The Simpsons paid tribute to Edna Krabappel using late Marcia Wallace's voice
TV Features Marcia Wallace
When longtime Simpsons voice actor Marcia Wallace died in 2013, the showrunners made the difficult decision to say goodbye to Edna Krabappel in the episode “The Man Who Grew Too Much.” It was a touching tribute, with Ned Flanders mourning his second wife, remarking how much he misses her laugh. But as executive producer Al Jean told Variety, he always felt that Mrs. Krabappel didn’t get a proper goodbye because Wallace’s death was so unexpected.
So the latest episode of The Simpsons, “Diary Queen,” served as a proper send-off to the beloved character. In the episode, Bart finds Mrs. Krabappel’s diary, learning how much his teacher believed in him. The episode uses two previously recorded lines from Wallace that were approved by her estate, including “Remember: If you can teach one kid one thing, then today will be a success….”
Jean also explained to Variety why now felt like the appropriate time to honor Wallace’s legacy on The Simpsons. “Sadly, it was a very surprising passing. I didn’t know she was that ill until very close to when it happened. So we never got the chance to give sort of a proper goodbye to her in the show, and this is a small attempt to do that,” he explained. “She was so beloved by everybody that worked on The Simpsons, that we just sort of wanted to give her one last moment on the show in her memory. It’s just that, it’s nothing more, but, we thought she was the best.”
As for how Mrs. Krabappel died, Jean says that the cause of death won’t be revealed for now, but we do get to learn more about her life in this episode. Seeing Ned Flanders become a widower twice over was heartbreaking, but now Mrs. Krabappel gets a far more lighthearted send-off that is just as touching.
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The best way they could’ve honored her legacy would be not running the show even further into the ground, but sure.
That stopped being an option, like, 20 years ago.
“Even further” is key here, sunk cost fallacy shouldn’t prevent them from cutting their losses at some point rather than dig deeper into inadequacy.
You’re an idiot, that fallacy doesn’t apply because they keep making real money and genuinely good content, and you’re suffering the fallacy that you know how to wield that list of internet-approved fallacies.
Fuck you.
No, that was when you stopped having an opinion of your own and were absorbed by a counter-cultural opinion that has plainly become mainstream douchebaggery.
Just going to say that while I’m ensuring he knows canon, my 8yo loves current Simpsons too and I’m seeing it anew through his eyes. It’s not all great, but it’s not all terrible either.
As a children’s librarian, good! Glad the show is for somebody and a kid is getting something out of it!I still think there’s plenty of better shows out there, but I’m happy that if it’s gonna be running anyway that it isn’t useless.
I love the show- even now. Some of the new episodes are pretty good too. That being said…I wish they would put an end date on it soon- like announce the show is ending in 22 or early 23 and give them time to wrap things up.
My boyfriend has been binge watching it and only got up to season 13 or 14 and the got back to season 6.I do agree that there are two episodes in mind from last season that were greater than usual: “Thanksgiving of Horror” and “The Way of the Dog.” Watching Black Mirror after the fact made me enjoy Thanksgiving of Horror even more.
Yeah as someone who started watching in 7th grade and is now 45 years old, it isn’t the same show, but enough of the DNA is there in spots. There are still good jokes in each episode, I’m on s27 of a binge that started back when Disney+ became a thing and there are some episodes I’ve enjoyed in each season, some with plots that go absolutely nowhere and others that do that and then admit they’re doing that right before the credits roll. Episodes that are essentially repeat plots and some that comment on that fact. Also there are more than a fair share of actively terrible episodes. On the whole, I’ve enjoyed it while I’m folding laundry, baking or doing dishes. I do think S31 was a step up from some of the more recent ones I saw that one as it aired.
I watched a good chunk of last season. It wasn’t *as* good — frankly it feels like a completely different show — but it was funny through the whole season.
Yeah, you’re describing all the “great” seasons, too.
If The Simpsons made 10 episodes over 1.5-2-3 years like Rick and Morty, maybe it would shut these people up.
But nah. They know how to make 22 eps a year and probably have the same ratio of hits to misses.
