Hi folks. Before I get into this weeks Simpsons Sunday post, I would like to acknowledge last weeks passing of British American actor John Mahoney, who guest starred as Dr. Robert Terwilliger, Sr. Sideshow Bob’s father on the Simpsons season 19 episode Funeral For A Fiend. He also portrayed Frasier Crane’s father Martin Crane on Frasier. I will have more on them later in this post! Kelsey Grammer said in his book So Far… that John Mahoney was not only a wonderful actor but equally wonderful as a man too.
This weeks post is another recycled post from the other blog and a look into what could have been. About 3 years ago, I watched the episode Brother From Another Series and it occurred to me that if Sideshow Bob hadn’t gone to jail with his brother he probably would have given up on his criminal activities. This would have meant an end to wanting to kill Bart or his former boss Krusty The Clown. His intentions in this episode were clearly good and he was grateful to Bart for saving his life, after his brother Cecil attempts to murder him and take all the money from their project together. Cecil is of course voiced by David Hyde Pierce, who also portrays Niles Crane, the brother of Frasier Crane portrayed by Kelsey Grammer himself. If you think about it and research both characters by both actors, both Niles and Cecil would have been what their brothers (Sideshow Bob and Fraisure) would have been, had their dreams come true. In the case of The Simpsons, Cecil tried out as one of Krusty’s sideshows and failed and was still pissed off that his brother became Sideshow Bob.
What would have happened if Cheif Wiggum actually believed Lisa about Sideshow Bob’s innocence in his brothers nefarious plot to blow up the Springfield damn? Would Bob become friends with Bart and Lisa and possibly reunite with Krusty in some form, without plotting to kill him? Would he have still got a job as the PA Announcer for Springfield Elementary School? He actually had this job in the Season 12 episode Day Of The Jackanapes, where Krusty is being bothered by network executives who are trying to tell him how to change his TV show for their own benefit and because they can. Sideshow Bob uses Bart to kill Krusty in a plan which almost works, except for Krusty giving an emotional speech for Bob, which changes Bob’s mind and he releases Bart as his Bomb boy.
There Also would have been no need for Bob to move to Italy and become a grape crusher and get married to Francesca and have his son Gino. However, other things could have come up as plot devices if Bob had become friendlier or an acquaintance of The Simpsons. Maybe Bob would have become another one of Barts frenemmys much like Principal Skinner or Groundskeeper Willie at Springfield Elementary School. Maybe he would have helped Bart in his pranks on Skinner, if it turned out that he didn’t like him either. Or, he would have teamed up with Skinner to make life hell for the students, much like in the episode The President Wore Pearls. This episode saw Skinner make Lisa School President in order to Cary out his evil plan to get rid of classes like: music, gymnastics and art. Altho, I believe that Bob probably would have sided with Lisa and foiled Skinner’s plot instead. Obviously his brother would have been in jail while Bob was freed.
On the birthday front, Kelsey Grammer turns another year older on Wednesday. He is still active both inside and outside The Simpsons. His most recent episode on The Simpsons was the Season 29 episode Gone Boy, where Sidesho Bob almost kills both Bart and Milhouse. If what Bob says is true, it looks like he may not be attempting to murder Bart anymore, as he says at the end of the episode.
Simpsons on Sundays 