“Treehouse of Horror XVII”
“The Simpsons”
Fox
Sunday, Nov. 5, 8 p.m.
“The Simpsons'” 17th annual “Treehouse
of Horror” contains a line which aptly encapsulates the
episode.
In it, Krusty the Clown tells jokes for his upcoming
“Desperate Houseflies” sketch in which he drools over
the hot exterminator. He then delivers his trademark groan and
remarks, “I’m gonna need a shoebox full of blow to get
through this dreck.”
Krusty’s got a point. After this episode, viewers may wish
they had a crate of blow.
“The Simpsons” hasn’t been consistently on top
of its game since the Clinton administration, and it shows why in
this episode. Random celebrity guest stars and obvious satire
combine for a laborious 22 minutes.
In “Married to the Blob,” Homer eats an interstellar
substance and becomes a blob that must consume everything. One
fairly funny scene involves Homer eating teenagers, remarking that
one teen’s meat is “extra virgin.” However, the
completely inexplicable Dr. Phil cameo sucks any potential this
vignette has.
“You Gotta Know When To Golem” is about a golem, a
Jewish Frankenstein-esque monster. Of course, the golem is actually
a neurotic Jewish caricature voiced by Richard Lewis and soon
acquires a nasal, nagging female golem voiced by Fran Drescher.
Edgy stuff.
The worst is “The Day the Earth Looked Stupid” in
which the residents of Springfield listen to Orson Welles’
“War of the Worlds” radio broadcast and think aliens
are coming, then realize they’ve been duped. However, aliens
soon end up invading for real. The ending is an allusion to Iraq in
an even more blatantly obvious attempt at symbolism than the final
shot of Martin Scorsese’s otherwise excellent “The
Departed.”
The tie-in to Halloween is extremely tenuous in this episode.
Perhaps that makes sense, considering that it is airing a full week
after the holiday.
Basically, if this episode were one’s first exposure to
“The Simpsons,” they would be perplexed as to why it
has been on for 18 seasons. Truthfully, with the show’s
quality since the last millennium, it’s hard not to ask that
question.