Review of "Treehouse of Horror XVI"

So, once again, the Simpsons Halloween Special comes on almost a week AFTER Halloween. They really need to stop doing that. At least they referenced it at the beginning. Really, the opening sequence was great overall. As for the story segments, the first one was definitely the best. It worked pretty well as a parody, and just generally as a Treehouse of Horror story. It does seem like the show has been doing a LOT of robot jokes since Futurama has been cancelled, though. They even did a few that were pretty much the same as jokes they'd done on Futurama, like a robot taking Bart's "eat my shorts" literally (although there was an amusing new twist on it). The other two segments were basically following a formula that we've seen several times before: something bad happens to the people of Springfield, and everyone reacts to it. It usually results in some good one-liners but a weak overall plot, and these two segments were no exception. In the parody of "The Most Dangerous Game," my favorite part was probably the lawyer finding a way to make Burns's human-hunting legal, and subsequently being shot. Some of the jokes about the whole thing being made into a reality show were kind of funny, but could have been better. As for the last segment, I think it borrowed a lot from earlier Halloween segments where everyone is turned into something, especially the Dr. Moreau one (right down to a lot of people preferring their new forms), but also the one with the gypsy curse, and probably some others as well. I guess Bart turning Homer into a jack-in-the-box back in the third season was the beginning of the whole trend. Anyway, there was a twist ending, but not a particularly GOOD twist ending. I think the funniest thing in it was Mayor Quimby as Mayor McCheese, and his "I'm not a happy meal" line. The adult illiteracy ending was also good for a laugh. It was also somewhat derivative, since they've done the faux public service announcement numerous times on the show. It usually works, though, so I suppose I can't complain. Much, anyway. Grade: C

I would give this ep a B+. Liked the last story best.

.. Garondo Marondo!