hm. not enough of ms peyton out here tbh. even within the show. beyond her initial episode - in which she was the highlight of an otherwise mid episode, i also really enjoy her in “A Mid-Childhood Night’s Dream” and “Women in Shorts”. and i know she often gets put in to represent the school board alongside skinner and chalmers, but i would like to see her do more as a teacher as well! esp interacting with her class
peyton's characterisation is distinct and refreshing compared to the other jaded teachers at springfield elemen, but also a little layered and overall interesting! she is optimistic, but not naive. she's a very knowledgeable teacher with wisdom to share, but isn't immune to unsavoury slips of the tongue (which she promptly and verbally nips in the bud) or a bit of her own mischief. she's really great!! i really like her!!!
18. headcanon you’re tired of seeing?
not really a headcanon, but ☝️ i hate the ship name skedna < hyperaware of how men will be called by their last name but women by their first, but its also just a bad ship name imo lol. i'm more partial to krabskinn anyway jfgjk
27. favourite catchphrase or quirk?
i love LOVE how stupid a catchphrase "I'm Shauna" is. it's so stupid. it's so dumb. it's endearing to me (thanks in part to how i've grown attached to shauna). and i think they know it's stupid too, but it's really the best when they do something a bit unique with it. it's charming in "Girls Just Shauna Have Fun" where Lisa calls her name and surprises her and she let's out a panicked "I'm Shauna!", as if it's an instinct hfjsdk. but i think "Welcome to The Yellow Lotus. I'm Shauna. You're Tasha." from "The Yellow Lotus" is a bit stupidly funny too
29. friendship/relationship you wish was developed? [x]
i mentioned carl and naima last time, right? can we see naima again? please? carl mentions her in "Cremains of the Day" so they're still together... so, where is she? it's the thing i vaguely talked about in the last ask (and discussed in the replies) where they'll introduce a female love interest, establish a serious relationship, then don't elaborate on the love interest as a character, or even bring her back at all. but, with naima, it feels a little different as a Black woman with strong ties to springfield's Black culture, and facilitates carl's ties to it too (which, in "Carl Carlson Rides Again", they ultimately leave as just him being wholly ignorant about)
it'd be great to see an episode with her again, even if it was just an episode to further explore her relationship with carl. though, not without developing her further as well - maybe more on her as a business owner? i just think a carl/naima/lenny friendship could be fun too :]
i do realise that, with both maya and naima, i've responded to this question about relationships wanting more generally to see these woman fleshed out as characters. but god are they stuck to their partners and, realistically, an episode about them, that expands upon them, would really be an episode centered around their partners and their relationship with them. but, please .. pleeease !! i get why it happens - it's a sitcom, they need to return to the blank slate status quo to get into more comedic situations - but you really do start to notice the vapid and/or disposable or backseated female love interests in what are supposed to be serious relationships.
there is some but i tried not to put too interpretation in there. feel free to ask abt anything or even tell me if i missed anything. this is just off fact-checked memory lol
last edit: 25/05/2026
Garibaldi[32x08 "The Road to Cincinnati"] "Gary" Chalmers III[25x07 "Yellow Subterfuge"] was born a Sagittarius[16x17 "The Heartbroke Kid"] in Queens, New York.[10x20 "The Old Man and the "C" Student"] He was raised (is "from") upstate in Utica.[07x21 "22 Short Films About Springfield"]
His parents divorced when he and his brother were very young. While he was raised by his father, his mother would take his brother. He and his brother have never met, and his brother would grow up to become Police Superintendent of Quahog, Rhode Island.[Family Guy "Shanksgiving"] He also has a sister named Muriel.[12x10 "Pokey Mom"]
His father was a psychologist and a firm believer of B.F. Skinner's methodologies. As such, he would have Gary go through hamster mazes for his breakfast. Gary, at least in his adulthood, would reflect on this as being humiliating and felt unloved by his father.[26x21 "Bull-E"]
Gary would attend college at Ball State University in Indiana, and then would move to Intercourse, Pennsylvania.[10x20] He would earn his Master's in Education at Ogdenville State University.[37x02 "Keep Chalm and Gary On"] In the end, he moves to Springfield and becomes certified to be a Superintendent of Grades K-12.[23x02 "Bart Stops to Smell the Roosevelts"]
Gary has a history of teaching but gave it up after he was beaten up by kids in detention he was supervising. He would teach one more time afterwards, to Bart Simpson and the school bullies.[23x02] He eventually becomes an intendent then superintendent ("taking the title over the pay bump")[37x02] of Springfield's schools, as nominated by the faculty of the Springfield School District, and is promoted to super-duper intendent when Bart holds Springfield Elementary School hostage.[23x02] He considers himself having devoted his life to public service and education.[37x02]
At some unknown point before the show, he meets and marries Rosemary.[23x02] They allegedly had a very loving relationship,[31x07 "Livin La Pura Vida"] though Gary had been seen with other women before, notably with Agnes Skinner. Gary and Rosemary would have a daughter named Shauna.[25x19 "What to Expect When Bart's Expecting"]
As a child, Shauna was a girl scout. Gary, assumingly, had made superintendent by this time.[33x19 "Girls Just Shauna Have Fun"]
While his job allowed him to earn "superintendent money"[08x07 "Lisa's Date with Density"], Gary would become desperate to earn enough to support Rosemary who had become very sick.[16x09 "Pranksta Rap"] She would eventually pass away.[23x02] Gary would see others after Rosemary's death, though noncommittally.
