The Biggest Continuity Errors on 'The Simpsons'

Dr. Nick Riviera: Dead?

Speaking of dead Maude Flanders, she is one of the rare instances where the show has killed off a character for good. What made this death stick is the fact that we saw it happen. And this show, unlike "South Park" or "Family Guy," doesn’t mysteriously revive characters after they have been killed. Or so we thought — until “The Simpsons Movie,” where Dr. Nick Riviera is seen getting impaled by a giant glass shard near the end of the film. He did not appear on the show again until the episode “Lost Verizon,” where his sudden revival was never even touched on. According to executive producers James L. Brooks and Al Jean, the character only fainted, and didn’t die, in the film. Another famously dead character, Dr. Marvin Monroe, was also mysteriously revived in the episode “Diatribe of a Mad Housewife.” But, why?