My seven-year-old loves it, too. It’s nothing like its heyday, but there are definite moments and episodes I genuinely enjoy.
Same – my 9 year old has gotten into it over the last couple years so I’m starting to catch some of the more recent seasons/episodes because he likes to watch on Disney+ during dinner. I think I probably stopped regularly watching the show somewhere around season 15 so most of the show is pretty new to me, at this point.
At some point you just have to shrug and say “this is for someone else now.”
“The Simpsons isn’t as good as it used to be.” I’m practically burning to death on the hot take.
Even the worst seasons have been fine and worth watching.
I stopped watching the show years ago and, while Marcia Wallace’s death was obviously awful, my takeaway from this article is,“Wait, Flanders and Krabappel got married? Christ, late period Simpsons is fucking awful.”
Then don’t effing watch it!!!So sick of people coming over to Simpsons articles for the sole purpose of saying it should be off the air.
Then don’t effing read those comments!!!
I enjoy it. It’s not as good as it was, but it’s still better than most sitcoms.
‘_’
Ya know what’s *actually* been run into the ground past any semblance of intelligent thought or observation?
That fucking attitude you whipped out for the tribute episode for the lady who absolutely stuck with the show until her own end, and who left behind some meaningful lines from the show from when it was your definition of “into the ground.”
Way to turn the comments into the billionth bitch-fest about how The Simpsons isn’t like how it was when you were a child.
Having been working my way through eps on my phone, those later seasons sure still are The Simpsons, and sure do have various levels of quality including excellence.
Fuck you and fuck your weak bullshit in response to this particular lady being honored by this particular show.
As for how Mrs. Krabappel died, Jean says that the cause of death won’t be revealed for nowHopefully not another T-shirt cannon. That would really test Ned’s faith.
Maybe a blue jeans cannon, to cement in Ned’s mind that going casual is the kiss of death?
Beatles Boots Cannon just sounds dangerous and not fun at all.
God, you are terrible. …. Are you single?
Sadly for the world, no, and I have procreated.
Ouch!
The final scenes in the episode, with Ned talking to Bart and then taking comfort from Edna’s diary, were actually quite sweet. It’s a shame that the rest of the episode was the sixty seventh version of “Lisa is jealous of someone else’s success.”
I also found sweet that little suspicion of Ned, being an honest person and all, sneaking into her diary to see how she actually felt. I’ve been there, and I hope that I don’t go through it twice like Ned. And yes, I got the same result.
Seriously. I mean, I get that it was supposed to be about Lisa being racked with guilt over knowing that her brother’s confidence & success is entirely due to a misunderstanding, but yet again, they flanderized things way too much. The scenes where Marge & Lisa rip apart Bart’s room because they can’t comprehend him actually being able to do good are examples of flanderization at its worst. The show has seemingly given up on any hope of Future Bart ever achieving success – as opposed to being a member of the Supreme Court back in the day – while constantly telling us that Lisa will get pretty much everything she wants despite throwing massive hissy fits about it as a kid, & it really shows the favoritism that shouldn’t be.
The final scenes in the episode, with Ned talking to Bart and then taking comfort from Edna’s diary, were actually quite sweet.
It was worth watching just for that.
This is sweet, I guess, but I kind of wish they used lines that were explicitly disapproved of by Wallace’s estate instead.
I kind of wish they used lines that were explicitly disapproved of by Wallace’s estate instead.
Why?
Okay I know its been 8 years so maybe I’m not remembering this right. But the tribute was just a dream sequence and Ned then just saying oh yeah shes dead. I didn’t really think that was a tribute to how great Marcia Wallace was. I thought it was flat as hell. Am I crazy? Eh whatever. For me rewarching Bart gets an F was the tribute to her. Also the hardest cry.
It was a good episode; very touching. The show has been strong of late, which makes this site’s decision to discontinue coverage even more absurd.
I feel like the amount of shows they giver regular coverage is the smallest it has ever been..
Hey, they’ve gotta make room for those 12 SNL articles every week somehow.
Why you gotta hurt me like that bro
Gotta get that unofficial sponsored content rolling.
