Though "The Simpsons" exists in a perpetual purgatory where nobody ever ages, the show has said goodbye to several characters over the years. Poor old Snowball I died prior to the series premiere, and Lisa had to say goodbye to Bleeding Gums Murphy in season 6. Maude Flanders then became the most significant, longest-lasting character to be killed off when she fell to her death in season 11. But long before any of these beloved "Simpsons" characters kicked the bucket, Abe Simpson lost his brother, Hubert, in a short from the "Tracey Ullman Show" years.

It's strange to think that the longest-running scripted series on TV started life as a series of shorts intended to act as bumpers between commercial breaks. But this is exactly how "The Simpsons" started life on comedy sketch series "The

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