0372 - Harlan Dondelinger

Prior to this project I could not have told you the high school principal's name, BUT I could have least told you that he had one, and was consistent in his limited appearances. If Homer is an A-list Simpsons character, and angry man is a Z-list character, then Dondelinger has to be somewhere in the middle, perhaps a J-list or K-list character.

He's first seen giving Homer and Barney detention in this scene:

A scene which is later revisited when Bart goes back in time in "Treehouse of Horror XXIII" (season 24):

All of Dondelinger's appearances relate to him being part of the school, except briefly as part of "Oil Appreciation Day" in season 6's "Who Shot Mr Burns? (Part One)". Skinner directly insults Springfield high school here, and Harlan has nothing to say about it.

He has brief speaking roles in "Half-Decent Proposal" (season 13) and "She Used To Be My Girl (season 16):

But his most prominent roles are in season 4's "The Front" and season 20's "Take My Life, Please".

In "The Front" he meanly reveals - on stage - that Homer never graduated high school. He then teaches a remedial science class to get Homer his credit. This is where we learn about his recently deceased wife, who we never meet, so will not be seen on this Patreon. But at least it's a little bit of lore we can add to the rich tapestry that is Harlan Dondelinger.

This episode may be where most Simpsons fans would recognise him from, especially recently, as a flash-forward at the end shows him at Homer and Marge's 50 year high school reunion, which takes place, canonically, in 2024.

This no longer makes any sense. We like it when things make no sense round here.

In "Take My Life, Please", it is revealed that Dondelinger rigged the class president election so that Homer wouldn't win. Truly scandalous behaviour!

In the present day, we learn that his legs "gross people out", in a really weird reveal that goes out of its way to hide its payoff.

And because I'll have nowhere else to use it, here's Dondelinger's trading card. Having a trading card might bump him up from J-list to H-list.

This post is part of my "Every Simpsons Character Ever" series. For a list of my rules in this project, click here.