Gary would lose his job as superintendent a few times throughout the show. After Nelson Muntz broke his arm under his care during an unauthorised camping trip, Gary is stripped of his job until Bart helps get him reinstated as the super-duper intendent.[23x02] The title of super-duper intendent was taken by Kirk Van Houten after his dictatorial takeover of Springfield.[34x16 "Hostile Kirk Place"] Gary would lose job after forgetting to quote Shakespeare's words in his Master's thesis, constituting as plagiarism which they had a zero tolerance policy for outlined in his own school regulations.[37x02]
Having grown up, Shauna would celebrate her Bat Mitzvah.[30x09 "Daddicus Finch"] She works various menial jobs around Springfield, primarily babysitting. She hangs with the school bullies and dates Jimbo Jones, though she's been seen with others. Shauna would become lead drummer in her high school marching band.[33x19]
Gary and Shauna have a troubled relationship, with Shauna's rebellious nature and purposeful intent on making her father's life difficult.[33x19] Though Gary has shown a parental strictness in the past,[25x19] he would later become a lot more permissive and a doormat towards his daughter.
After getting fired from his superintendent position, Gary would get back into public education by purchasing Springfield Elementary with money from his successful men’s skincare company.[37x02]
and then yadda, the things that happen in the show :]
Hellooo! How about something with Ned enjoying a nice slice of cake for his birthday? c: Or drinking his infamous hot cocoa!
Also! I'm curious to know; what's your favorite Ned (or Flanders family to a larger extent) episode? 😊
ahhhhh !! a whole week late, im such a fake fan :(( i swear i'm a giant nedhead !!!! i gaf !!! im so sorry. head in hands. happy belated birthday, ned
... and thank you for the ask !! :]
as for my favourite episode! my choices, they skew modern, i'm sorry. oo, it gets hard because there are so many good flanders episodes and the man has a string of actual continuity to him so they all have to be watched to understand and sympathise the whole picture. But I'd have to say 34x13 "The Many Saints of Springfield". i think there have been other episode i've maybe felt more strongly about but "The Many Saints of Springfield"... it's just a good time all the way through. and it's such a out there concept but it just works so so well - who would have thought ned having a hand in the mob and being the don's favourite would be such a good episode? and why did he do that. why did they do that.
family wise, the title goes straight to 31x09 "Todd, Todd, Why Hast Thou Forsaken Me?". i have so so much to say about it, about what it means for todd. it's sooo ... god, so much to say, so many thoughts. but it's so hard to word them for this post !!! grahh !!! tldr; this little boy's faith is Not going to be the same after that. good almighty lord. and also ned is so horrible fucking LOL, its sooo good. i'm going to kill him, he's so bad. its so good.
i've been rattling around a fic? or, i guess a concept where, during homer and ned's night of drinking in "Todd, Todd, Why Hast Thou Forsaken Me?", todd (with bart) goes out into the night to see the abandoned praiseland. and there, under the cracked and overgrown statue of maude, they talk about religion and their complicated feelings for their fathers. if only i knew how to write this fsdjkfh
simpsons ask game!!! (feel free to send me the same number twice!)
whew boy this got long. the more lengthy answers are under the cut and are less silly and more critical and opinionated. no art either sorry
5. character you think deserves more love?
this is kind of a fucked question to ask me because i Will pull out a random nobody. but, for starters? Sophie :] where are the sophie krustofski fans?
she's a violinist. she's a french hornist. she's one of the only people to be unimpressed by her father and his antics, antics born from his career and etched into his person, which is hard when he does want to impress her. but she does loves him. and he loves her. and she was a professional league of legends player.
