Guest stars you'd like to see return

Dr. Zaius

Commander Cuckoo Bananas
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I know guest stars have become a thing of hatred around these parts, mostly because they are either stunt guest stars (like Justin Bieber) or just plain terrible. However, there are some guest stars that are just great. Some of them have returned, while others have not
(for purposes to prevent people saying recurring guest stars, people like Kelsey Grammer, Albert Brooks, Jon Lovitz and the likes are obviously not allowed because they are likely to return at some point)

I'd like to see Donald Sutherland return - he's got such a great voice, and Hollis Hurlbut was a great character. Maybe what makes him so great is that he only appeared once in a great episode, and therefore he hasn't been badly flanderized. However, Sutherland could play any character and bring such charm to it through his distinctive voice. The same goes for John Waters - I'm a huge fan of him, and I think John was a great character as well.

Mark Hamill should also appear again - he's a vocal chameleon and can pretty much do some very different voices. If he wasn't involved in the upcoming Star Wars movies, I'd say he should join the cast of The Simpsons and be recurring. He'd probably help save the show and bring some new fans and some more versatility to this iconic cast. Don't say its too late for him to become a recurring castmember, because we already have Kevin Michael Richardson doing that.
 
Lady Gaga.... Sacha Baron Cohen... oh wait lets not.

Who I'd like to see back:

Danny DeVito as Herb Powell
Michelle Pfeiffer as Mindy Simmons
Mark Hamill, he's just a great voice actor in general

Yeah looks like I just want to see one time characters back rather then the actual quest stars :P
 
I don't want to see anybody back if they're not going have a substantial role. They shouldn't need to depend on guest stars to make a good epsiode.
 
Neil Gaiman was great in The Book Job, but I wouldn't want him back as himself.

Similarly, I'm hoping that Weird Al will come back to voice some other character than himself.
 
Would love to see Meryl Streep come back to voice Jessica Lovejoy.
The tough part would be having a script written that would do justice to the character and her performance.

Perhaps a main plot where Lisa tries to "reform" Jessica (ultimately failing) with a subplot featuring Homer and Tim Lovejoy (never been done) where they bond over their mutual disdain of Flanders.
 
I don't think I want to see any one-time character from the classic era brought back again. Case in point: Papa Don't Leech was received negatively by the board.

As for guest stars playing themselves, I dislike most of them enough in their first appearance. I don't need to see them again.
 
I don't think I want to see any one-time character from the classic era brought back again. Case in point: Papa Don't Leech was received negatively by the board.
I think Papa Don't Leech was received negatively largely due to it being terrible.

Colonel Homer and Major Marge?
The Dixie Chicks?
All of Lurleen's husbands resembling Homer?
Royce plagiarizing his daughter's music and being some kind of hambone savant?

With the right script, a character like Herb could come back and it would be well-received.

Papa Don't Leech simply sucked. It would have sucked had it starred Lurleen or featured some random guest star in the same role.
Just like Strong Arms of the Ma sucked by making Ruth Powers into some steroid freak.
 
I mean, it shows how well the writers can handle bringing a one-time character back.
They have a terrible track record in this department. No denying that. I even hate when they reference one-shot characters for nostalgia pandering gags like Herb leaving a voicemail message that he's broke again in The Changing of the Guardian or Mr. Bergstrom showing up to butter Lisa's vegetables in The Kid Is All Right.

They've done a better job of writing for classic era one-time characters on Tapped Out. So I don't believe it's a hopeless concept. Just extremely unlikely that they'll pull it off.
 
They have a terrible track record in this department. No denying that. I even hate when they reference one-shot characters for nostalgia pandering gags like Herb leaving a voicemail message that he's broke again in The Changing of the Guardian

That was one of the only decent parts in a terrible episode, but it still annoyed me. When I heard he was gonna come back I thought "Wooho, that's fucking awesome!", but then I watch the episode and... it's five seconds of his voicemail... FUCKING. LAME.
 
I'd like to see Albert Brooks make some more appearances. Russ Cargill and the guy from The Heartbroke Kid weren't bad characters and he always manages to be funny. I would like to see him voice other characters though, I think if they brought back Jaques or Hank Scorpio they'd totally fuck it up
 
peter frampton. yup, that's right.

i used to want james woods to return, but that feeling sorta disappeared after his 'family guy' appearances....
 
I wish Mary Spuckler had been used better because I love Zooey Deschanel, especially her music. The character concept's not bad (Cletus and Brandine have an incredibly talented daughter who yearns to rise above her station in life), but to reduce her to yet another "Bart gets a girlfriend" plot was one of the biggest, laziest mistakes the show could make.

Since they obviously want to keep her on the show, I have daydreamed for a while of them doing a plot that would wrap up that whole love-interest plot and portray Bart as a 10 year old again. Like, he is feeling upset and confused because he feels like the fact that he really admires her talent and wants her to be happy means that he's in love with her and they should be boyfriend and girlfriend. He finally talks to Homer, who explains to him that he's only 10, he shouldn't be in a rush to grow up, and that sometimes life will be confusing. He then tells Bart the story of how he discovered Lurleen Lumpkin. This helps Bart to see that you can care about and support someone without it all just being about love and dating. Bart then arranges for Mary to meet Lurleen at one of Lurleen's concerts (where we find out that Bart and Homer talked to Lurleen about the possibility of touring with new talent). Mary plays a little for Lurleen, who loves what she hears. The episode wraps up a few weeks later, with Lurleen and Mary on tour. Bart congratulates Mary after the show and she thanks him. The serious moment doesn't last long, as they take off laughing and playing like normal kids.

I know, that's worse than "Lisa Goes Gaga" :P

I agree on Herb Powell. I'd really love to see him again, but in a proper appearance, not a quick gag.

I wish Allison Taylor had become a recurring character. It's weird that she's just been on mute since '94.

Mark Hamill is fantastic at voice acting, I am so on board with this!

(Edited for clarity)
 
Yeah, that sounds better than Apocalypse Cow, Moonshine River, and Love is a Many-Splintered thing combined.

I've never thought of Mary Spuckler that way, mostly because she's only written as Bart's girlfriend. It would be interesting to see her struggle to become recognized after being born as a Spuckler family misfit. (They could have even drawn parallels between how Mary and Lisa both don't really belong in their respective families.) However, like you said, the biggest mistake they made with all of this was treating Bart and Mary's relationship as if they were teenagers. It's clear in some of these episodes that the writers really want to write something for some teenage characters on the show, but since they don't have any, they resort to "growing up" Bart and giving him an equally "grown-up" girlfriend. (Unrelated: For that reason, I kind of like Little Big Girl. The driving subplot is entertaining, and the girlfriend plot is weird, but it doesn't forget the fact that Bart is a 10-year-old boy. Probably the best post-classic "Bart gets a girlfriend" episode.)
 
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