The Simpsons' 10 Most Desperate Attempts To Boost Ratings

During 2014, rumours emerged that a major character’s death was impending. The Simpsons public appeal was dwindling, especially during this time as Family Guy was the more popular animated comedy show, receiving an average of a million more viewers for the previous two seasons. Nothing generates hype like a death, but who was it going to be?

During the opening sequence of the premiere episode of Season 26, an angelic Ned Flanders ascends to the heavens with his hands clasped in prayer, Bart’s blackboard gag read, ’Spoiler alert: unfortunately, my dad doesn’t die.’

In the episode’s beginning, Krusty is going through a rough with his TV career. He decides to see his father, Rabbi Krustofski, for advice. His father says ‘to be honest son, if you want to know my honest opinion of you: you’ve always been… eh!’ Then he dies. Such an underwhelming scene, which suggests the writers were having fun with the rumours and so, dropped it out of nowhere to just do it.

However, The Simpsons had used the hype of a potential death, making it newsworthy for several outlets across the world. The stunt comes across as the writer’s wanting their donut and eating it too. The underwhelming event appears as a deliberate act from the writers: they will use the hype generated around a certain plotline, but downplay it, essentially pulling a fast one on their now-dwindling core audience.