Executive producer of The Simpsons, Al Jean, appeared at the Television Critics Association press tour today with some new information about the upcoming 26th season.
Being 26 seasons in, the writers really have to think outside of the box to keep things fresh. This season we’ll be treated to a special Futurama/Simpsons crossover episode on top of the already announced Family Guy/Simpsons crossover special entitled “The Simpsons Guy.”
Considering the sad news of Futurama’s (second) cancellation, this is a nice way for the fans to get to see Fry and the gang yet again. The episode is set to air as an episode of The Simpsons in November with no exact plot details revealed. All we know for sure is that the entire Futurama cast is involved.
Al Jean also shared that during the season premiere of The Simpsons a character will be killed off with the hint that the actor that voices this character has won an Emmy for their work on the show. Given that the premiere episode is called “Clown in the Dumps,” one might speculate that the Dan Castellaneta voiced Mr. Herschel Shmoikel Pinchas Yerucham Krustofski meets his end.
If Krusty the Clown is in fact the character to go, we can at least have some comfort in knowing that Al Jean said the character could very well be seen again via flashbacks or as a ghost. Brilliant! How do they come up with this stuff!?
On a separate note, Family Guy producers Rich Appel and Steve Callaghan appeared on the TCA panel as well and they had nothing but positive things to say about The Simpsons crew. In regards to their upcoming one-hour special they all spoke about how Matt Groening and James L. Brooks were “incredibly generous” mentioning that there were only “one or two lines out of an hour-long episode they asked us to tweak.” Jean jokingly recalled asking the Family Guy producers, “‘Can you cut one rape joke?’ They said no. We said, ‘Okay.'”
Season 26 of The Simpsons and season 13 of Family Guy premieres September 28 on FOX.
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