Fox is kicking off the start of its fall season tonight, with a string on new shows. Leading the night is The Simpsons. Not only will TV’s favorite family be meeting the cast of Seth MacFarlane's Family Guy, but they will also be killing off a member of its very on cast. Before tonight’s big crossover event, The Simpsons will say goodbye to an Emmy winning character in the first episode of Season 26.
The official plot synopsis for the Season 26 premiere episode of The Simpsons, titled “Clown in the Dumps,” reads:
“In the Season 26 premiere, Springfield is rocked when a resident dies; Krusty feels insulted during a comedy cable-channel roast and decides to retire; and Lisa steps in to protect Homer when she believes he's on his way to getting hurt.”
Tonight’s character death has been making news for the past year, ever since it was announced. There has been much ado made about the ill-fated character. However, executive producer Al Jean recently spoke to TV Line, to try and quell the hype:
“I’ve done everything I can to temper any disappointment by saying that, although the press is claiming this is an ‘iconic’ character, we never said that. We just said it’s a ‘beloved’ character. I think it may have become overhyped, though I’ve never heard the term ‘underhyped’ before. Either way, it’s an emotional story, and it’s one we’re really proud of.”
Jean can take his fair share of the blame for the hype, after her revealed the actor won an Emmy for the role:
“The next thing I knew, it was on newspapers in Uruguay. It was insane, but once that happened, we thought, ‘OK, how can we take advantage of this thing we didn’t mean to start?'”
Be sure to tune into The Simpsons, tonight at 8:00 p.m. eastern, to find out who died.
