It has to be a fairly minor character that’s connected to the main cast. No way in hell they get rid of someone like Grandpa or Apu.
Apu needs to open up a brothel.
“thank you come again”.
It’s almost been done.
Edna Krabappel looks good (?) to me, too. Marcia Wallace won an Emmy for her voice work on the show, she’s over 70, had a breast cancer scare. She may be calling it quits. Time to Maude her. Which would make Ned a two-time widower. Makes you wonder if the Nedna thing was planned to lead to this.
I have no idea what that says. Is it in German?
When have they done this before? Serious question: I haven’t watched much in recent seasons. I know characters have died on the show, but don’t remember a build-up of “Someone’s going to kick the bucket - watch and find out!” Phil Hartman’s characters weren’t that way for obvious reasons, and I don’t remember a big mystery, per se, when Maude or Bleeding Gums Murphy died… Who am I missing?
They did this for Maude. It was idiotic then too.
Technically, Hartman’s characters didn’t die. (Dr. Nick Riviera appeared in background scenes for quite a while after Hartman died.)
There was also no big build-up or mystery when Homer’s mother died (“for real, this time!”).
The closest I remember to a build-up (besides the whole “Who Shot Mr. Burns?” thing in the 1990s) was when Milhouse’s mother left the show, and even then, the build-up was done so it was obvious who it would be (and on top of that, the character eventually returned to the show).
As well he should! Dr. Nick is voiced by Hank Azaria. 
Dr Nick is (and always has been) Hank Azaria’s character. Hartman did Lionel Hutz and Troy McClure. (And others, but those were the only recurring characters that were primarily his.)
(He may also actually already be dead, since AFAICT, he hasn’t appeared since his apparent death in the movie.)
Apu (Hank Azaria) by some a.hole East Asian hater.
From Wiki:
Jay Sherman will come back to town only to be killed by none other than Matt Groening for saying “IT STINKS” regarding a Futurama movie.
Cute.
But I originally asked just how stale was this show going to get. You obviously disagree, but when a once quality show is not only resorting to cheap gimmicks to try and attract viewers, but is actually having to reuse a cheap gimmick they used already, personally I would consider that to really be scraping the barrel.
I dunno, your quote above suggests that perhaps you think The Simpsons was always about cheap gimmicks. For myself I remember the show in its prime being a little bit smarter than that.
They certainly would never have pulled a stunt like having Homer meet a famous musician, putting out music videos and albums, or running a nationwide contest to figure out who shot Mr. Burns! My argument is that TV shows do stuff to promote themselves and we all know it, so tut-tutting about “gimmickry” is kind of absurd. I also think you may be overestimating what they’re doing here. It’s promotion, not a desperate bid for attention.
“May I speak with Mr Patel?”
“Why do you think that because I manage a motel my name is Patel? My name is Mr Singh.”
“I’m looking for Mr Sanjay Patel.”
“He’s the owner, but he’s never here.”
Never mind. 
And what if their latest promotion was to announce an upcoming mystery surrounding who shot local bully Nelson Muntz?
“Springfield wins the lottery, but in a twist local bully Nelson Muntz signs the ticket and keeps all the money for himself! Haha! Deprived of their money the whole town hates him, and when he is found shot and unconscious following a fractious town meeting anybody could be a suspect!”
Do you think if you heard that you wouldn’t wonder if just perhaps this show is getting a little stale? But somehow its different when they repeat the “A character is going to be killed off” plot?
How many ‘Homer and Marge are fighting’ or ‘Homer doesn’t get Lisa’ or ‘Bart does something and feels guilty’ stories have they had? The originality of the plot isn’t the point, it’s how well the story works. They did one kind of story when Bleeding Gums Murphy died and another when Mona Simpson died, and if this succeeds, it’ll be another kind.
And they did a third when Maude died and it really didn’t go so well.
The fact that this episode is heading down that path again isn’t a good sign.