[11] Vulture ranked it the worst "Treehouse of Horror" segment ever, stating, "From stale parodies to uncalled-for fart jokes (Homer can only communicate through flatulence; he also shoots spider webs out of his butt), 'Diving Bell' is the worst Treehouse yet. Kang and Kodos then admit that they would have just given the Hilarrium to the humans. "[9] Similarly, Marnell commented that in the episode "The Simpsons' finally gets around to parodying 'Avatar' — a movie picked to death by 'South Park' and other series a year or two ago" and further elaborated that "[i]t's almost a straight forward retelling of 'Avatar' without the biting satire that made the film parodies of previous years so much fun. It earned a total viewership of 6.57 million, also coming in second behind Family Guy, which had 6.70 million viewers, but beating American Dad!, Bob's Burgers, and The Cleveland Show. He then finds Homer in high school, just moments before he meets Marge for the first time (as seen in the season two episode "The Way We Was"). The episode was watched by approximately 8.10 million people during the first broadcast. The episode featured a reference to the Broadway musical Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark. These segments usually have a horror, science fiction or fantasy theme and quite often are parodies of films, novels, plays, television shows, Twilight Zone episodes, or old issues of EC Comics. At the height of the Maya civilization, in the city of Chichen Itza, a sacrifice is about to take place to prevent the end of the world from happening at the end of the 13th Baktun and the Mayan Calendar. It finished before Family Guy, The Cleveland Show and the series premiere of Allen Gregory. [17] For the week of October 24–30, 2011, The Simpsons finished 14th in the 18–49 demographic, fourth in the 18–34 demographic, and third among teenagers. Club, Hayden Childs gave the episode a C+ grade, saying, "The writers seem unwilling to mock the more outrageous aspects of the movies they are sending up and settle for weakly batting at the obvious. People can watch it and then still go out the next night. Treehouse of Horror XXII Treehouse of Horror XXII 1 Gallery 1.1 Opening Sequence 1.2 The Diving Bell and the Butterball 1.3 Dial "D" for Diddly 1.4 In the Na'Vi Add a photo to this gallery Add a photo to this gallery Add a photo to this gallery Add a photo to this gallery "[10] Meredith Woerner of io9 thought that "[t]he whole thing never quite achieved the same level of brilliance as some previous years — even though the Avatar bit was funny, we've seen so many Avatar spoofs by now that, well, it's tired. This horror movie montage swoops through the entire city with numerous callbacks to past Treehouse installments. "[19] Even more critical was CraveOnline's Blair Marnell who gave the episode a rating of three out of ten. The Simpsons-Treehouse of Horror XXI-Opening Intro - YouTube The critical reception was very diverse, ranging from a plea to end the show to a statement that the show is on top of its game and should not be cancelled. [10] During the middle, there is a spoof of the 1960 film Psycho, as the same music and similar scenes are used (E.G: Reverend Lovejoy eyeing Homer in his car. Milhouse then contacts the military of their location, which then attacks the natives. ", "The Simpsons 23.03 'Treehouse of Horror XXII, "Every Simpsons Treehouse of Horror Segment, Ranked", A Totally Fun Thing That Bart Will Never Do Again, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Treehouse_of_Horror_XXII&oldid=1000259921, Television episodes directed by Matthew Faughnan, Television episodes written by Carolyn Omine, Short description is different from Wikidata, Television episode articles with short description for single episodes, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License, This page was last edited on 14 January 2021, at 10:48. "[2] Since then, every Treehouse of Horror episode following "Treehouse of Horror XXII" has aired during the month of October. Lisa finds it, and after it sucks up Ralph and Nelson, she takes it home so that it will not cause any more trouble. 1974 Homer, who stowed away in the trunk of the time machine, finds out about Marge and meets 2012 Homer, who wants Marge. [9] Homer is dressed as Doctor Manhattan from the 2009 superhero film Watchmen. [2] The music in the segment is the original music from the main title theme of Dexter by Rolfe Kent,[8] although the title references Dial M for Murder. [8], The opening segment had many parodies and references to films. The release date was unusual for a Treehouse of Horror episode, because ever since Fox got the rights to the Major League Baseball playoffs, most of the Halloween specials aired in the first week of November. [6] As it is tradition with most Treehouse of Horror episodes, this episode featured the use of "scary" names in the credits, which is to write alternate names for cast and crew in a "scary" fashion. This was also the first Treehouse of Horror to not use any of the Halloween names (EX: Bat Groening and James Hell Brooks) and this was also the last Treehouse of Horror to be called: The Simpsons Halloween Special. ... none of which are of the horror variety. This was also the first Simpsons episode to have mixed-case closed captioning. Treehouse of Horror XXII Treehouse of Horror XXII "For the continuation series of Halloween specials, see Treehouse of Horror series. Now the crew had to find a suitable theremin player and Charles Richard Lester was hired for that episode as well as "Treehouse of Horror XXII". [7] Ralston came up with his own scary name for the credits, which was Aron "I gave my right arm to be on 'The Simpsons'" Ralstump. In "The Diving Bell and Butterball," the first of three hair-raising Halloween tales, a venomous spider bite … The Exor-Sis: Maggie gets possessed by an evil demon called Pazuzu. Before Bart returns to 2012, he selfishly tells Marge (who is already angry at teenage Homer for strangling Bart and constant demanding over her to be his prom date) to never marry Homer. "[9] Likewise, Childs commented that the "segment had a lot of promise for the funny, but it started to sag fast and then sank