The Worst Simpsons Character

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As a flipside to those lovely minor character japes we were having. Though I fear we may get a bit unanimous on the result as soon as I mention Bleeding - Gums - Murphy. But prove me wrong...

Pete, Friday, 5 October 2001 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Bart's not great. Neither was Mrs Flanders.

Pete - I wanna 'sax' you up.

Nick, Friday, 5 October 2001 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

I've just been outside for a cigarette to rack my brains for a worse character than bleeding gums, but I can't. Pete you're bang on the money.

chris, Friday, 5 October 2001 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Bleeding Gums is probably on the money, unless you count some of the celebrity appearances.

Nicole, Friday, 5 October 2001 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

ooh yeah, Paul and Linda were pretty damn cringeworthy, and I really didn't like the Michael Jackson episode.

chris, Friday, 5 October 2001 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

For some reason, the Krusty episodes always leave me cold, with the possible exception of the one where he becomes a standup comedy sensation. I also think Sideshow Bob is wretched.

Martin Swope, Friday, 5 October 2001 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Increasingly the Comic Book Guy is the worst. character. ever. He's nothing but Interweb whipping boy lately and it's, along with the overall awfulness of early Bart, the only other time I can think of where a character lapsed into lazy carictature and little more.

scott p., Friday, 5 October 2001 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Well, obviously the "character" itself didn't...

scott p., Friday, 5 October 2001 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

these threads about the simpsons suck without pictures

Mike Hanle y, Friday, 5 October 2001 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

excuse me - try the little fuckwit who was australian and answered bart's phonecall about the way the water went - that fucking accent...uuurgh

Geoff, Friday, 5 October 2001 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Pete is right. This thread can surely go nowhere else.

Ally C, Friday, 5 October 2001 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Carl, cause hes no Lenny thats for sure.

Mr Noodles, Friday, 5 October 2001 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

The two french guys based on them out of Manon des Sources (Ugolin and er...) who Bart went to stay with when he was exchanged for an Albanian boy. And the Albanian boy himself as well. Actually, that whole episode was dreadful.

Madchen, Friday, 5 October 2001 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Disco Stu is (I think) the most intentionally weak character.

fritz, Friday, 5 October 2001 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Lisa....................

Ronan, Friday, 5 October 2001 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

I second the Lisa vote. She injects unnecessary morality into something that is otherwise so impressively unwholesome. And her voice grates.

nickie, Friday, 5 October 2001 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

God does it grate......I mean I could list 20 episodes where she was the main focus that were absolute crap. The episodes about Homer are always gold.

Ronan, Friday, 5 October 2001 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Professor Frink is almost embarrassingly unfunny.

Prude, Friday, 5 October 2001 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

what Prude said. no talkin bad bout Lisa.

Tracer Hand, Friday, 5 October 2001 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Frink=Gold if only for the line I mentioned yesterday "the kung fu fiiiighting".

Ronan, Friday, 5 October 2001 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

i second bleeding gums murphy. i like lisa.

di, Friday, 5 October 2001 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

bleeding gums murphy or the twin blue-haired igrls. they don't even do anything.

Maria, Friday, 5 October 2001 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

I like Lisa too. The substitute teacher episode is one of my favorites, esp. the end when Homer acts like a gorilla.

youn, Friday, 5 October 2001 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

I like the twin blue-haired girls. What they do is this: look creepy.

1 1 2 3 5, Friday, 5 October 2001 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

greatest moment of the blue haired girls was when homer becomes the football coach.

terri or sherri: you ruined our undefeated season. you ruined everything, ruiner...my sister likes you.

i absolutely cannot stand troy mcclure.

ernest, Friday, 5 October 2001 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Apu.
I like Lisa too.

sundar subramanian, Friday, 5 October 2001 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Lisa's moralising is connected to weak characters like Bleeding Gums Murphy, but on the other hand without the moral dimension the Simpsons would be South Park, ie not classic.

maryann, Saturday, 6 October 2001 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

i always found marge much more moralistic and annoying than lisa. she fucks everything up.

dr. marvin monroe, bleeding gums, the michael jackson character, and sideshow bob (now, not 5 years or so ago) annoy the hell out of me. the whole first and second season are actually pretty irritating, and each new season is getting a little more irritating as well.

your null fame, Tuesday, 9 October 2001 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

For days I've been trying to think of someone to add here, just so I could say "Worst. Character. EVER." But alas I could think of none I felt so strongly about. oh well.

