FOX
For me, one of the best parts of Halloween is The Simpsons‘ “Treehouse of Horror” episode. Unfortunately in recent years, the baseball World Series has delayed the annual episode until after the holiday. This year is no exception, with the “Treehouse of Horror (XIX!?!)” airing on November 2nd. I, however, got my hands on a screener and I’m here to give you the low-down.
So how does this year hold up? It has some stiff competition from some truly classic Simpsons episodes. Who can forget the spoof of The Shining, or Mr. Burns as Dracula? After 19 years of doing the Halloween episode, with three short sketches per episode, it’s hard to believe that the writers keep finding material to spoof, but somehow they do. So … what was it this year? Come find out….
The Simpsons is always politically charged in a satirical, subversive way. It’s one of the best things about the show. The Treehouse of Horror has been a great showcase for this in the past with Halloween so close to election day. Remember in ’96 when Kang and Kodos took over the bodies of Bill Clinton and Bob Dole to take over the country? Good times. This year the opener of the show is a quick little political tidbit, and probably one of the highlights of the show; be sure you don’t come to this episode late.
The rest of the show, unfortunately was a bit of a letdown. The three sketches this year start with “Transmorfers” a spoof on Transformers. It is mildly amusing and mostly harmless, with a couple of good chuckles. For the most part, though, I wasn’t too impressed. I think the best part was the names of the robots, and I won’t spoil them for you.
The second skit is well worth watching if you’re a fan of Mad Men. While “How to Get Ahead in Dead-vertising” isn’t really a spoof of Mad Men, it’s worth watching just to see The Simpsons recreate the awesome opening sequence of Mad Men with Homer in the Don Draper role. The rest of the skit features Homer killing celebrities so that advertisers can use their images without permission.
The last sketch is the one you’ve probably seen commercials for (if you still watch commercials, that is). As you can probably guess from the title, “It’s the Grand Pumpkin Milhouse” is a spoof of the classic Peanuts cartoon It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown. I know this is a beloved childhood memory for most kids, but I personally hate the Peanuts. I’ll probably get skewered for saying this, but I’ve never understood the appeal, so I was happy to see The Simpsons mocking them. They did a good job and it was fairly amusing. They did it with enough reverence that I don’t think any hardcore Peanuts fans will be upset.
So are you guys excited for the latest Treehouse of Horror? What is your favorite Treehouse of Horror episode from the past? Am I a heartless bastard for thinking the Peanuts are stupid?
Clacked by Bob Degon
on Oct 26, 2008 @ 15:07 EST5EDT
