TV-Reviewed

The “Treehouse of Terror” specials have a long history on The Simpsons, but to be frank, I haven’t enjoyed a lot of them. The writers try to cram three very different stories into a 20 minute episode and there isn’t enough time to focus on funny material.

This continued to be the case this year with “Treehouse of Horror XIX.” The first segment was entitled “Untitled Robot Parody.” I actually liked this Transformers parody. There were a few good jokes, but I especially liked Marge’s scolding of the two fighting Transformers. The two ended up enslaving everyone after it, but it was a good story.

“How to Get Ahead in Dead-Vertising” was also a decent segment. It parodied Mad Men of course, and pitted Homer against celebrities. Homer proved he does a good job of sometimes inadvertently killing famous people and is paid well to kill more. George Clooney and Prince are among those in which Homer sets his sights on. I was surprised by all of those celebrities included in the heaven scenes. I didn’t expect to see one of my favorite movie heroes to be included: John Wayne. The actor who did his voice should be shot. It was a terrible job.

The last bit, “It’s the Grand Pumpkin, Milhouse” was a Charlie Brown parody. I don’t have a problem with The Simpsons taking shots at the Peanuts gang, but this segment was pretty weak, especially for the conclusion of the episode. I know the writers were probably depending on our long-lasting memories of Charlie Brown to help make this segment work, but it wasn’t funny. It just wasn’t very funny.

This is common of a lot of these Halloween episodes. More emphasis is put on creating parodies of movies and TV shows that the writers forget that the show is supposed to be humorous. The best segment was the election opening. That was something they did a good job on.

Rating: 6.2