6. character you think is overrated?
Right Now? on tumblr? well, um. the springfield mob. not to say i don't like them, they have some real fun episodes, but. well... i have my opinions
12. favourite ship?
whelp. it's fland'amico, babyyy !! what the fuck did they put in that episode !!!!!
13. least favourite ship?
shauna x jimbo. im a hater and i really think shauna is more interesting detached from jimbo. even in 36x14 "P.S., I Hate You", i didn't really care for him being there LOL. i'm rocking with shauna x laura powers more sorry !!!
20. sensitive topic that you wish they would discuss?
the first answer to this, in my mind, will always be a trans episode. in part because i have somewhat of an episode premise in mind ^_^ but the more i think about it, the more i worry how well they could pull one off
you can argue that they've gotten better about gender queerness, sure, with its drag episode and little pronouns joke (remember when they made a pretty shit joke with they/them pronouns just the season prior?) but any fan knows this show has a bad history of transmisogyny. from particularly heinous moments like with veronica and poison lenny, to all the little casual jokes, like with dr nick. i really can't speak for transfems, but i think they'd have a lot to atone for.
a transgender-focused episode would never get made, of course, they're under disney's reign now. but one can dream ... just dreaming for a good trans episode is harder, i guess
21. sensitive topic you wish they hadn’t touched?
good lord, the 2024 US election. fuuuck 36x05 "Treehouse of Horror XXXV", man. what an awfully tone deaf and extremely centrist segment and, being the first one, it really sours the entire episode. not like the other segments were very memorable anyway. the context of which i watched it certainly didn't help either.
and it really doesnt help that, for the prior election, the opening segment for 32x04 "Treehouse of Horror XXXI" has the US turning to hell if trump became president. and i get that modern simpsons now is a little all over the place politically (though, let's be real, they hardly ever stray so far left) and the politics of an episode is more reflective of the writer than of the show itself. but good fucking lord. and that segment in XXXI was by a one-time writer too, so compared to XXXV's The Information Rage under the current showrunner?
combined with a handful of other Selman episodes, let's say i'm a little wary about the coming seasons once that new showrunner novelty runs out (and one could argue that it has been running out)
29. friendship/relationship you wish was developed?
whew. i have a fair few in mind but i think moe and maya really need it. they've been engaged for almost 4 seasons now, and there have been neither hide nor hair of maya afterward - isn't this strange??
the no homers club forum reckons this lack of moeya has to do with Al Jean's continuity vs Matt Selman's. this really doesn't explain to me why they don't even appear together as background cameos. or why maya herself has had hardly any cameos or even mention of her existence
there's something about it. there's the shock of, oh my god, a major simpsons character got engaged?? the show's biggest loser ?? getting hitched?? but then the unwillingness to commit to their relationship or to maya. a questionable sideline when maya herself is a little woman. even in her own episodes, she often comes off as flat and passive (save for when moe screws up). i would've really loved to get to know her more in the scrapped(?) s36 episode "Homer and Marge and Moe and Maya". from her two episodes, the most i can tell you about her (that doesn't pertain to her height) is this: she got her phd.
longtime simpsons writer Mike Reiss writes this on maude's death in Springfield Confidential: "When we make a big change like this—Apu having octuplets, Patty and Selma adopting a baby—we always think we'll get some great episodes out of it. We rarely do." and i can't help but think about the many love interests made to pair characters off indefinitely but never have their relationship explored any further than their few episodes, let alone exploring the love interest herself. maya and moe. naima and carl. hoover and gil too imo. i really have to question, has the show moved on from "killing off all their great characters" and onto exclusive amatonormative relationship limbos for easy episode pitches?
hrm… i like that the reasons why chalmers and skinner robot’ed each other is kind of just reinforcing what was said during ballroom blitz but like. it’s put so plainly and it’s playing a little twist on how we (and chalmers) expect skinner to tolerate him and to be a subservient idiot, as is their dynamic. like, yes. skinner is the annoying one but You’re the mean one. and with road to cincinnati, it had to reach a breaking point. with this, it was a quiet festering i suppose. … i dunno
