Essentially a parody of U.S. Senator Ted Kennedy, Mayor Quimby is a "timeless" Simpsons character whose defining trait seems to be "falling flat at every turn." That's to say, as Mayor of Springfield, you'd have expected the show to have managed to deliver a more consistently hilarious character than this one. Even Family Guy (a far lesser show than The Simpsons, all things considered) have Mayor Adam West, who is - generally speaking - able to make even the briefest appearance entirely memorable. Mayor Quimby isn't likeable or particularly funny, nor has he ever really felt like a proper, fleshed-out character on The Simpsons - not in the same way that Ned Flanders, Principal Skinner and countless others do. And yet you'll always find him breaking the upper echelons of "Best Simpsons Character" lists, which apparently feel obliged to include him. Why?!
Sam Hill is an ardent cinephile and has been writing about film professionally since 2008. He harbours a particular fondness for western and sci-fi movies.
