Tuesday, February 8, 2000

Natura-diddly death rumored on 'Simpsons'

Don't have a cow, man. But somebody's getting croaked on "The Simpsons."
   On Sunday's episode (7 p.m., Fox), a regular character is killed off in an episode titled "Alone Again, Natura-Diddly."
   Who is it who goes to 'toon heaven? The clue is in that title, notably a word frequently uttered by the Simpsons' goofily good-natured neighbor, Ned Flanders.
   Fox network and the folks who write the show won't confirm it - and read no further if you don't want to know - but it looks like the doomed character is Ned's wife Maude. As fans of the show have already posted on various Simpsons Web sites, Maude had to be the one to die because the actress who provides her voice, Maggie Roswell, has quit the show and gone home to Denver.
   D'oh!
   Of course, it's all just silly sweeps stuff, this killing of characters on popular shows. "ER" gets rid of Kellie Martin that way this week. "NYPD Blue" offed Jimmy Smits during sweeps last year. Zarching a character is an oft-used sweeps ploy, right up there with making Ally McBeal liplock another girl.
   But comedies don't do death that much. Although come to think of it, the best episode of any sitcom ever was the "Chuckles Bites the Dust" installment of the old "Mary Tyler Moore" show. On it, the beloved clown, dressed in a peanut costume, is crushed to death during a circus parade, a circumstance so absurdly tragic even sweet Mary Richards can't help giggling at the funeral when the minister earnestly recites Chuckles' credo: "A little song, a little dance, a little seltzer down the pants."
   Early guesses about who'd bite the dust on "The Simpsons" laid heavy odds on that show's clown, Krusty. But it looks like he's safe.
   Until May sweeps anyway.
   Mourning a loss
   Death touched "The Simpsons" in another way last year when actor Phil Hartman, who voiced several characters on the show including TV pitchman Troy McClure, was killed. With Hartman gone, his cartoon personae were permanently retired.
   Mike Scully, one of the show's producers, said they never even considered hiring a Hartman soundalike to replace him.
   "Even if somebody came in and did an impression of Phil's voice, it just wouldn't be the same and there would always kind of be an underlying sadness to it," said Scully. "And we also considered his kids, too, watching the show. We just thought out of respect for Phil and all of the great work he did on the show, to retire the characters."
   Coming up on "The Simpsons"
   Scully previewed for TV critics recently some more plot twists on the show, which is celebrating its 10th season on the Fox network.
   Watch for the season finale in May. It's a parody of VH1's "Behind the Music" series, called "Behind the Laughter."
   "We made up a phony history of 'The Simpsons' TV series and the Simpson family, basically treating them like the Nelsons, like Ozzie and Harriet, like they were a real family who happened to get their own TV show," said Scully. "And it'll take you behind the scenes through all of their success and the backstage battles and Homer's addiction to painkillers."
   Guest voices the rest of this season include Willie Nelson, Britney Spears, Shawn Colvin (this Sunday), Betty White, Kid Rock and Stephen King.
  
  
  

 
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