The Sad Story of Seymour Skinner
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- čas přidán 10. 06. 2022
- From principal to prat-boy, we’re going to take a look at just how bad Seymour Skinner’s character changed over the course of the show.
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I raised my hand. I always felt bad for him, and I thought his devotion to his job was admirable. I like his desperate attempts to get people to respect him. I also like how he doesn’t hate Bart, just doesn’t like his constant pranks.
I miss Seymor's green beret/PTSD moments. Some of those jokes were hilarious and yet terrifying. Like when Seymor was having a nightmare while in a hotel with Homer and Homer just sits and eats popcorn watching and listening to Seymor's Vietnam flashback nightmare. Or when he would be speaking all cheery to Lisa or Bart then just turn away and go into some dark excerpt about his time in the war.
its the curse of the show's longevity that stagnates the characters and prevents them from referecning dated stuff.
Based on your description of Skinner’s character derailment, I think it’s safe to say he’s The Simpsons version of Squidward.
He's certainly ONE of my favorite characters, I don't think I have just one.
I don't agree, Skinner has his fans( Hell, I became one when he revealed why you don't make an ex-green beret mad!) In all honsety, The Princible and the Pauper proved it had its fans by their vocal outcry and even Skinners own voice actor; warning the writers of said episode that fans wouldn't be onboard with their decision. The rest was history!
Skinner works best as a straight man to other characters (example, he's the one who set up Apu's brilliant "Jurassic Park" rant), but he truly shines when he's the comedic foil to Chalmers ("Steamed Hams" is the peak, but there are so many others. My personal favorite is from "Round Springfield" when Bart collapses from appendicitis in the nurse's office and Skinner tries to distract Chalmers with the school snake. Which is slithering by with a number of kids in it).
I'd put Skinner in my top 20. Especially in the early seasons when he'd have Nam flashbacks over the loudspeaker or be verbally spanked by his mother
Skinner is without a doubt my favorite Simpsons character. Sue me...
I just wanted to know, who the hell thought Agnes Skinner was so funny that she had to be everywhere and have a line in every episode?
Also worst bit of flanderization is how they even made Agnes blame her "not baby son" on all the failures of her life, even flat out stating that she would have left him on the ground but there were cops everywhere
Who finds this funny?
Skinner from old Simpsons is my favourite, he got absolutely done dirty.
I was so sad when Skinner and Edna broke up. I loved them so much...
And I was sad she married Flanders before dying...I wish they stayed together.
I also wish adult sitcoms stoped making punching bags characters. Even if the characters aren't popular, stop torturing them.. it just make people sad
Ywah. They ran their relationship jokes into the ground but having them actually get married could have opened up new possibilities for them as characters.
However what wr got of Edna and Ned I actually liked, it showed a lot of promise early on but sadly didn't get any chance to develop because of the death of Edna's voice actor.
I honesty feel like they didn't have to flanderize him so badly ( same thing for the other characters) like I know he isn't the most popular character but you could maybe have him have a secret side to him.
Like everyone in Springfield sees him as a bland stick in the mud but maybe you could have him have this secret hobby that he uses to express himself and escape his not so great life as well as let loose all that anxiety he has caused by Chalmers but hides it because he thinks no one in Springfield would care (or another reason that's probably better then that lol)
I feel that could be an intresting add on to his character to show he's not bland and there's this loose creative side to him or something that he does have but either doesn't want anyone to know about or doesn't think anyone would care.
I feel like they could have done some good additions to his character instead of flanderizing him but that could be said about all the simpsons characters.
Honestly I feel the simpsons would have been way more intresting if we had the characters grow up so we can have the characters grow and gain more traits and see different stories and scenarios.
Like the kids in highschool (or middle school) and dealing with the struggles of getting older and puberty as well as maybe there intrests start to change or they start having intrsts In things they didn't before or something like that,
And have the older characters like Marge and Homer etc grow up and Homer could mature more as well as them coming to face the fact there getting old and won't be there forever. And we could give Maggie a voice and her exploring the fact that she's forgotten most of the time and etc!
I feel like if they went that route there's so much they could do with the characters instead of flanderizing them to 2 traits and just kind of ruining the show for me in all honesty.
OK, that ending with Billy trying to sound like Trevor was pretty funny.
Is season 2 truly underrated when it gave us episodes like “Bart Gets an F” and “Lisa’s Substitute”, which are some of the highest-rated in the series?
I would honestly like to make an essay on how they changed a lot of characters in the Simpson, which is sad beacuse I liked the earlier portrayals more
I'll NEVER get tired to say this: "Grade School Confidential" could have been the perfect ending for both Skinner's and Edna's character storylines.
I know the show never intended to have a chronological order of events, but after you watch the episodes and moments from seasons 2 to 7, the moment they get together in the last golden age season feels like their natural closure. It felt earned.
Everything after that feels like those unnecessary movie sequels/revivals that not only add nothing fresh, but also retrospectively ruin the good memories you have enjoying the original storylines.
I know a lot of people are tired with the typical "Classic good, modern Bad" rants already, but who the f needed a story with Mrs. K eventually passing away and leave another character as a widower AGAIN? Okay, nobody knew that her voice actress was going to leave this world early, but once Phil Hartman left us, we still knew the actors are not going to stay here forever.
Ending the show before 2000 could have been the best not only for Skinner, but also for Edna, who got the happiest ending arc in 1997 until they decided to undo it.
Ah, and Skinner is in my top 5. Fight me.
He oddly grew on me over the past few months. He reminded me of a teacher I had (arguably still have) a crush on. Skinner’s lame appearance is actually a stiff façade over personal struggles.
