Last night The Simpsons gave a great big middle finger America, when they killed off Jackie Mason's’ character Rabbi Hyman Krustofsky, A.K.A. Krusty’s dad. The show received a lot of press when it was announced they were killing off a beloved Emmy winning character. However, like a hyperbole heavy Buzzfeed title, the episode failed to blow minds. Where Jackie Mason is a top notch talent, Krusty’s dad, and his fist full of appearances, isn’t what a lot of fans would refer to as beloved, nor did his passing pull on the heartstrings. How could it, Hyman was little more than a obscure family member to a side character, whose total number of episodes can comes to 11, if you count minor spots.
Last night The Simpsons wasted what could have been a golden opportunity to regain interest in the series. The show promised us the emotional death of a beloved character. Instead, we said goodbye to minor side character, who most viewers forget existed in the first place. Executive Producer Al Jean recently downplayed the hype, while admitting to over-hyping in the first place, telling USA Today:
"It was not designed to be a premiere or a promotable event. I was doing a phone interview and somebody said, 'What's coming up?' and I thought instead of saying it directly, I'll just say the actor (who voices the character) won an Emmy. And the next thing I knew, it was on the front pages in Uruguay and the sensation grew. Well, once that happened, we said, 'OK, let's make a big deal of it.'"
Jean defended the tease to Entertainment Weekly, insisting that Rabbi Hyman was a beloved character, while seemingly failing to recognize that he wasn’t:
“He is beloved. Jackie Mason is wonderful. And he’s still with us. Secondly, we’re not the kind of show that does these really horrific things to its characters. Everybody loves these characters, and I would never kill Krusty. I thought I was never even implying that. But people misinterpreted ‘Clown in the Dumps,’ and then once I was tied into this craziness, I said, ‘Okay, I guess we should go with it.’ But the third thing is I think it just works as a sweet show, which is most important. It was something that would be a good exploration of the characters. I thought it’d be good to say, ‘This is what people think of heaven but it’s not exactly what you’re going to get--it’s more what you do on Earth that matters.’…. If you look back at the clues we gave, everything adds up, so I would find that satisfying. I wouldn’t feel like I was misled.”
What did you think of the episode? Do you feel misled? Let us know your thoughts in the comments section at the bottom of the page.
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