Samantha, Tuesday, 9 October 2001 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Why don't Irish people like Lisa?

Nick, Wednesday, 10 October 2001 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

I am surprised no one has mentioned Patty and Selma - how else does one explain the way they've been written out of the show?Early Homer had an annoying voice...when Dan Castellaneta stopped being Walter Matthau,he became classic.

Damian, Wednesday, 10 October 2001 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Yeah, I was going to say Marge Flanders, but the first person pointed out how badly Bleeding Gums Murphy sucked and I have to agree. He's the worst character they ever made. Marge is the worst semi-permanent character they ever made, mostly because they never bothered to round out her personality.

Nude Spock, Wednesday, 10 October 2001 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

I also hate episodes revolving around Lisa or Marge Simpson (I just realized I think I wrote marge flanders last time; I meant Maude-- it's Maude, right?). I also hate episodes revolving around Marge Simpsons's twin Sisters and that Milhouse's dad, who got divorced.

Order of hatred (one being most hated):
1. Bleeding Gums Murphy
2. Maude Flanders
3. Lisa Simpson
4. Marge Simpson
5. Marge's Twin Sisters
6. Milhouse's dad, who got divorced.
6. Oh yeah, and Apu's wife.

Nude Spock, Wednesday, 10 October 2001 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

6. Might as well throw in one more six for good luck: I also dislike Stampy the Elephant.

Nude Spock, Wednesday, 10 October 2001 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

oh, not Stampy! How can you dislike Stampy? $10 000 or an elephant? The humour is sublime.

rainy, Wednesday, 10 October 2001 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

the more i read this thread , the more i dislike marge.

anthony, Thursday, 11 October 2001 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Godamnnit, I hate Lisa too. Shes such a self-righteous bitch. Must be an Irish thing. All the episodes focused on her suck ass.

Michael Bourke, Thursday, 11 October 2001 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Bart is dull

Mike Hanle y, Thursday, 11 October 2001 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Lisa annoys me too but she is necessary - she is the show's conscience.Or is she?

Damian, Thursday, 11 October 2001 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

five months pass...
i want to stick up for marge, because she is actually quite unpredictable. remember when she went a bit wild and bought spiced ham? and drove the supermarket trolley into the giant cheese? or when she joined in the 'you don't win friends with salad' chant? in fact, the more i think about it, the more i love marge.

lisa is also totally unfairly being shredded to pieces here, her less flattering attributes being focussed on. yes, she's moral and often quite vocal about it. but she also has a good laugh watching itchy and scratchy, is smart, went off her nut after drinking the water at duff gardens, is funny when she looks pissed orf.

nobody can argue that homer isn't classic. but recently, the show has become weaker and weaker as it relies more and more on homer's dumbarse hijinks. compared to homer these days, marge and lisa are fresh and intoxicating.

and yes, the worst character ever is bleeding gums murphy. also, ralph wiggum is a used cartridge, time to kill him off.

minna, Thursday, 4 April 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Nooooo - that would DESTROY the Chief. He loves that crazy kid.

Other duds: Grandpa Simpson and Groundskeeper Willy.

Underused character: Luigi.

Andrew L, Thursday, 4 April 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Homer = Al Bundy in pastel colours. Futuram vs The Simpson FITE. New "no contest" answers (which I wouldn't agree with).

powertonevolume, Thursday, 4 April 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

I never liked the guy that played the seductive Bowling instructor to Marge in that one episode. No one dislikes Rainer Wolfcastle - or whatever his name is?

marianna, Thursday, 4 April 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

this thread has been going for, like, EVER, and i can't believe none of you people bothered to mention Dr Hibbet.

Wyndham Earl, Thursday, 4 April 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

uh-HUH-hohoho but he's hilarious

mark s, Thursday, 4 April 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

what you do Lisa is squeeze all your rage into a little ball and then release it as nervous laughter, can you do that?

i.e. classic

chris, Thursday, 4 April 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

STING

ducklingmonster, Thursday, 4 April 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Gil the nervy salesman guy. He sucks.

adam, Saturday, 6 April 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Barney and Moe bore me a bit. We've done their superficial characters, we've done their hidden talents/qualities - there's nowhere for them to go. Ditto Otto.

I have an irrational hatred on Mr Van Houten. I think it's because he mocks my baldness.

