As a series, The Simpsons is the longest running American animated series, the longest running American sitcom, and the longest running American scripted primetime television series. And this is both in seasons aired and episodes.
So, needless to say, since its debut in 1989, there have been considerable changes. Most noticeable of those changes, is the disappearance of several characters over the years. Here are five characters from The Simpsons that vanished and why.
MOVIEWEB VIDEO OF THE DAY
5 Herbert Powell
Fox
Homer’s half-brother, Herbert Powell, was first introduced through hearsay when Abraham Simpson, Homer’s father, mentioned him after having a heart attack. As it turns out, Homer’s older brother was the product of a short-lived affair between Abe Simpson and Gaby, a female carnival worker, and eventually adopted by Edward Powell and Millani Osler. Herbert’s path in life was much different than Homer’s, a very studious person and hard worker, Herbert put himself through Harvard and eventually founded a car company worth millions. However, things changed once he found out that he had another family, namely Homer and his wife and kids, the Simpsons. There should be no surprise that things began to fall apart for Hebert when he connected with his biological family, more specifically Homer Simpson, whom he let design a car that subsequently caused him to lose his fortune and company on top of Homer directly being the reason for him becoming sterile because of radiation poisoning.
MOVIEWEB VIDEO OF THE DAY
MOVIEWEB VIDEO OF THE DAY
MOVIEWEB VIDEO OF THE DAY
However, despite him never forgiving Homer and not wanting anything ever to do with his younger brother, poor and homeless, Hebert lived with Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa, and Maggie for a bit during his misfortune. But after Maggie helped him to regain his fortune through an invention that translated speech from infants into comprehensible English, the older half-brother of Homer left and hasn’t been seen since.
4 Dr. Marvin Monroe
Probably one of the more interesting disappearances on The Simpsons, Dr. Marvin Monroe was a local counselor/therapist who first came into contact with the Simpson family when Homer decided to test an ad from the doctor’s therapy center that boasted “family bliss or double your money back.” As a part of the process towards bliss, the Simpson family had to complete a series of tests, including electric shock therapy, and even that didn’t work, but subsequently caused the town of Springfield to lose power. Ultimately, Dr. Monroe was unable to reach the Simpson family and lead them to bliss as advertised.
Dr. Monroe made a few other appearances, being a part of the consort of doctors that studied Homer to see if he was the “missing link” after being abducted by Bigfoot hunters, and also hosting his own talk show where he tried to help listeners who called in. However, after that, the character just vanished from the screen. And it wasn’t until the 138th episode of The Simpsons that Dr. Marvin Monroe’s death was confirmed as having happened offscreen. In later episodes, this is reaffirmed when his grave is shown and several things in town have been named after him, like the hospital and the school gym. But then things get even stranger.
Dr. Marvin Monroe suddenly makes an appearance several years later at Marge’s book signing for “The Harpooned Heart.” When Marge mentions her shock and not seeing him in years, the good doctor just says, “He’s been very sick.” However, the truth behind the disappearance of Dr. Marvin Monroe is that the voice actor, Harry Shearer, needed to stop because voicing the character was straining his voice, and also because Matt Groening, The Simpsons creator, had grown annoyed by the character’s voice.
3 Lewis Clark
When The Simpsons began in 1989 Bart had a bigger group of friends than in the laters years where it’s mainly Milhouse and sometimes Nelson. In the earlier episodes and seasons, there was Lewis Clark, an African-American boy, who unlike some of the other characters in Bart’s fourth grade class and at his school, seems less eager to follow Bart and his pranks. Contrary to the other fourth graders, Lewis would sometimes go against the grain and actually tease and antagonize Bart. In the episode where Bart is accused of killing Principal Skinner after he goes missing, Lewis actually pretends to be the Principal’s corpse under a pile of leaves. Not to mention, when Bart ran for class president, Lewis didn’t vote for him.
Despite being a legitimate foil for Bart within his friend group, Lewis Clark just vanished and hasn’t been seen or heard since 2010.
2 Scott Christian
The Simpsons have always had a way of parodying real life, often making fun of different aspects of entertainment, movies, sports, and television. This was no different in how the show portrayed broadcast news and the sensationalization of it through anchoring. In the early years of The Simpsons, Channel 6 News was hosted by two characters: The over-the-top celebrity Kent Brockman and Scott Christian, who would often be in the newsroom when Kent was out in the field reporting.
But overtime, Scott Christian was phased out, as his Ted Koppel-like appearance became outdated, ultimately giving way to the flashier anchorman Kent Brockman to become a one-man show.
1 Gavin
Most likely a needed villain/one-note foil to juxtapose the main child characters in The Simpsons like Bart, Gavin and his mother only made two appearances on the show. Initially, the rat-tailed, hipster child is seen arguing with his mother in a store about buying him a video game and making sure that she buys two because he doesn’t want to share with his sister. Bart witnesses this exchange and when the mother does what Gavin wants Bart wishes that he had a mother like that.
It isn’t until three years later, in a 1998 episode, that Gavin and his mother are seen again. This time it’s Lisa who gets to witness the young boy’s spoiled-brat antics, yelling at his mother about buying a cereal brand that he doesn’t like or want. Oddly enough, Gavin and his mother haven’t been seen since.
