Speculation on unaired episodes of The Simpsons follows.
Sunday evening at the Television Critics Association summer press tour, Al Jean, executive producer on The Simpsons, confirmed the oft-repeated assertion that a “beloved” character will die in the season premiere airing September 28. Based on what we already know about the voice actor—Jean has said he or she has won an Emmy for their work on the show—and the title of the premiere, “Clown In The Dumps,” we have concluded—using science—that the premiere will likely kill off Rabbi Hyman Krustofsky, voiced by Jackie Mason. The good rabbi is also better known as Krusty the Clown’s father.
Also covered at the panel was the official premiere date for the Simpsons/Family Guy crossover, “The Simpsons Guy,” an hourlong event that will also run on September 28. As previously noted, the special is actually, technically a Family Guy episode—its season premiere, in fact—and as such was written by the Family Guy writers. Fox aired a trailer for the critics that hasn’t been released to the public yet, but it did feature Homer and Peter getting into a long, protracted fight that recalls Family Guy’s “giant chicken battle” running gag.
Perhaps more interesting to fans is that Jean also confirmed last year’s news that another Simpsons crossover is in the works with Futurama—an episode Jean says will air in November. While the cast has already recorded the script, Jean didn’t say anything about how the shows’ two paths will cross, but it is indeed happening.