7. Barney Gumble
Barney - once a promising young student - has now been living a life of alcoholism for some time. While he has tried to kick the habit multiple times, never has he managed to stay away from the drink - which I personally think is a great shame. I'd love to see Barney get his life together and keep it that way as he has so often come close to doing, but that's besides the point. If the Simpsons creators are so set on keeping Barney drunk, then I think it's quite likely that he could be on the road to an early grave. Why? Well first of all there's the fact that Barney's liver surely can't be functioning very well anymore - there's only so much alcohol a human can and should consume. But besides that, Barney's death could be used to spread quite a sincere message not only to the character's on the show, but in real life too. The death of Barney would send a clear message to Homer that alcohol consumption can be very hazardous to your health and may even prompt him to kick or limit the habit. This could result in him being closer to his family, or maybe even raising his IQ slightly. Now you could argue that this flies in the face of everything that the character of Homer has ever been about, but it would be interesting to see nonetheless. Plus, the death of such an iconic Simpsons character could send the same message to real people overusing alcohol across the world. The Simpsons isn't a show you'd expect to send a potentially life-saving message to its viewers, but that doesn't mean that it can't try.