Treehouse of Horror Redux, with a small diatribe on Homer

Watched last night's Simpsons Treehouse of Horror last night with Julie and Jason. I thought it was a solid, if not spectacular episode for laughs. Trouble is, none of the concepts had their roots in the horror genre...with the exception of the Frink/Frankenstein segment. For the past few years, they've been aping more Science Fiction concepts than anything.

And can I just say that it's bullpuckey where we get the Halloween episode in November? You can make all the funny jokes with Kang and Kodos and Christmas decorations, but you don't see CBS programming The Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown this late...nor Rudolph in January or the Foofur Fourth of July Spectacular on the 8th.

Again, it was a solid episode for laughs, if not originality.

I mean, the first segment, where Homer kills Death, and becomes Death himself, would have been funnier had I not just seen a very similar episode of Family Guy (complete with nobody dying gags) just a couple of weeks ago. Though Homer trying to fool God, and then his motorcycle chase with the Almighty was pretty funny.

The Frinkenstein episode didn't do a whole lot for me. I can only take Frink (and any other Jerry Lewis clones) for short bursts. Though when Frink's Dad starts twisting people's heads off and stealing their brainpower...I have to admit to laughing out loud. And Frink's solution was well timed.

I thought the Clockstoppers segment was probably the funniest. Homer and the disappearing doughnuts was hilarious. And I like any Milhouse episode.

Pete, at A Perfect Cromulent Blog, adds his thoughts on last night's unofficial season premiere.

I'd like to echo his comments on the ever-increasing valleys. Last year, I think, was probably the strongest season in three or four seasons. But I remember that there was almost no middle ground last year. About 60% of the episodes were enjoyable. About 40% were virtually unwatchable--basically because characters were acting outside the bounds of how their character would normally act.

My example is this. There's an episode that opens with Homer deciding to run a marathon. Just because, and just like that. And apparently as an audience, we're supposed to accept it, and think it's funny just because it's another of Homer's lame-brained ideas.

But there's no thought process shown in Homer's decision to run the marathon.

Remember the Homey the Clown episode, where Homer first gets excited about "New Billboard Day," sees the Clown College billboard, and by the end of the first act has decided to go to Clown College after his subconscious goads him and goads him (he builds a big top out of mashed potatoes) until he announces, ultimately: "That's It! I'm going to Clown College!"

For too many of the Simpsons writers, they think the joke is about the payoff. And they think it's about the payoff so much, they're at the point where they end up leaving off the joke a lot of the time.

For my money, though, with the Simpsons, and Homer especially, the joke is about the set-up as much as it is the punchline.

Homer is the key.

Homer Simpson is a misguided everyman. That's his appeal as a character. Perhaps he's a little immature, but ultimately, he's got his family's best interests at heart. I guess that's my point. And he makes a lot odd and bad decisions, often with comic results, but there's a twisted, Rube Goldbergian (even Homeresque) logic to everything Homer does. Or, at least there should be. Writer John Swartzwelder is probably the strongest over the course of the show's history at all this.

But too often, especially in the past few years, Homer isn't necessarily the guy who's making a lot of comically bad decisions. He's made into a big, stupid jerkass. Like the writers (Ian Maxtone Graham is the writer that pops into my mind--I think he's an exec. producer now, but I cringed anytime I saw one of his episodes come up) want only to make Homer look as stupid as possible...like that's what we're laughing at.

I want to laugh with Homer, and not necessarily at him.

It's as simple as this. I forget which episode it is, but at one point, Homer is outside the gates of the Springfield Nuclear Power Plant. He's just finished talking to Lenny and Carl (I believe, somebody correct me if I'm wrong), and he starts shaking the barred gates of the power plant, screaming to be let out. And then he realizes that he is already outside, and laughs quietly to himself "I'm so stupid."

As a small addendum...I'd like to add:

I made a comment not long ago to Diane and Shyam that I felt like I may have been watching The Simpsons more out of loyalty and tradition than actual content over the past little while.

There've been a few shows (Futurama, the Tick, Andy Richter Controls the Universe) that have been funnier over the past couple of seasons. But on the whole, when the Simpsons writers are on, there's no better comedy on television.

And I think that's why it's so irritating when a bad, or just plain tired, episode comes on. And that's when I start to wonder if maybe they've run out of ideas.

It's so bad, because it has been (but easily still could be) so good.

Last night? Kind of spotty, but then, there are three sets of writers, so that's to be expected. On the whole, I'll give it a thumbs up, with the admission that there have been many better.

But I'll echo Pete: I hope the makers of The Simpsons make it more worth my while for Simpsons to still be the only show on TV I actually free up my time to watch every Sunday night.