Mark C, Saturday, 6 April 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)


i need to mention that my favourite guest appearance was by John Waters,
wherein america's favourite famiy meets their first-ever gay person

petite verte, Saturday, 6 April 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

xp lmao wins

flappy bird, Sunday, 3 December 2017 23:35 (seven years ago)

the scene in "Thirty Minutes Over Tokyo" where they're on the plane is hilarious, riding that incredibly offensive knife's edge:

"Come on, Homer. Japan will be fun. You liked Rashomon."
"That's not how I remember it. Besides, if we wanted to see Japanese people we could've gone to the zoo."
"Homer!"
"What? The guy who washes the elephants is Japanese. His name is Takashi. He's in my book club!"

and then the stewardess telling Bart to turn off his GameBoy because it fucks with the plane, he turns it off, "you're the boss," the plane nosedives

flappy bird, Sunday, 3 December 2017 23:42 (seven years ago)

...how on earth is that last part a racial issue? Unless you mean her accent when she shrieks "turn it back on!"

Stoop Crone (Trayce), Monday, 4 December 2017 00:51 (seven years ago)

it's not i just thought it was funny

flappy bird, Monday, 4 December 2017 00:56 (seven years ago)

o ok fair enough! Yeah I love that episode, I know a lot of ppl dont.

Stoop Crone (Trayce), Monday, 4 December 2017 02:47 (seven years ago)

also the super advanced toilet "i am honored to accept your waste"

flappy bird, Monday, 4 December 2017 04:12 (seven years ago)

lmao and Homer just walking through the paper doors in the hotel. sorry im watching the episode on yotube

flappy bird, Monday, 4 December 2017 04:13 (seven years ago)

"its loaded with wasabi!" was a phrase used in our house a lot at one point, Ive no idea why.

Stoop Crone (Trayce), Monday, 4 December 2017 05:50 (seven years ago)

Lisa is amazing for those reasons. She acts as a proxy for the square audience member who comments critically on the absurdity of what's going on. She is a manifestation of the smug audience member who questions continuity. Without her this show would just be Family Guy

I had this post in the back of my mind when I watched last night's episode (I don't often watch new ones, but I've been under the weather and couch-bound all weekend, and it was on). It was about an adult Lisa reflecting back on three of her birthdays--so right away, they're combining three formats that they've often fallen back on in the lean years: flashback episode, future episode and three-story compilation. One of the segments is about Lisa discovering, on her fourteenth birthday, that Marge is planning to leave Homer (blah blah blah scheme to get them back together), and another is about Lisa's eighteenth birthday coinciding with her first day at Harvard, where she meets her freshman-year roommate (hints of a possible lesbian affair to come are dropped). There's a scene where Bart, now a twenty-year-old dirtbag scoring with Harvard girls wanting to piss off their fathers, tells Lisa that if anyone deserves to be at Harvard, it's her. I dunno. The episode wasn't funny, well-written, well-structured or inventive (they've officially run out of clever riffs on the post-Trump, technophile future), but stuff like this really gets to me these days. Despite the ever-fluid temporal setting, I really have come to see Homer/Marge, and Bart/Lisa, as generational avatars, with the former as boomers (read: my parents) and the latter as whatever the post-Gen X, pre-millennial designation is (read: me), and when the series makes even the sloppiest attempt (as this probably was) to suggest anything about the long-term durability of the relationships within this family, well, I guess that's something of a soft spot for me.

So yeah, weak episode, but I was damn near in tears by the end of it.

iCloudius (cryptosicko), Monday, 4 December 2017 13:44 (seven years ago)

On the Apu character isn't racist side as well. I suppose these days you'd say it was great they put a fully-rounded immigrant character on TV.

spanish speaking bumblebee man is really just a dumb running joke about the Spanish language in the US.

I always felt there was an affectionate pastiche of Chespirito, whom this was based on:

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/nov/29/chespirito-comedian-dies-simpsons-mexico-bumblebee-man

(I watched "El Chavo" mostly, his work was pretty surreal but I'm willing to bet -- without spending a few hours watching this again -- that it captures a certain sorta vibe his work had)

xyzzzz__, Monday, 4 December 2017 17:00 (seven years ago)

On the Apu character isn't racist side as well. I suppose these days you'd say it was great they put a fully-rounded immigrant character on TV.

you are insane

Οὖτις, Monday, 4 December 2017 17:04 (seven years ago)

It seems pretty shitty to dismiss the concerns of the stereotyped/offended group in these kinds of scenarios. I have distinct memories of my Indian/South Asian friends - who were also Simpsons fans - stating in no uncertain terms that Apu was a racist caricature in the mid-90s, and it's pretty clear that the character is built around an offensive stereotype, no matter how nuanced or developed the character came to be. He still has *that* voice and *that* job and *that* appearance. There are still jokes/storylines/gags centered around Apu that I think are great, but yeah at heart we're talking about a racist caricature voiced by a white person specifically for that purpose.

Οὖτις, Monday, 4 December 2017 17:09 (seven years ago)

I wish someone would make a documentary or something so we don't have to have this stupid argument

mag gerwig! (Whiney G. Weingarten), Monday, 4 December 2017 17:11 (seven years ago)

the trailer for which prompted this thread revive

Οὖτις, Monday, 4 December 2017 17:14 (seven years ago)

The trailer pretty much lays it all out! I don't understand how anyone can watch the whole trailer and still have more to say about this!

mag gerwig! (Whiney G. Weingarten), Monday, 4 December 2017 17:16 (seven years ago)

I'm not dismissing your friend's concerns, but its not as if its just someone with a funny accent, no back-story, or that Apu is the butt of everyone's jokes. There is very little cruelty that I could see, and if some arseholes took that as license to make fun in the playground or what have you that's sad but that's how people behave in general, with no sensitivity at a certain age.

Like many I only watched The Simpsons to season 10 or so but in that time and through several eps they put Apu centre stage and specifically developed the character. Like Krusty and Skinner and others too.

xyzzzz__, Monday, 4 December 2017 17:16 (seven years ago)

saying it "isn't racist" when a bunch of other Indians/South Asians explicitly call it out as racist (like they do in the trailer, which incidentally does not include any of my friends) is literally dismissing their concerns.

Οὖτις, Monday, 4 December 2017 17:18 (seven years ago)

Twenty years since they introduced Manjula :o Wonder how many episodes she's appeared in since.

nashwan, Monday, 4 December 2017 17:19 (seven years ago)

Its the first time I am having this argument. Let me have it in peace thanks.

xyzzzz__, Monday, 4 December 2017 17:19 (seven years ago)

amusingly enough there's a recent Simpsons episode centering around Apu's nephew who in the end calls out Apu for being a tired and offensive stereotype, I was pretty surprised that they'd go there

frogbs, Monday, 4 December 2017 17:20 (seven years ago)

dismissal vs disagreement

xyzzzz__, Monday, 4 December 2017 17:22 (seven years ago)

Ooh they begged him to join the Stereotypes bowling team, begged him.

nashwan, Monday, 4 December 2017 17:22 (seven years ago)

haha yeah that's from what, season 7 or something?

Οὖτις, Monday, 4 December 2017 17:23 (seven years ago)

The trailer pretty much lays it all out! I don't understand how anyone can watch the whole trailer and still have more to say about this!

have you ever uh been online before?

A True White Kid that can Jump (Granny Dainger), Monday, 4 December 2017 17:40 (seven years ago)

I hear that if a shark stops swimming it dies

Evan, Monday, 4 December 2017 17:42 (seven years ago)

i hear that all the sharks swimming in flooded houston freeways died when they stopped swimming

j., Monday, 4 December 2017 17:43 (seven years ago)

I tot see (now) why Apu is objectionable. I am unsurprised that The Simpsons' creator and staff, having grown up in the '70s, didn't see it that way. "Funny accents" were everywhere in comedy, being done by white comedians.

ice cream social justice (Dr Morbius), Monday, 4 December 2017 17:55 (seven years ago)

Considering that the show got its start on The Tracy Ullman Show, I'm a little surprised there weren't more "funny accent" characters from the get-go.

Embalming is a flirty business (DJP), Monday, 4 December 2017 17:57 (seven years ago)

there are things in the simpsons that stick out as dated now (teachers smoking in school, homer strangling bart, the gay panic in the john waters episode) but apu is ott, and stories like Vinnie's are sobering, there's no getting around it. i'm not sure there's anything else in the show that is as offensive and dated

flappy bird, Monday, 4 December 2017 18:01 (seven years ago)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WlRV6yxZUSQ

mag gerwig! (Whiney G. Weingarten), Monday, 4 December 2017 18:04 (seven years ago)

Well, the other Asian characters might qualify (eg akira(?) the Japanese waiter), certainly in terms of performance

sonnet by a wite kid, "On Æolian Grief" (wins), Monday, 4 December 2017 18:05 (seven years ago)

not denying the show used plenty of stereotypes. this was the 90s, this was pre-internet. Apu was very bad, they should not have done that. it really sucks that this show contributed to the bullying of specific people by someone in a more powerful position. from what it sounds like, the voice actor purposefully used a stereotype because he thought it was funny. somewhere else i have read it wasn't that, and that the writers wrote him that way. i am not sure what the story is tbh. does the documentary clear this up? i know Azaria refused to be in it...

