With nearly 600 episodes under its distended belt, The Simpsons is a show that hasn't really had to deal with continuity all that often, but it has been good about keeping dead characters dead over the past 27 years. "Dead" doesn't mean "completely unavailable" on TV, however, and there are many ways to bring characters back in ways that don't involve resurrections. For an upcoming holiday-themed episode, The Simpsons will be bringing back its second deceased character of the season in Rabbi Krustofski, the father of one Krusty the Clown. Thank our lucky six-pointed stars.
None of Victor Frankenstein's methods will be needed here, as Rabbi Krustofski will return to The Simpsons in the form of a hallucination that Krusty is having in a moment of terror, with legendary actor Jackie Mason back to voice his late papa. For the episode "The Nightmare After Krustmas," Krusty is converting to Christianity, and his winter baptism goes awry when he falls through iced-over waters, and as things start to look bad for him, on come the hallucinatory flashes. Here's how executive producer Al Jean put it to EW:
Krusty is nearly going to die, so his mind flashes to the hackiest thing it can think of which is a Frozen parody, and then he sees his dad and his dad talks to him in this hallucination. It's the last thing Krusty sees before he's about to die.
There's nothing to worry about as far as The Simpsons actually killing or pretending to kill Krusty off, though, as he'll definitely live through the credits. I'd put somebody watching Moe, though, since he's always one ladder-kick away from counting worms. Maybe he'd like to build a snowman. Maybe he'd like to...No, I have to stop the Frozen songs.
It was back in Season 26 when the recurring rabbi first met his maker, and the episode was somewhat controversial. Not because the character died, exactly, but because the promotional build-up made it seem like a much more important character was going to kick the bucket, and fans were quick to judge the show for dashing expectations. (Complain when a great character dies and also complain when a great character doesn't die, this is the only way.) Al Jean also joked that he was "hoping fans are even angrier we bring him back."
Before we get to see Rabbi Krustofski's return, though, we get to finally witness the revival of Frank Grimes, over 19 years after his first and only speaking appearance. He WILL be in a ghostly form, since it's for the "Treehouse of Horrors" episode. Season 28 will also offer viewers the first ever Simpsons episode that will last an entire hour. Too bad that isn't the episode where Frank Grimes comes back.
The Simpsons will return to Fox for the Season 28 premiere (featuring Jason Alexander) on Sunday, September 25, at 8:00 p.m. ET. To see when all your other favorite shows will be resurrected for primetime, check out our fall TV schedule.
