Marcia Wallace, 1942-2013

Did you read ZOMBIE SIMPSONS? The conclusion holds out the death of the actors as the only hope for ever ending the show.

http://deadhomersociety.com/zombiesimpsons/

Price is too high though. What a bummer that she’s gone.

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Good lord, there are college students today who weren’t born when that show started… :O

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We’re nearing the end of an era, here. Marcia Wallace was seventy when she died. The youngest regular cast member is Yeardley Smith, and she’s 49. Harry Shearer is just a year younger than Wallace. Drop him, and there goes Burns, Flanders, Smithers, Brockman, Lovejoy, Otto…

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“Bart Gets An F” is one of the most genuinely moving comedy episodes ever made, and it shows that Mrs. Krabappel actually did care about her students (unlike Ms. Hoover).

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@DensityDuck: Yes, The Simpsons will never reach those creative glory days of Season Negative Seven.

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Any chance on a moratorium on “Simpsons hasn’t been good since…” comments on a post mourning a death? Any?

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Random note: If you go to http://www.mightygodking.com you get the nginix splash page.

Might want to check your config.

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I’d stopped watching the newest Simpsons episodes, so I wasn’t aware of any of the latest changes that’d been made, but I came across a delightful tribute by Jessie Baker on Facebook that I thought was worth sharing for posterity:

“It’s horrible news. Wallace was one of the few redeeming things about the Simpsons ever since the decline of the series sank in and Edna’s entire arc in terms of being fleshed out and becoming a close friend of Bart and Skinner (who she should have married instead of Flanders) kept me watching the series regularly until they broke her and Skinner up. And even then, her relationship with Flanders was great in that she was a great counterbalance to Ned in terms of opposites attract.

This more than the death of Hartman is the death knell of the series. Hartman’s characters were along the fringe and could be missed but Edna was in the first level supporting cast and as such, the loss of her character is going to leave a massive hole in the series that it will probably never recover from.

In the zombie years of the Simpsons, Wallace and Ms Krabappel were one of the few reasons to continue to watch the show. Her evolution from cliched evil teacher to a mentor and adult friend to Bart remains on of the show’s best arcs and her relationship with Skinner was one of the few redeeming points of the Sully era. I remember being so pissed off that they broke them up that I stopped watching the show religiously, as I was that strongly invested in her relationship with Skinner.

Sure she was cynical and broken by the world, or at least by a divorce that (ironically) remains one of the ultra rare plot points that has never been followed up on in the 25 years the show has been on the air, but deep down Edna cared and it reflected in her relationship with Bart and Skinner and Bart over the years as the ice queen facade melted away and Edna realized that hope still existed. To the point that by the time she ended up marrying Ned Flanders, she had grown enough as a character, that she was the perfect person for Ned to marry, since she was the perfect outgoing and realistic foil for Ned’s conservative and naive worldview.

More than Hartman, this is a death that will be a severe and probably inescapable death blow for the series, as unlike Hartman (who played fringe characters), Edna was a major figure on the show and her departure will leave a massive gap that they will not be able to fill.

Rest in peace Marcia Wallace, you will be missed…..”

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De Nada.
Sorry for not mentioning it sooner.

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