Haven’t they done this already? Just how stale is this show going to get?
Be bold. Make it Bart.
They’ve had a handful of characters die over the years. It turns out you can address death in more than one way- especially if you have a cast of hundreds to choose from.
A side note on the Indians-as-convenience-store-clerks business…
Years ago I read this Sherlock Holmes pastiche by Caleb Carr called The Italian Secretary. The novel itself didn’t do much for me (it had a lot of good elements but the whole didn’t seem up to the sum of its parts), but there was one bit I got a kick out of…apparently Holmes and Watson get their tobacco from a “sundries shop” with a “Punjabi proprietor.” Thank you, come again!
So who do I think will get killed off? My money’s on Grampa or, as others have said, Rabbi Krustofsky.
You don’t say!
Lets not pretend this is anything but a gimmick, and as I say its a gimmick they have used before.
I think the real news story here is: “The Simpsons” Is Still On!
Ok. So?
Of course it’s a gimmick. What else could it even be?
I don’t know, man. It’s pretty shocking that a TV series would stoop to gimmickry to get viewers.
I’m betting on Grandpa Simpson, because the writers have run thru every imaginable old person joke at least a dozen times by now.