TVSquad

Podcast time again! In this episode, Jason Hughes and Michael Pascua join me to talk about TV's doings this week:

• The whole Balloon Boy fiasco and why the 24-hour news networks were so fixated on it,
• Reality news from Michael, including a flu scare on Dancing With The Stars,
• A discussion on why The Simpsons, especially the "Treehouse of Horror" series, is in decline,
• Another dip into our Ask TV Squad mailbag,
• Our picks for the week, and much more.

Run time is 46:02.

You can listen to the podcast below, or download it by subscribing to our RSS podcast feed. It is also available via iTunes. Feel free to leave us feedback in the comments.

By the way, the music at the beginning and end of the podcast is "Life" by Justin Trawick.

Even after I'd given up on watching The Simpsons every week many years back, I continued tuning into their annual "Treehouse of Horror" specials, the most recent of which aired Sunday. After a few more years of watching just that one episode each year, I eventually let it go as well. But I've been watching this 20th Anniversary Season of the show, and reviewing it for the site, so I settled in to see what we'd be tackling this year.

As always, the special is broken into three parts. This year's batch: a send-up of Alfred Hitchcock films, 28 Days Later, and Sweeney Todd. That sounded promising enough, and yet ...

Maybe I'm too old for the "Treehouse." Or maybe they just try and do too much. Or maybe, as was the case with all three of this year's segments, they have decent enough set-ups, but their endings are all stupid.

(S18E04) I always try to give the Simpsons Halloween specials the benefit of the doubt, because obviously when they first decided to do one for each season, starting with "Treehouse of Horror I" in season two, they probably weren't thinking they might have to keep coming up with three new vignettes every year for almost two decades, with no clear sign of stopping anytime soon.

So I cut the series a little bit of slack when it comes to these Halloween episodes, because sometimes you just run out of scary things to spoof and you end up creating something like "You Gotta Know When to Golem," about a mystical Jewish creature who becomes Bart's unwitting slave. But even though this was the least of the three stories this year, it did have some funny moments. I loved how the family created a bride for the Golem out of Play-Doh, and how the Golem turned from a silent killing machine to a neurotic freak that won't shut up the moment he's allowed to speak.

A note to the people who put together these press kits: if you want to woo me, fill the kit with lots and lots of candy. I don't care if it has anything to do with the television program you're promoting or not. I want lots of damn chocolate, and I want it now. As you can see in the picture above, this press kit for the upcoming "Treehouse of Horror" episode of The Simpsons was stuffed with mini candy bars, Blow Pops and peanuts, all of which I scarfed down fairly quickly, growling under my breath like a starving dog protecting his food bowl.

No spoilers in this preview, Simpsons fans.

I'll have a few review when the episode airs on November 5, but here's a taste of what you can look forward to:

The first vignette, titled "Married to the Blob," spoofs the classic camp classic The Blob, this time with Homer becoming an ever-enlarging mass of man-blob who just can't stop himself from eating every person he comes across. As always, it takes Marge to finally talk some sense into Homer, with a little help from guest star Dr. Phil.

See, this is why it's so hard to get any work done. The official Simpsons Web site has an awesome video editor where you can piece together clips from the upcoming "Treehouse of Horror XVII" (November 5) to create your very own wacky/scary mish mash of Simpson-y goodness. I'm having enough fun just playing around with it, but if you're feeling competitive you can actually enter your creation in a contest for a chance to have it aired on FOX, or to win a trip to the 400th episode party. Other prizes include an autographed drawing from the episode courtesy Matt Groening, and a bunch of limited edition posters. I would enter my own creation, but I'm afraid it would blow everyone's mind. Or I'm just lazy.

(S06E06) When I first started covering the sixth season of The Simpsons for Retro Squad, some of you asked why I didn't cover one of the earlier "better" seasons. Well, there is a reason I chose this season instead of say, the fifth season (which includes one of my top five episodes, "Rosebud") but that reason no longer applies. What the heck am I talking about? Let's just say we had something cool planned, but it didn't pan out.

Nevertheless, this season had some great episodes, so I'm not at all sorry I chose to revisit them. Besides, if I hadn't picked this season I wouldn't be able to talk about possibly one of the best Halloween episodes ever. So if you'll take my bloody, severed hand, we'll get started: