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[Supa Necta]

Spoiler

E.T. Joke

was awesome and based on the ride at Universal Studios.

 

[Ahasverus]

Duuuudes I've never enjoyed an episode so much since Steal this Episode! In fact I think I like it better. GREAT episode all around, top 10 HD era

Already some all time classic quotes:

"Listen Lisa, as your father I've lied to you more times than there are stars in the sky, but this time I'm telling the truth"

 

[UberTag]

Yeah, I have to echo the raves. This was certainly the best episode since Steal This Episode and it may possibly be even better than that. It's been over a decade since we've had a Homer-Lisa episode this polished. Honestly can't think of a bad thing to say about it.

 

[UberTag]

Review consensus of this week's episode from NoHomers.net after 24 hours is in... and, well, it's the rare modern era episode with consensus top marks.

5/5: Halloween (1979) 42.19%
4/5: It's canon and it works as it! 34.38%
3/5: It's... okay? I wonder how Treehouse Of Horror XXVI will be like... 9.38%
2/5: It was not a good idea, sorry. 10.94%
1/5: Take down the decorations! 3.13%

And because we don't blindly trust devout Simpsons enthusiasts, I can also pass along some review quotes...

An impeccably directed, character-driven story about children’s fears and grown-up responsibility, the episode, credited to writer Carolyn Omine, is one of the most assured, human, and outright best Simpsons episodes in years. - Dennis Perkins, The Onion's A.V. Club

This Sunday night's episode, however, is remarkable, in that it finds a way to do something "The Simpsons" has never done before:

A real Halloween episode.

All of it actually feels creepier than a typical "Treehouse of Horror" story because it's "real." No, nothing bad is actually going to happen to Lisa or Homer, but the creative team and Yeardley Smith make you feel her terror much more acutely than in the Grand Guignol style of the "Treehouse" tales. And like in an actual horror movie, the laughs become a more welcome tonic because the peril seems genuine. - Alan Sepinwall, HitFix

Last night the Simpsons did something quite amazing, it was having an episode that was not only worth watching but might be one of the strongest episodes that I have seen in years. With the show going into its 27th season the quality has been less than spectacular in recent years (I’m being kind here) and the majority of the problems are the lack of good scripts.

Honestly I rarely watch the Simpsons on a regular basis anymore because the quality has gone down so much with the scripts but if they could at least have more scripts like this then there might be hope for the show in the quality department. I have to admit that this episode was not only worth watching but gave me hope that there is still some life in the Simpsons after all. - Steven Howearth, Pop Culture Maven

When I last wrote about The Simpsons a few weeks ago, I was ready to give up. Season 27's premiere was the latest in a long line of poorly thought out stunt episodes that were only conceived to bring in its lost audience. The show has had a waning quality for some time, but I've kept hope that there were still stories to be told as long as the writers were there to tell it.

And that's precisely what has happened with Season 27's "Halloween of Horror," the series' first true foray into a Halloween themed episode that doesn't break off into three different parts. Thanks to its refreshing focus on character, strong jokes, and direction, this has been the best episode in several years. It's been a long time coming. - Nick Valdez, Flixist

 

[Joni]

Great episode, and a theme park that would have scared a lot of 8 year olds. Best thing was adult halloween.

 

[Sanjuro]

Holy smokes! I thought it was the Treehouse episode.

This was one of the best all around episodes in years. Easily.

Goddam.

 

[IronRinn]

I thought I might be alone in really enjoying Sunday's episode, but I'm glad to see this consensus. One of the best episodes in a good long while. Homer/Lisa-centric story lines make for some of the best moments.

 

[Sanjuro]

I liked how Homer was more of a lovable fool like he used to be.

Also, the Zardoz call out.

 

[TheOddOne]

You're a genius!

 

[UberTag]

So last week brought us, arguably, one of the best Simpsons episodes this decade. I'm afraid, however, that the ball is now over and that the show is about to turn back into the rancid pumpkin we've come to expect.

Here's what's on deck for this evening. Another episode that will inevitably be defined by its pre-airing hype and not fondly remembered for the content it contained.

That said, I'm open-minded enough to give it a chance... I do believe this will turn out better than Cohen's last THOH from five years ago. I mean, we get Simpsonized send-ups of The Re-Animator, Godzilla and Chronicle. That's a step up from parodies of Jumanji, Dead Calm and Twilight, right?

TREEHOUSE OF HORROR XXVI - Sunday, October 25th | Episode Production Code = TABF18 / Writer = Joel H. Cohen

Rated: TV-14 (almost every Simpsons episode without exception is rated TV-PG)

SIDESHOW BOB FINALLY KILLS BART

FOX Promo
Couch Gag courtesy of John Kricfalusi (Ren & Stimpy)
Clip #1 - Re-Animating One's Enemy
Clip #2 - What To Do

Annual Halloween-Themed “Treehouse of Horror XXVI” Episode; Kelsey Grammer Makes Guest-Voice Appearance

In the annual fright fest Halloween episode, Sideshow Bob finally kills Bart, only to reanimate him; Homer wakes up with short-term memory loss; and Lisa, Bart, and Milhouse get super powers from radiation.

FXX Marathon Theme - Modern Treehouse of Horror

4:00pm Treehouse of Horror XVII (S18E4 / HABF17 / 2006)
4:30pm Treehouse of Horror XVIII (S19E5 / JABF16 / 2007)
5:00pm Treehouse of Horror XIX (S20E4 / KABF16 / 2008)
5:30pm Treehouse of Horror XX (S21E4 / LABF14 / 2009)
6:00pm Treehouse of Horror XXI (S22E4 / MABF16 / 2010)
6:30pm Treehouse of Horror XXII (S23E3 / NABF19 / 2011)
7:00pm Treehouse of Horror XXIII (S24E2 / PABF17 / 2012)
7:30pm Treehouse of Horror XXIV (S25E2 / RABF16 / 2013)

 

[RadioHeadAche]

Does Marge voice acting feel off to anyone?

Yes, but after twenty-six years it's not too surprising.

 

[MrBadger]

“[Sideshow Bob’s] whole life has just been about killing Bart, so what’s next? We deal with how Bob would really feel once he accomplished this goal he’s had his whole life.”

Flanderisation's a bitch.

 

[Sanjuro]

Kricfalusi is extremely hit or miss, but I always love seeing his animation.

 

[Tapejara]

I haven't really enjoyed a Treehouse of Horror in a while, so I'm going in with low expectations tonight.

 

[mreddie]

I haven't really enjoyed a Treehouse of Horror in a while, so I'm going in with low expectations tonight.

There's always one segment that stands out, last year had the Others parody and the Paranormal Activity spoof.

 

[BodiesWithoutOrgans]

Last week episode was fucking amazing

 

[UberTag]

I haven't really enjoyed a Treehouse of Horror in a while, so I'm going in with low expectations tonight.

Apart from a segment here or there, the last THOH I largely enjoyed was THOH XX six years ago. Every Treehouse since then has largely been a mix of good and bad. They ought to go back to the classic era format of having individual writers own specific segments because having a single person own the entire thing just leads to the inevitability of certain segments being favored over others.

 

[Tapejara]

There's always one segment that stands out, last year had the Others parody and the Paranormal Activity spoof.

Yeah for sure. Just as a whole they've been pretty disappointing.

Apart from a segment here or there, the last THOH I largely enjoyed was THOH XX six years ago. Every Treehouse since then has largely been a mix of good and bad. They ought to go back to the classic era format of having individual writers own specific segments because having a single person own the entire thing just leads to the inevitability of certain segments being favored over others.

I didn't realize they used to write THOH that way. Sounds like it contributed a lot to the quality of the episode(s).

 

[UberTag]

I didn't realize they used to write THOH that way. Sounds like it contributed a lot to the quality of the episode(s).

Yeah, the individual acts each being written by a unique writer was done away with when Al Jean took over in Season 13 with the EABF production line.

During the classic era you would even see the wraparound segments in between each Treehouse story written by a different writer.

So in the instance of THOH IV (second only to THOH V in terms of quality), you had Greg Daniels & Dan McGrath write The Devil and Homer Simpson, you had Bill Oakley & Josh Weinstein write Terror at 5½ Feet, you had Bill Canterbury write Bart Simpson's Dracula and then you had Conan O'Brien write the episode wraparound segments featuring the horrifying art gallery.

 

[Maengun1]

Bart and Lisa get super powers? So....Stretch Dude and Clobber Girl?

I'm interested to see the Sideshow Bob segment, but I've been hearing about it for over a year already so I'm not that hyped haha. It would have been amazing if it was a surprise. I guess that's my fault for following Simpsons news. I thought last year's segment with the ghosts of the Tracey Ullman version Simpsons was an AMAZING premise utterly wasted, so hopefully they can do more with this one.

 

[mreddie]

Bart and Lisa get super powers? So....Stretch Dude and Clobber Girl?

I'm interested to see the Sideshow Bob segment, but I've been hearing about it for over a year already so I'm not that hyped haha. It would have been amazing if it was a surprise. I guess that's my fault for following Simpsons news. I thought last year's segment with the ghosts of the Tracey Ullman version Simpsons was an AMAZING premise utterly wasted, so hopefully they can do more with this one.

They say this will be more in tune to Chronicle.

 

[UberTag]

They say this will be more in tune to Chronicle.

Pretty much this. They get to fly around and move stuff with their minds. Start pulling pranks on the rest of Springfield 'til things start getting out of hand and powers are abused irresponsibly. It's supposedly the weakest of tonight's trio of segments so I'm not getting my hopes up too high for it.

 

[Tapejara]

Pretty disappointing so far, but I got a laugh out of the Godzilla '98 dig.

Edit: okay that ending was great.

 

[UberTag]

Pretty disappointing so far, but I got a laugh out of the Godzilla '98 dig.

Edit: okay that ending was great.

There were endings in tonight's episode? I had an awful lot of trouble finding much of anything resembling an ending. I felt like I was killed before the opening credits ended and re-animated repeatedly until, quite simply, nothing on screen registered any sort of meaningful impact.

This will give THOH XXII some competition for worst Treehouse of Horror ever.

 

[Ahasverus]

Fucking Al Jean

 

[BatDan]

I think he meant the last line about "Season 4". That was the only laugh I got out of this episode.

But yeah, the segments didn't end they just stopped. The middle one felt less like Treehouse of Horror and more like a standard episode,.
When I heard there was going to be a "Bart and Lisa get powers" segment, I had hoped for the return of Stretch Dude and Clobber Girl. Nope, just a really lame Chronicle parody... 3 years late by the way and with the movie's director now considered a complete joke.

 

[mreddie]

Missed it, watching SNF, can anyone sum up the segments?

 

[BatDan]

Missed it, watching SNF, can anyone sum up the segments?

Couch gag was a music video animated by John Kricfalusi (Ren & Stimpy) involving Frank Grimes coming back to life and eating children's souls or something.

Segment 1: Sideshow Bob successfully kills Bart, then uses his corpse as a plaything, becomes a professor at Springfield University, gets bored of life, brings Bart back to life only to kill him over and over again, the family finds Bart, Homer kills Bob, Bart revives him as a weird animal thing.

Segment 2: Starts with a parody of the original Godzilla from 1954, with Homer-zilla. Halfway through, it's revealed that a movie a bunch of execs are watching and they decide to remake it, they do but the movie bombs and they throw everything related to it in the ocean, which somehow awakens a real Homer-Zilla. Then it just ends.

Segment 3: Parody of Chronicle with Lisa filming everything and finding a bunch of radioactive ooze with Bart and Milhouse. Lisa and Milhouse gain powers but Bart doesn't for some reason (whatever), they have fun, then Milhouse goes mad, then Maggie gains powers and stops him. Kang and Kodos appear at the end.

 

[Tapejara]

Edit: I'm going to echo the main criticism in this thread about the endings. My problem with the recent THOH has always been that they lack the structure of the older episodes. Now it's just "here's a premise, make stupid jokes instead of plot, abrupt ending."

There were endings in tonight's episode? I had an awful lot of trouble finding much of anything resembling an ending. I felt like I was killed before the opening credits ended and re-animated repeatedly until, quite simply, nothing on screen registered any sort of meaningful impact.

This will give THOH XXII some competition for worst Treehouse of Horror ever.

Just the whole "Season 4" thing. Other than that and the Godzilla '98 joke it was a pretty awful episode.

 

[e_i]

Heh. Mr. Sparkle reference the Homerzilla one.

 

[Entropia]

That did not feel like a THOH episode.

Every segment ended abruptly with what felt like no closure.

 

[Future]

Didn't see the treehouse ep, but the Halloween ep the week before will have me eyeing this thread for the upcoming weeks. What a good episode. Shows you can still do awesome stuff with the Simpsons characters if it's written well

I hope the series finale and second movie (if there is one) has that quality. The ep is proof they can still deliver

 

[UberTag]

Didn't see the treehouse ep, but the Halloween ep the week before will have me eyeing this thread for the upcoming weeks.

Feel free to bypass the Treehouse ep. The nice part about having this thread around is that you can avoid the disappointments and only bother watching episodes that realize their potential.

As far as HD Treehouse specials go, the first is still the best. Treehouse of Horror XX is easily recommended (S21E4). XXI and XXII are garbage.

Of the remaining three - all of which are watchable - I would rank the 9 segments in the following order (from best to worst)...

-) Guillermo del Toro's Opening Couch Gag (THOH XXIV)
1) Oh, the Places You'll D'oh! (THOH XXIV)
2) The Greatest Story Ever Holed (THOH XXIII)
3) The Others (THOH XXV)
4) Bart and Homer's Excellent Adventure (THOH XXIII)
5) Freaks, No Geeks (THOH XXIV)
6) A Clockwork Yellow (THOH XXV)
7) School Is Hell (THOH XXV)
8) Un-Normal Activity (THOH XXIII)
9) Dead and Shoulders (THOH XXIV)

The first 10 or so minutes of THOH XXIV, in particular, is well worth seeking out for del Toro's superlative direction and a truly inspired Dr. Seuss parody with a dark edge. I wouldn't really consider anything else on this list as essential... but do seek out Treehouse of Horror XX if you haven't watched it.

 

[Pai Pai Master]

I liked the first segment, had a few good lines. The other two were garbage but I liked Homerzilla constantly screaming lol

 

[Sou Da]

First segment managed to get moderately creepy with how Bob still took out his frustations on Bart's corpse. Other 2 were trash, Homerzilla felt like an unfinished first draft and I couldn't take more than 3 minutes of the Chronicle one.

 

[MrBadger]

Well, the Sideshow Bob part was exactly as bad as I thought it'd be. Other two sections were meh outside of a few funny jokes.

 

[Agent Unknown]

These are some thoughts I also (mostly) posted on the AV Club boards

My thoughts on last night's THOH and the show in general the past 15-16 years can be summed up by paraphrasing the last tone deaf and condescending title card line from Homerzilla:

"There will be another Simpsons season made as soon as people have forgotten about the last Simpsons season."

When you have been on the air over 26 years and are in the midst of a wide ranging rebirth of quality television, you no longer have the right to constantly act like your show is still hot and cutting edge and everything else is trash
when you have long overstayed your welcome and then have the audacity to do little more than criticize and dump on Hollywood studios for making sequels to their own long standing properties when the Simpsons itself has become little more than its own cynical, bloated cash cow and has been coasting on nothing but its name for a decade and a half. Last week’s line from Homer mocking how terrible THOH has become isn’t funny, it’s just the writers reveling in their own hubris over the weak, irrelevant position that they perpetually allow both themselves and the show to be in. THOH is the one time a year I still return to the show because it has such potential for spoofing and riffing, the one time Jean and the writers are handed an opportunity to have some open ended inspiration with the endless goldmine that is horror and science fiction. What do we get? An unfunny Sideshow Bob death fantasy relying on the over the top gore constantly implied in the real Sideshow Bob episodes we never wanted to actually see, a piece which is little more than a "lol Frank Grimes is trolled!" call back, an unfunny Chronicle spoof where the kids turn things…into other things and then to top it off, the ironic and definitive example of why the writers literally just don’t care anymore: Homerzilla. I’d love to be a fly in the writers room on that one:

“OK, we’re writers on an animated sitcom with a ‘nuclear family,’ the lead character is a nuclear safety supervisor who works inside a nuclear power plant, his boss is a maniacal nuclear power tycoon, and the plant sometimes spawns mutations. So what kind of hilarious, relevant situations could we possibly come up with simply using elements and characters from OUR OWN SHOW and elements from Godzilla??? What could we possibly do with an iconic property which has its roots in the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, features a creature that is born from radiation, eats nuclear reactors like they're dog biscuits, every movie in the series features anti-nuclear themes…..yeah sorry, Jean we got nothin.’ We decided to make Homer a monster who eats a few donuts, yells a lot, Grandpa Simpson turns into a Shinto ghost or something, we make some crass, unfunny lines about Japanese culture (“all sushi is gross” is beyond stupid and belongs in a bad Jim Gaffigan food rant), we’ll pretend the 2014 film wasn’t successful and we’ll throw in an “edgy” canned dig at “the Hollywood sequel machine" because ya know, "remakes and stuff" is a statement. Oh and it’s black and white like the 1954 movie.” Seriously, if you no longer know what to do with your own show and can do little more than insult other properties and the intelligence of the audience and try to excuse it all with self referencing the fact that you know the show's quality is garbage now but you don't care, you really need to get off the stage. It's a shame Harry Shearer didn't follow through with quitting last year as he has expressed pointed criticism of the writing quality in interviews in years past, but I guess it's hard to say no to a truck full of money backed up to your house as Krusty would say.

Last full episode I can remember watching was one from last year where Homer and Bart have to go on some father-son relationship improvement and end up on a modern pirate ship or something, turned it off within about 15 minutes.

Waiting now for the worn out crutch of "It's still better than most other shows."

Edit: Also, did they really have Marge legally separate because she was annoyed with Homer sleepwalking?

 

[UberTag]

Nobody should be saying that The Simpsons is still better than most other shows. They clearly didn't care when making this season's Treehouse of Horror and that translated to the final product. They made it out of obligation and a marketing bullet point than out of an actual desire to tell a story.

However, last week's Halloween of Horror (which you didn't watch) shows that The Simpsons can still be enjoyable and deliver both high-quality and original entertainment in the year 2015.

The problem has largely lied in the show's consistency.

Al Jean clearly checks out of certain episodes and could care less about driving them to be the best that they can be. Matt Selman doesn't do this and, even when an idea of his fails (his episodes haven't all been winners), you can at least say that he invested a great deal of effort in trying to make an episode great. A Selman episode doesn't fail because it's lazy. It fails because an idea simply doesn't click.

One showrunner motivates the staff to excel, the other can't be bothered unless it's for a showcase episode he's playing favorites for like Holidays of Future Passed, I Won't Be Home for Christmas or The Man Who Came to Be Dinner.

Now the devil's advocate argument is that since one showrunner only has to worry about 4 episodes per cycle and the other has to worry about 18... well, it's no wonder that the guy who only has to focus on 4 can spend more time on ensuring they're great.

Edit: Also, did they really have Marge legally separate because she was annoyed with Homer sleepwalking?

They did... but then they backed out of that debacle by making it all out to be a dream sequence within a dream sequence within a dream sequence. So it's best to not think about it.

 

[Agent Unknown]

^^^^

That's ironic because I remember back in 2000/01 during the Mike Scully years when it was announced Al Jean was coming back, people on the No Homers board were ecstatic and thinking he'd be the savior of the show. That's too bad he's gotten lazy in his supervising and producing duties. I gave up watching regularly around season 14 or 15 (whichever season when Homer's mom returned which was an exceptionally bittersweet Ep), loved the movie. I just don't have time to sink into the show anymore, it has almost zero interest for me and why bother caring when a lot of the staff apparently doesn't and I have my games and other shows competing for my time? Maybe one of these days I'll check out some more posts here to glean which handful of episodes I've missed that are actually worth catching up on.

They did... but then they backed out of that debacle by making it all out to be a dream sequence within a dream sequence within a dream sequence. So it's best to not think about it.

Good grief. At least they realized how stupid that would have been, wonder whose idea it was initially?

 

[mreddie]

ToH got a 2.4 rating

 

[UberTag]

ToH got a 2.4 rating

Highest ratings of the season, incidentally. For the worst episode.
Personally, I would rather ensure the best episodes of a season draw the largest audience. But that's just me talking crazy.

Review consensus of this week's episode from NoHomers.net after 24 hours. The verdict is not so hot... although probably still better than this episode deserves.

5/5 Good Halloween-Themed Flim (Year Of Release Of Said Movie) 7.55%
4/5 More like IV/V! 9.43%
3/5 eh it was ok 32.08%
2/5 This episode was so bad, it's scary!! (please let me know if this joke is not original) 32.08%
1/5 can... can we skip to thanksgiving 18.87%

 

[UberTag]

Our first post-Halloween episode is upon us tomorrow night. Here's what's in store.

(For what it's worth, I have rather low expectations for the next three episodes. Not expecting much worth watching until Barthood airs on December 13th so try not to get your hopes up.)

FRIEND WITH BENEFIT - Sunday, November 8th | Episode Production Code = TABF21 / Writer = Rob LaZebnik

HOMER LIKES LISA'S NEW FRIEND MORE THAN SHE DOES

FOX Promo - A Whale of a Good Time
Clip #1 - A Thing of the Past
Clip #2 - The Future of Music

Kristen Bell and David Copperfield Make Guest-Voice Appearances

Lisa befriends Harper, a new kid at school who happens to be super-rich. Then, Homer befriends Harper's dad and is able to enjoy the perks of Lisa having a rich friend, as well. But Lisa decides that Harper is a bully and moves to end the friendship, which prompts Homer to try and smooth things over so he can continue to enjoy the good life.

FXX Marathon Theme - The Upper Crust (3:00pm special start time)

3:00pm Oh Brother, Where Art Thou? (S2E15 / 7F16 / 1991)
3:30pm Blood Feud (S2E22 / 7F22 / 1991)
4:00pm Burns' Heir (S5E18 / 1F16 / 1994)
4:30pm Scenes from the Class Struggle in Springfield (S7E14 / 3F11 / 1996)
5:00pm The Mansion Family (S11E12 / BABF08 / 2000)
5:30pm A Tale of Two Springfields (S12E2 / BABF20 / 2000)
6:00pm Double, Double Boy in Trouble (S20E3 / KABF14 / 2008)
6:30pm Waverly Hills, 9-0-2-1-D'oh (S20E19 / LABF10 / 2009)

 

[Tapejara]

Doesn't sound like a bad premise for an episode, but I won't get my hopes up.

 

[UberTag]

Doesn't sound like a bad premise for an episode, but I won't get my hopes up.

More often than not modern episode premises are fine... it's just the execution that's haphazard. I'm expecting another episode where they get so distracted with gags and parodying modern nonsense that they short-shrift the actual story.

That said, next week's episode is an exception to the rule on the "initial premise sounds fine" front. Loaning Lisa out for a month to settle a poker debt? Really?

 

[Joni]

Sounds like a standard episode, but that shot of Santa's Little Helper looks surprisingly pretty.

 

[Tapejara]

More often than not modern episode premises are fine... it's just the execution that's haphazard. I'm expecting another episode where they get so distracted with gags and parodying modern nonsense that they short-shrift the actual story.

That said, next week's episode is an exception to the rule on the "initial premise sounds fine" front. Loaning Lisa out for a month to settle a poker debt? Really?

Wait what? I must've skipped over that poker debt thing. I take back what I said!

 

[UberTag]

Wait what? I must've skipped over that poker debt thing. I take back what I said!

Well, your comment was accurate for tomorrow night's episode. The premise is perfectly fine.

It's the premise for Lisa With an 'S' that's problematic...

When Homer loses $5,000 at a poker game with Broadway legend Laney Fontaine, the only way he is able to settle the bet is if he loans Lisa to Laney for a month. Then, Laney turns Lisa into a show biz kid and Marge and Homer fear they made a mistake letting her go. So they head to New York to get her back.

 

[Agent Unknown]

I just watched tonight's re-run episode where they went to Kang and Kodos' planet for real. It wasn't too bad in my opinion, I actually enjoyed it and the Star Trek OS tribute in the end credits was fun. I'm 13 min into the Kristen Bell episode and am not feeling it, think it's time to play some games. "Doe Eyed Boys! Get it?? We just parodied One Direction!" Yawn. Chatter between Homer and the rich dad is forced, bland and stupid like most of the gags and dialogue these days.

When Homer loses $5,000 at a poker game with Broadway legend Laney Fontaine, the only way he is able to settle the bet is if he loans Lisa to Laney for a month. Then, Laney turns Lisa into a show biz kid and Marge and Homer fear they made a mistake letting her go. So they head to New York to get her back.

Ick. This is one of those episode descriptions I have to read twice because I can't believe it's real.

 

[Tapejara]

This episode would be better if Homer actually liked the rich dad instead of just wanting to remain friends for the perks. And if he was actually a real character instead of just someone who screams.

 

[UberTag]

I just watched tonight's re-run episode where they went to Kang and Kodos' planet for real. It wasn't too bad in my opinion, I actually enjoyed it and the Star Trek OS tribute in the end credits was fun.

The Man Who Came to Be Dinner isn't a bad episode... it's just a disappointing one given the potential, the pedigree (David Mirkin coming back to co-write the script; Silverman directing it; the fact that it was once considered as a plot for a theatrical movie sequel) and the execution (having The Simpsons still reside in their living room despite being on a different planet, the pacing issues of the 3rd act and the willingness of the family to sacrifice Homer). It needed to be a two-parter or an hour long to do that premise justice.

This episode would be better if Homer actually liked the rich dad instead of just wanting to remain friends for the perks. And if he was actually a real character instead of just someone who screams.

Homer screaming all the time is usually how I tell when an episode is voice directed poorly or written by Dan Castellaneta and his wife.