The Simpsons: 10 Major Plot-Holes Everyone Ignores
9. Why Did Sheldon Skinner Look And Sound Like Armin Tamzarian?
In one of the earliest controversial episodes of The Simpsons (The Principal And The Pauper), we discover that Principal Skinner is not actually Seymour Skinner, but Armin Tamzarian. The real Skinner was thought to have died in Vietnam, and when Tamzarian went to deliver the news, he instead took Skinner’s place.
It’s a strange story, and one of the earliest examples of the show jumping the shark, but it does set up some plot holes. For all the explanation of Agnes accepting Tamzarian (denial, and the desire to still have a son) is fairly well done, some other things are harder to explain.
In the episode Raging Abe Simpson and His Grumbling Grandson in "the Curse of the Flying Hellfish", we see Abe’s old army squadron, including Sheldon Skinner. He looks and sounds just like our Skinner, just like the relatives of Wiggum and Barney. The only issue is that our Skinner is actually Tamzarian.
Is Bart simply picturing the characters in this story as the Springfield counterparts he knows? Hopefully, because that’s the only way this makes any sense. Otherwise Tamzarian’s father must have also stolen the identity of someone named Skinner.