2. Revealing Skinner As An Imposter
Where do we even begin? What can we possibly add at this point? For those who don't know, or have happily forgotten (believe us, we wish we could), in the Season 9 episode "The Principal and the Pauper" Seymour Skinner, who had been with the show since the very first episode, revealed himself to be an imposter by the name of Armin Tamzarian. The real Skinner (voiced by Martin Sheen) turned up in Springfield after being presumed dead in Vietnam and wanted his life back. Well as it turned out, he was a jerk and the town decided they liked Tamzarian better and brought him back to take over as Principal (and the role of Agnes Skinners son). This was the very worst case of a pointless shock storyline, designed to get people talking. Fans were furious about the desecration of the character and the voice of Skinner himself, Harry Shearer absolutely hated the episode. God help us all if people had Twitter in 1997! It was also frustrating that this big reveal was simply swept under the rug by the episodes end, never to be mentioned again. Well the show has poked fun at it occasionally, but it's probably for the best that it's never mentioned again. Under penalty of torture!