In the early seasons of The Simpsons, the late Phil Hartman portrayed two memorable recurring characters: veteran “actor” Troy McClure, and the hilariously inept lawyer Lionel Hutz. While Troy McClure eventually received his own spotlight episode in “A Fish Called Selma,” Lionel Hutz never quite stepped up for a larger role. But according to a former showrunner of The Simpsons, Hutz almost had his own moment to shine in a classic installment.
Via Mashable, Josh Weinstein tweeted out a script page from an earlier draft of “22 Short Films About Springfield,” which was one of the first episodes to fully embrace the ever expanding cast of Springfield in stories of their own. In the excerpt posted below, Hutz finds himself in the jury room while entertaining Maude Flanders and Marge’s mother, Jacqueline Bouvier.
“22 Short Films About Springfield” never had 22 stories but the second draft did have 20! Here’s the Lionel Hutz story that was cut. pic.twitter.com/U2mawadFjv
— Josh Weinstein (@Joshstrangehill) October 8, 2017
Weinstein has also posted script excerpts from other Simpsons episodes as well, including this scene from “Sweet Seymour Skinner’s Baadasssss Song,” which features Homer trying to rope one of the family pets into a scheme to go home early from work.
We cut a lot from “Sweet Seymour Skinner’s Baadasss Song” including Homer actually trying his plan to get out of work. Here’s cut 2nd scene: pic.twitter.com/1Fk9guEvg8
— Josh Weinstein (@Joshstrangehill) September 22, 2017
In another sample from the same episode, Weinstein revealed that Principal Skinner had two brothers in an earlier draft of the script.
Whoa, here’s something I totally forgot! For a very brief period – that of the table read – Skinner had two brothers! (A good cut I think) pic.twitter.com/pZWYspm0Tn
— Josh Weinstein (@Joshstrangehill) September 22, 2017
You can find more of Weinstein’s Simpsons memories on his Twitter account, where you can also read through other script excerpts. Someday, hopefully, we’ll get a book about all of those lost Simpsons moments. But for now, this is a fun way to revisit the show’s glory days.
What did you think about the blast from the Simpsons‘ past? Let us know in the comment section below!
Images: Fox
