One thing that is sort of a turnoff for me with episodes in recent years (even in the second Al Jean era, though I suppose he does have a propensity for wacky gags) has been the, well, wacky gags. Those that break basic laws of physics and nature just for a slapstick joke. I try to keep this in mind and not let it get me down, but the first few acts of "The Girl Who Slept Too Little" were starting to get to me (drilling Bart into the ground being a bit of a rake scene, plus the truck flipping over, antics with Bart's bed... by comparison, I did find Homer's helicopter pretty funny). Fortunately, a good outlet for this was found in the third act in Lisa's dream, which was quite enjoyable. (More on that later.) Those things aside, the story was good. It took a little while to get there, but the setup, exploration, and resolution of Lisa's fears were engaging, funny, and pretty much in character. Things could have been a little scarier earlier on (compare FABF08), but for example, the headlights/shadows were well done. Things improved from there; I was actually thinking the psychiatrist was full of crap and that it's normal for an 8-year-old to have such fears, and then the Beasts went and said so. I suppose it's a little bit of a convenient resolution, but learning how to deal with certain things works in real life anyway. Also amusing were some of the side stories, such as Homer learning what they gave up by driving the stamp museum away, and Lisa learning about her parents' gossip life (this one seems like it would make a good episode by itself, or at least a B story). Oddly, Itchy and Scratchy was a little boring and tame, more like a commentary on the show "Cats" than a violence-packed cartoon. Overall, the episode got off to a bit of a rough start, but worked out well by the end.
DYN: ...the nice zoom effect when the stamp museum sign is being pounded into the ground? ...we get another glimpse at the rumpus room? ...the Count is given a rather evil laugh compared to the usual "ah ah ah"?
Previous episode references 2F16: Willie is too superstitious to work at the cemetery (perhaps his cousin's antics would explain that!) 8F06: Homer apparently taped over the "Baby Lisa" tape (do there exist other episodes with tapes of her?) 8F06: Another pony also DABF19: Bart as a spider
Other reference Milton Burkhart's "The Land of the Wild Beasts" is very similar to Maurice Sendak's "Where the Wild Things Are" (which also was made into an animated movie or filmstrip, and apparently is being remade this year) - I'm not aware if the perversion angle is also a reference, but I do notice that Sendak's "In the Night Kitchen" seems to make its way onto banned-book lists surprisingly often.
Goofs In the usual layout of the Simpson house, Bart's room would also face the cemetery. And in the third act, the cemetery seems to become _much_ larger for some reason.
Other comments/questions Apparently, the practice of putting the TV rating bug up after each commercial break, which began this summer on most cable channels, has made its way to Fox. OH BOY! I must be missing something; what's with the random gratuitous language in the stamp museum (Bell's "bitch" and Homer's "that's bullshit, man!")? Something that'll be a little harder to notice with the text credits: a loving-memory card for James "Jamie" O'Brien near the end of the credits. (Who is that, by the way? Not to be blunt, but a look at some recent credits doesn't help me.)