It may have the longest title but this year's TOH was kind of near the lower end. I enjoyed the opener (shades of EABF21 and GABF17 in making fun of the timing and Fox in general), "E.T. Go Home" was fairly good... "Mr. & Mrs. Simpson" didn't seem to fit the TOH style though (all it had going for it was killing and so on), and wasn't even all that entertaining. (I haven't seen the movie.) It reminded me more of a bad remake of Family Guy's "Lethal Weapons" in the second half. "Heck House" was fun but took way too long to get to the point. Only one other note: stop dwelling on jokes! The "Colombo" tossoff line was a decent zinger, but then the followup of "yes, we watch Colombo, and blah blah blah not funny" took me out. Oh well. Till next time!
DYN: ...Marge's opening monologue (that is, its existence) is slightly reminiscent of earlier TOHs (I, II, III to a degree, V)? ...no Halloween name for writer Marc Wilmore? (Last year I think it wasn't funny either, though two years ago when Marc was credited for TOH it was "Marc Will Killmore") ...Kang does make a very short appearance? ...Bart's Frankenstein('s monster) mask has a pointy hairline on the forehead?
Previous episode references EABF09: Simpsons don't like bottom thirds (and other promos) (since 2003 or so they've been almost entirely absent from this show, yet it still fooled me for a moment!) BABF07: Bart shows Kodos Funzo CABF14: Bart shows Kodos Linguo CABF01: Homer asks who's at the door in unnecessary falsetto 1F04: Ned as Satan, sort of 3F04: Willie's tractor as an instrument of death 4F12: OK, so it was only *mentioned* in that episode, but the bullies take on the form of Cerberus (Kerberos), the original dog from hell 9F20: Watch Fox and be damned for all eternity! 1F04: Credits another remix of "The Addams Family" theme for some reason
Other reference Futurama 1ACV02: Kodos's "killing all the humans" song to the tune of "She'll Be Comin' 'Round the Mountain" is very much like Bender's at the end of this episode
Miscellaneous notes -I see that epguides.com (and now Don Del Grande's episode list) speaks of an "E. Pluribus Wiggum" early in the KABF series... I'll be sure to explain this in more detail when it airs, but please take note, it is not "E." - it is just "E" (in fact, "e"; the capitalization is only from its use/place in the title). The similar Family Guy episode "E Peterbus Unum" is listed with a period in many places as well (including most online sources and about half its appearances on the actual DVD), and I don't know why this is so difficult. -The CWRU Film Society is showing The Simpsons Movie this Friday; as I am a member of it, I might be doing something between shows where I name every episode (minus Ullman shorts) from memory for the audience, which takes about 15-20 minutes. I'll report on that later - for now I'm keeping my fingers crossed!