Theres this episode in the later seasons "Girls just wanna have sums" that has been burned into my memory. It's one of my least favorite episodes of the series, in part because it's kicked off by a really out of character moment for Skinner where he says that he believes women are naturally bad at math. It really seems like the show just saying directly to the audience that they don't really care about this character anymore, and are willing to have him be an asshole out of nowhere just so the plot can be kicked off. (and the plot that is kicked off by this moment is NOT worth it. Modern Simpsons tends to handle sexism really poorly...)
Skinner was originally meant to wear a wig but the writers hated those jokes but remained an unmade tidbit of the show
That did make it into the book "Bart Simpson's Guide to Life", though.
The entire series is flanderized.
I've always thought 'The Principle & The Pauper' was THE major turning point for Skinner, but the earlier episodes you mentioned illustrate that their attempts at reinventing him were occurring long before that episode. Though the 'Steamed Hams' bit gave him a small boost in popularity.
I always loved his character. Ruthless, menacing, and commanding
*if you don't watch the Simpsons what are you doing watching this video*
Me who has watched almost every Media Mementos video only knowing the source material of maybe a fourth of them XD
I raised my hand. Steamed Hams got me to start watching the show. Yeah it's depressing how Skinner's treated in later seasons but he did get a surprising win a very recent episode where he and Chalmers go to Cincinnati.
The worse flanderization in the show to me is Bart. He has gotten so chaotic and sadistic that we genuinely think he’s a psychopath. It got so bad that they had to make an episode to show he’s not one for taking a life, but it still wasn’t enough to convince us that he isn’t one for making others suffer, including his own father who he was okay with letting him be hanging from a noose, thinking it’s funny, and only cutting him free when he needed his help.
Lisa may be super annoying with her trying to be superior to others, but at least we get that she does that because of a sense fragility. Bart… well, he’s just Bart now. There’s sociopaths, psychopaths, criminals, Sideshow Bob (a criminal of the highest honor), and then there’s Bart. Pretty much sums it up.
What episode are you referring to?
If only they is an episode when Seymour Skinner is not only prepared to shape his life into his desired image, but during this rush of motivation, he kills his mother, on purpose, and completely gleeful doing so. So Skinner quits being principal, moves out of Springfield and lives happily ever after, while the blood is gushing out of Agnes's corpse.
he wasnt a bad stuffy pricpal. he was just doing his job and shouldnt be treated like trash.
10:22 Hey, I didn’t know I sounded like that! lol
Yea Seymour skinner became one of the most mediocre characters of the entire show in my opinion
I think I once saw on a Reddit YT video where someone pointed out that it is pretty obvious that Seymour Skinner has pretty severe PTSD and that he would never be able to live on his own.
Kinda tragic in hindsight. He was/is that 1990s cliché of "the strict authority figure in charge of children, who doesn't understand children" done right.
Wish Skinner would finally leave his terrible mother
Yoooooooooo, dude. I love what you do :)
My favorite Simpsons characters. Bart, Homer, Maggie, Moe, and Ralph.
I love Ralph! I’ve had my Ralph shirt since middle school!
When I grow up I wanna be a principal or a caterpillar
Well Trevor, you are an odd fellow, but I must say...you steam a good video.
That meme was funny and tress macneille has the that voice of his
mom right
Yep that's Tress.
As cliche as it sounds, I mostly like him for Steamed Hams. Memes aside, it’s a really funny sketch.
I heard there was a pretty good episode with him recently, I haven't watch it yet but I hope it's good for those who still watch the show.
Skinner reminds me of my high school principal
Did he have PTSD
Honestly my Simpsons knowledge comes from your channel. I started watching like a year ago almost knowing nothing. I never liked the show as a kid. I still don't like it but I love listening about it.
I actually haven't watched much Simpsons so this was really interesting.
Him: for those of you who don’t watch the Simpsons and thus don’t know who skinner is. Why are you watching the video?
Me: you posted the video
0:00 to 0:10
Me: "Am I so out of touch?"
I loved his relationship with Edna and Skinner
When I grow up I wanna be a principal or a caterpillar
Armin’s frozen peas
So i always liked skinner as a character he was a good solid b character an authority figure outside of homer who matched wits with bart i liked when they showed and explored the Vietnam vet side of him. I think the mommas boy side of things could have worked if agnas had had a sweet side she only showed to him rather then the spiteful putting down demenor.
Hell pricipal and the pauper i think could have been a great episode done right about skinner takeing a dead mans identity and presumable switching it with his in the military records in order to get out of the hell that was the war and coming clean about his past to agnes only for her to reveal that she knew all along and that while he wasnt her biological son she loved him all the same.
I know it's just a satire adult cartoon, but it's annoying me the author gave a happy ending with other loosers, like Moe and Willy, that findna woman accepting them for how they are, but not to him.
Are we ever going to get a video on your running gag-hatred of Andrew Johnson?
fun fact the early designs of Skinner got recycled in the design for the elementary schools councillor Dr. Pyror
0:53 The Algorithim
I'd actually say he's kinda close for me in terms of favorites, mainly cuz of the Steamed Hams scene tbh.
It would be really funny if they did an episode where Skinner moves out his mother's house and has trouble taking care of himself.Afterwards she lets him move back in.
They kinda did that in "grampy, can you hear me?".
She lives with him !
Sounds like my life story
My favorite Simpsons character is Lionel Hutz
I never saw Skinner as a stern authority figure. I always saw him as a weenie. Maybe I am very used to late episodes.
Seymour still needs a proper thumbnail!
😂 to funny 😄
This narrator sounds like a digitally lowered female voice.
I can see that, but that’s just how I talk
If I say "1st comment" I'll be saying that I'm a loser
Skinner isn’t even in my Top 20!!!!