Not a whole lot to say this week. The intro segment was fun, if somewhat retreading old ground. "Bartificial Intelligence" had robots, and some decent humor. "Survival of the Fattest" really seemed to go nowhere, and I didn't find it all too funny. "I've Grown a Costume on Your Face" was pretty well-written, and a good ensemble piece (certainly more so than SotF), but it sort of ran out of steam. For some reason, even though the three-story format always seems to dictate cramming lots of story/humor into each short segment, that didn't really seem to apply this time. Yes, there were various funny gags and jokes, but the plots could use a bit more work. Not BAD, but just not great. See you chumps and chumpettes next week.
DYN: ...the credits on the TV moved outward a little this year? ...Disco Stu died when his costume became real, but Homer (and many others) didn't? ...Fox doesn't seem to be quite as generous with credits this year as last? (Out of 4 episodes so far, 3 have had alternate music, and all were cut off.) ...Dennis Rodman was mentioned in the cold open for the new Family Guy tonight (4ACX17)?
Previous episode references EABF21: Kang and Kodos complain about the airdate of the TOH episode 5F22: Bart did kill a (real) bird once AABF01: "World Series of Manslaughter" is like "World's Deadliest Executions" DABF19: Characters don't want to return to their human forms 8F02: A Simpson child can transmogrify objects (and in both cases, to suit his or her own desire); Maggie uses magic to get more pacifiers 7G05: Ending an episode with a PSA
Goofs (and yes, I know it's a Halloween show) Burns' hunt was definitely not manslaughter, unless his lawyer is really that good. A common animation mistake is also that flying birds (or people) drop straight down upon being shot (...well, unless the momentum of the bullet is equal and opposite to their own, etc.).
Meta-reference corner Quimby speaks of "our beloved regulars" in act III, giving as examples Lindsay Naegle, Helen Lovejoy, and the old Jewish man. Also, of course, the intro segment and very end of the show too.
Precious previews There was a scene with Homer getting electrocuted in many of the promos for this episode, which did not appear in the episode itself; it looks like it might be from DABF10, but any other suggestions?
Fun with numbers Unless I missed something, tonight was the first time a Simpsons episode has run 3 times on Fox on the same day of the month. (That is, GABF02, which ran on 2/6/05, 3/6/05, and 11/6/05.) However, there were three times that both of an episode's _two_ network runs were on the same day of the month: 9F21: 9/30/93, 12/30/93 4F06: 12/29/96, 6/29/97 EABF13: 4/27/03, 7/27/03