Lionel Hutz was a side character on The Simpsons who might not be so familiar to people who either can’t remember or have never seen the earlier seasons of the long-running TV show. In short, he was a lawyer of dubious competence as well as nonexistent ethics who nonetheless ended up showing up in the TV show on a semi-regular basis because of his low fees that made him affordable to the Simpson family. It is amusing to note that Hutz has won a number of cases for his clients over the course of his existence, though to be fair, he won those cases through outside factors rather than his own capabilities. In one memorable incident, Hutz was the one who handled the Simpsons’ case against Sideshow Bob when said individual had become Mayor of Springfield, though that was won when Sideshow Bob provided evidence of his own electoral fraud when Bart and Lisa mocked him for being nothing but someone else’s puppet.
What Is Lionel Hutz’s Lost Scene on The Simpsons?
Recently, an ex-executive producer of The Simpsons revealed some rather interesting information about a Season 7 episode called “22 Short Films About Springfield,” which consisted of short segments focused on the side characters who populated the place. For example, it was revealed that the draft had a total of 20 proposed plotlines for the episode, though some of them had to be cut to make the whole thing fit. Furthermore, it was revealed that Lionel Hutz would have had an appearance if it had not been cut out from the episode.
With that said, Hutz’s appearance would have been no more than a single scene. It would have literally consisted of Hutz attempting to charm some people sitting in a jury room, though with a lot more success than what he usually manages to achieve. Eventually, the judge enters the jury room to criticize Hutz for entering the jury room, causing him to leave after getting in one more line about said individual as well as pilfering a cake in the process.
"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
Why Is Lionel Hutz Retired?
The last time that Lionel Hutz showed up on The Simpsons was in Season 9. This is because the character’s voice actor Phil Hartman was murdered by his spouse in 1998 because of a domestic dispute that was caused in part by the spouse’s drug addiction. As a result, the people behind The Simpsons chose to stop putting Hutz as well as Hartman’s other role Troy McClure in the TV show as a show of respect rather than recast someone else. Since that time, Hutz has shown up in The Simpsons as recently as in Season 12, but always in a non-speaking role.
For those who are curious, Lionel Hutz is not the sole character who has been retired from The Simpsons. In some cases, retired characters were retired because they have left the narrative, with an excellent example being Hank Scorpio. However, other examples were retired for much the same reason as Lionel Hutz and Troy McClure, as shown by Edna Krabappel.
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