I was thinking just this morning how much the TV Club is a shadow of its former self. Emily VanDerWerff’s Sopranos reviews (and all her TV Club work TBF) are absolutely amazing, and I miss something of that calibre so much. The only thing I stick around for these days are Dowd and Ignatiy’s reviews.
… along with anything pithy by O’Neal.
I usually enjoy Handlen’s Trek reviews, even if I don’t agree with a lot of his Discovery takes.
Some of the best reviews that I sometimes go back to:Emily’s Community & Sopranos work.Donna Bowman’s Breaking Bad & Better Call Saul work.I’m currently following along with Myles McNutt’s Elementary reviews, which I’m loving. Clyde Watch is a beautiful thing.
“Grade School Confidential”, where Skinner and Krabappel start dating, has worked its way up to being one of my low-key favourites over the years. There’s a tremendous empathy and sweetness afforded to both characters there, and it all feels very lived-in and grounded. Probably a sign that I’m getting older and closer to their portrait of middle-aged loneliness but oh well.
Zero interest in following whatever happened to their relationship after season 10 or so — I don’t think Skinner was ever quite the same character after Oakley and Weinstein (who clearly adored his squareness and earnest desperation) stopped guiding him. I guess this episode sounds nice, though.
Krabappel? I’ve been calling her Krandall! Why didn’t somebody tell me; ohhhh, I’ve been making a fool of myself!
It’s a fantastic episode.
“Is… this how you imagined your life?”
“Well, yes; but then I was a very depressed child.”
“Grade School Confidential” also has one of the all-star Wiggum line readings in “Thank you, Sarah.”Theres a lot to love in that episode.
Yeah, honestly they really character assassinated Skinner right around when you say – his relationship with Edna becomes awful, he becomes totally insufferable. Especially sad because of how sweet this episode is.And the whole school hostage sequence at the end is amazing. From Do you know where the remote is to What kind of man wears armor hot dogs, to sex cauldron. You’re right, not too many people mention it as a favorite but it’s definitely one of the greats.Marcia Wallace was wonderful – between her and Yeardley they really found two unique voices who perhaps didn’t have the range of the other voice actors but brought such incredibly humanity into their roles.
Ralph: “Principal Skinner and Mrs. Krabappel were in the closet making babies and I saw one of the babies, and the baby looked at me.”
Wiggum: “Baby looked at you? Sarah, get me Superintendent Chalmers!”
This was actually a pretty good episode. It was sweet and touching. I’d have to go back and watch, but I think I prefer it to their other tribute episodes.
It’s a perfectly cromulent tribute.
Embiggened my heart.
B-
This was the best episode of the show in a while. The weird “West Side Story” parody to open it up was a little off (though at least they paid it off in the credits for a tag laugh), but on the whole the story was strong. It had the elements of Lisa just being jealous of Bart again for whatever reason, but it was grounded in a desire to be honest when it might hurt him in the short term rather than keep up a lie of omission and let him be hurt worse down the road. It reads like jealousy, and initially it is, but then it becomes about a loving, caring gesture.And the two old lines from Wallace were used about as well as they could be, even if us hardcore fans know the original context would almost contradict the emotional heft here (“Bart Gets a Z,” where Bart temporarily ruins Edna’s life, and “The Seemingly Never-Ending Story,” where Edna’s initial hope for Bart is based on a lie/prank from him).But most importantly, the episode is actually emotionally relevant and pretty funny. Most of the jokes land because they’re in character, everything from Flanders having Norman Rockwell plates to Edna watching “The Bob Newhart Show” in class rather than teaching. Combine that with one of the most gut-wrenchingly honest adolescent lines Bart’s ever had (“Mom, I might just go over the edge if you try to make me feel better right now.”), and this episode hits that sweet spot balance that it’s struggled to hit consistently for years.And yes, I still miss Mrs. K. too.
Mixed feelings about the ep – anything with Lisa irritates me – but the scene of Mrs. K watching the Bob Newhart show broke me.
“Watching the Bob Newhart show”, which also starred Marcia Wallace.