- Seymour Skinner
] An original idea for Skinner was that he would continually mispronounce words and he does so in the series premiere "
Simpsons Roasting on an Open Fire " but the idea was later dropped. [ In later episodes, Skinner's behavior was based on teachers thatBill Oakley andJosh Weinstein had in high school.] cite book | last=Turner | first=Chris | title=Planet Simpson: How a Cartoon Masterpiece Documented an Era and Defined a Generation | date=2005|pages= pp. 41–42|id=ISBN 0-679-31318-4] Skinner had been a recurring character since the first season and, after years of development, his back-story had suddenly been changed. Bill Oakley considers "The Principal and the Pauper" the most controversial episode from his tenure as executive producer.Oakley, Bill. (2006). Commentary for "The Principal and the Pauper", in "The Simpsons: The Complete Ninth Season" [DVD] . 20th Century Fox, 15:33–15:50.] In a 2001 interview, Harry Shearer recalled that after reading the script, he told the writers, "That's so wrong. You're taking something that an audience has built eight years or nine years of investment in and just tossed it in the trash can for no good reason, for a story we've done before with other characters. It's so arbitrary and gratuitous, and it's disrespectful to the audience." [citeweb|url=http://www.eastbayexpress.com/gyrobase/shearer_delight/Content?oid=282154&showFullText=true |title=Shearer Delight|author=Wilonsky, Robert|date=April 27, 2001|publisher="East Bay Express "|accessdate=2008-10-24]References
External links
* [http://www.thesimpsons.com/bios/bios_school_skinner.htm Principal Seymour Skinner] at TheSimpsons.com
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