altogether. "[20] Other reviewers agreed with his assessment. The opening was a parody of the autobiographical film 127 Hours, in which the subject Aron Ralston loses an arm. "[11] Coincidentally, the previous aired episode of South Park, "Broadway Bro Down", also had a reference to the musical, but the spokesperson for the Broadway show did not want to comment on that episode. Now that entire show has adopted these qualities, the Halloween tradition doesn't seem as special. The opening and the first segment are allusions to 127 Hours and The Diving Bell and the Butterfly, two arty independent films that most … “Halloween - the one time of the year where the squalor of our home works to our advantage.” Homer Simpson[src] "Treehouse of Horror XXII" is the third episode of Season 23 and the twenty-second Treehouse of Horror episode. They learn that the extract Hilarrium, which is excreted by their queen, is primarily used by the natives to reduce the mood swings of pregnant women. Two of the targets, Patty and Selma Bouvier, were killed in a similar fashion to the style of Wile E. Homer manages to convince the demon to relinquish the bargain in return for Homer to reluctantly engage in three-way sex with him and another demon. The episode is part of the Treehouse of Horror series, which is an episode divided into three separate stories and an opening that is a parody of scary or Halloween themed stories. [15] The show received a 4.0 Nielsen rating in the demographic for adults aged 18–49 and a ten percent share of the audience, which was a 33 percent increase from the previous episode "Bart Stops to Smell the Roosevelts". When Bart, Lisa and Maggie come home with their Halloween candy hauls, Marge confiscates all of it to donate to the army. It first aired on the Fox network in the United States on November 3, 2002, three days after Halloween. "Treehouse of Horror XXIII" is the second episode of the 24th season of The Simpsons. When The Wrap asked show runner Al Jean if he was satisfied with the airing the night before Halloween, Jean said: "Yes, and the perfect thing is, Halloween is actually a bad day to air it, because nobody watches TV that night. Rushmore; causing rivers of lava to appear, and splitting Earth into large fissures. [16] Besides a broadcast of a NFL Football game between the Dallas Cowboys and the Philadelphia Eagles on NBC, The Simpsons was the most watched program of the night in the 18–49 demographic. In a parody of The Diving Bell and the Butterfly and Spider-Man, Homer begins to decorate the house for Halloween and is reaching for a decoration in a box. In a Paranormal Activity homage,[1] when strange events occur at the Simpson house, Homer sets up cameras to photograph what is haunting them. The stone trio start to wreak havoc on Springfield and the Earth with one stone god throwing fireballs at Springfield City Hall and throwing Lard Lad's donut at a UFO and then taking this to popular landmarks like moving the Eiffel Tower to crash it into Big Ben, ripping up the Great Wall of China; causing it to sink to a river of lava, making George Washington's head kiss Abraham Lincoln's head in Mt. [8] The situation turned when a scene in "Homer Scissorhands" was written to feature Milhouse playing the theremin. Subsequent Treehouse of Horror episodes have premiered in the month of October. "[1] Screen Rant called it the best episode of the 24th season. In the end of the segment, it turns into a spoof of the 2010 film 127 Hours, in which Ralston loses his arm after being trapped under a rock. "Treehouse of Horror XXII" originally aired on Fox in the United States on October 30, 2011, the night before Halloween. 'The Simpsons' is an iconic American institution, and being part of last night's episode was an honor and dream come true. A black hole threatens to swallow Springfield, Homer tries to find the source of paranormal activity, and a "Back to the Future" parody in which Bart keeps Marge from marrying Homer. Directed by Steven Dean Moore, Mike B. Anderson. At the very end, Grampa Simpson shows up in a black tutu, asking when the Black Swan comes up, and everyone wonders when the Black Swan will come. The event contained several new limited time Treehouse of Horror characters, decorations, tasks, and buildings. The only person who is not sucked in is Maggie, whose pacifier flies into the black hole, inexplicably stopping it. "Treehouse of Horror XXIII" is a Halloween-themed episode from the twenty-fourth season of the animated comedy series The Simpsons.It was first broadcast in the United States on the Fox Network on October 7, 2012, the most days before Halloween that any "Treehouse of Horror" episode has had its first airing so far. It should be easy, whatever the season is, subtract 1 from that number and there you go. After learning that the safe word is cinnamon, Homer throws his robe over the camera saying he'd like to try something and the Moe-like demon is heard yelling 'cinnamon'. Treehouse of Horror XXIII is the second episode of The Simpsons's season 24. "[20] Alex Strachan had the opposite reaction in a review in Calgary Herald and concluded that we should "[f]orget all that talk about The Simpsons being past its prime. Directed by Matthew Faughnan, Mike B. Anderson. [3], David Mandel & Brian Kelley received a nomination for the Writers Guild of America Award for Outstanding Writing in Animation at the 65th Writers Guild of America Awards for their script to this episode. "[10] Tim Surette of TV.com was more ambivalent and said: "I found this sketch to be simultaneously awesome and terrible because I have the maturity of a 6-year old and the intelligence of an average man. This episode's stories were primarily spoofs of the French film The Diving Bell and the Butterfly, the television series Dexter, and the American film Avatar. When Bart returns to 2012, he finds that Artie Ziff is now his father and the family is rich and successful, to the point where Nelson Muntz is now hired as Bart's butler and personal punching bag. The text reads, "Treehouse of Horror XXIII ". They succeed in this and Bart ends up getting Kang's daughter pregnant after falling in love with her. 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