WHY THE FAKE SEYMOUR SKINNER EPISODE MADE ME GIVE UP ON THE SIMPSONS

[TMC]

https://nerdist.com/the-simpsons-fak...edium=referral

I always remembered two things about “The Principal and the Pauper:” it was the dumbest thing the show had ever done, and it ended by insisting that no one would ever acknowledge it had ever happened. Before writing this, I went back and watched the episode for maybe the first time in 20 years. What stands out now is how mean-spirited it is.

Not only did it reveal to us that the Skinner we had always known and liked was a fraud, but it presented all of Springfield as awful jerks. It ends with the whole town locking up the real Skinner, a war hero, on a train and shipping him out, with Judge Snyder saying, “No one will ever mention this again.”

The meat of the episode is the revelation that our buttoned up Skinner was a no-good teenager, a story they could have told in any number of ways. They could have even had his presumed dead mentor show up. Almost everything they wanted to do could have been done without the unforgivable “fake Skinner” aspect, which the writers subconsciously knew was stupid and detestable, hence the whole “we’ll pretend this never happened” ending. If they knew it was a bad idea, why do it at all? One of the smartest shows ever was knowingly being stupid, and for what? For something they knew fans wouldn’t like? It’s like no one working on the show cared about the viewers or the characters.

The Simpsons was the best show on TV because it was smart and funny, and because it was full of characters worth caring about. All of the things that were there from the first episode were betrayed by fake Skinner.

The Simpsons is still my favorite show, and that’s why I don’t need science to tell me when it stopped being the best. I know exactly when it broke my heart–when it stopped having one.

[king of comedy]

The Simpsons died after that episode.

[MrCleveland]

That ep was the demise of The Simpsons.

Now they're the show that never ends!

[mets82]

I'm surprised. I thought the episode was funny. Not only that, they have had some funny episodes since then so I don't think it was the demise. Now, I think the reason why the real Skinner, A War Hero, was tied up, wasn't because of his service but that he was a real jerk. Just watch the scene when he talks to Agnes and borrows the car and insists on going out. That scene came off like he was a real jerk.