The Simpsons Kill Off Character - Nobody Cares

Sunday night€™s season 26 premiere of The Simpsons delivered on its promise to kill off a character when it aired in the United States, but was dead on arrival. For months now, hype has been mounting as to which Springfield resident would bite the dust, with the likes of stalwarts Chief Wiggum, Sideshow Bob, Moe Szyslak and Krusty the Clown all in the frame. Much excitement has been building ever since Executive producer Al Jean revealed a character would meet their maker last October, with the popular animation having not killed off a permanent member of its 'cast' since a stray tee-shirt knocked Maude Flanders off a racetrack grandstand in Season 11 episode 'Alone Again, Natura-Diddily' way back in 2000. The episode title 'Clown In The Dumps' indicated stand-up comic Krusty might be about to take his last custard cream pie to the face, (as predicted by some) but instead, it was his father, Hyman Krustofski, who kicked the bucket. Not a beloved character viewers are seriously invested in, like say, Homer, Bart, or an immediate member of the Simpson family, nor indeed a regular cast member.

The mystery death that the show's creators have been hyping and building up to over the last 12 months was that of a bit-part character, who has appeared in no more than 11 episodes of the show and was last seen in 2011 episode "Holidays of Future Passed". Fans have taken to social micro networking site Twitter to complain that the death was "underwhelming." Here's a collection of some of the best Tweets.

We have to say, we were expecting the show to write off someone with more relevance and popularity, such as Krusty himself, and feel a little cheated that the writers elected to 'kill' a character who hasn't even been on our screens in three years. A "Who Shot JR" moment it certainly was not. Do you think the Simpsons death was a let-down? Let us know in the comments thread, below.