AdamVania (Adam Bruneau), Wednesday, 6 December 2017 17:23 (seven years ago)

I am unsurprised that The Simpsons' creator and staff, having grown up in the '70s, didn't see it that way

didn't Harvard/National Lampoon played w a lot of ironic hate comedy?

AdamVania (Adam Bruneau), Wednesday, 6 December 2017 17:25 (seven years ago)

https://imgur.com/gallery/H1X8R

mag gerwig! (Whiney G. Weingarten), Wednesday, 6 December 2017 17:37 (seven years ago)

three weeks pass...

https://longreads.com/2017/12/29/the-other-people-in-springfield

Chocolate-covered gummy bears? Not ruling those lil' guys out. (ulysses), Friday, 29 December 2017 16:37 (seven years ago)

three months pass...

That's a really shitty way to respond.

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/04/09/arts/television/the-simpsons-responds-to-criticism-about-apu.html

xyzzzz__, Monday, 9 April 2018 20:21 (seven years ago)

it's pretty obvious stuff but I loved Paper's takedown of this

http://www.papermag.com/the-simpsons-apu-2558301508.html

RIP The Simpsons

boxedjoy, Monday, 9 April 2018 20:26 (seven years ago)

cancel the simpsons

global tetrahedron, Monday, 9 April 2018 20:27 (seven years ago)

some discussion here LONG DUK DONG

Louis Jägermeister (jim in vancouver), Monday, 9 April 2018 20:31 (seven years ago)

https://www.wpr.org/simpsons-problem-apu-drop-dead

𝔠𝔞𝔢𝔨 (caek), Monday, 9 April 2018 21:29 (seven years ago)

The youtube regurgitation engine recently brought this to my attention and it made me a bit sad

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=p8M2tg2RkIQ

mfktz (Camaraderie at Arms Length), Monday, 9 April 2018 22:09 (seven years ago)

I want the Lisa who rightfully recoiled from the sexist nonsense spouted by Talking Malibu Stacy to come forward in time and talk some sense into this Lisa.

Millennial Whoop, wanna fight about it? (Phil D.), Monday, 9 April 2018 23:00 (seven years ago)

fuck the Simpsons. worst possible response

Hazy Maze Cave (Adam Bruneau), Tuesday, 10 April 2018 13:03 (seven years ago)

They had an episode a few years ago where Utkarsh Ambudkar played Apu's hip nephew Pujya who criticized Apu for being a cliche. Then the nephew never returned and Apu remained the same.

adam the (abanana), Tuesday, 10 April 2018 13:49 (seven years ago)

I mean, Azaria himself said he was instructed to make Apu's accent "as offensive as possible" when he got the part. I'd almost respect The Simpsons more if they just said some version of "fuck yeah, we're out to offend people".

No purposes. Sounds. (Sund4r), Tuesday, 10 April 2018 13:57 (seven years ago)

still not sure where this matt groening went given that he apparently had helped in the writing of this latest

doing deep Simpsons research and noticing a LOT of notes from MG about removing racist/ableist/homophobic jokes pic.twitter.com/JJBl2cCjPy

— Wow, Bob Mackey! (@bobservo) July 27, 2016

global tetrahedron, Tuesday, 10 April 2018 14:06 (seven years ago)

good job getting anyone to gaf about a new simpsons episode tho

Google lobster hierarchies (Bananaman Begins), Tuesday, 10 April 2018 14:43 (seven years ago)

update pic.twitter.com/wB0CMLvogl

— MGK Hockey 1234 (@mightygodking) April 10, 2018

Millennial Whoop, wanna fight about it? (Phil D.), Tuesday, 10 April 2018 15:23 (seven years ago)

Lisa is the milkshake duck Simpsons character

Hazy Maze Cave (Adam Bruneau), Tuesday, 10 April 2018 21:31 (seven years ago)

i don't like her saying it was "inoffensive". she does not get to decide what is offensive or not. it is a misuse of power. the show is now a bully.

Hazy Maze Cave (Adam Bruneau), Tuesday, 10 April 2018 21:32 (seven years ago)


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