#TreehouseOfHorror XXI (2010) Jumanji and Dead Calm are weird pulls for this, but both solid and standard. Tweenlight has fun stuff for a mugging Daniel Radcliffe to play, but it's a bit route-one, about a franchise with no shortage of parodies. Highlight: Master And Cadaver made me laugh the most.
#TreehouseOfHorror XX (2009) Better, again! I miss when the show wasn't so pleased with its cine-literacy but the Hitchcock spoof is closer to the mark. And then there's the proscenium-framed Sweeney Todd spoof, the best they've done in years (days). Highlight: There's No Business Like Moe Business
#TreehouseOfHorror XIX (2008) Past the halfway mark, this feels more like obligation than fun. And the episode isn't very good either. Highlight: There's not much to Milhouse's Peanuts spoof, but as usual, I prize the ones that experiment with animation when the jokes fall flat.
#TreehouseOfHorror XVIII (2007) A special for the Friedberg and Seltzer generation. E.T.? Mr And Mrs Smith?? You just know that third one started as a Bruce Almighty pitch too. Wall-to-wall "I understood that reference" slop. Highlight: Marge killing all the pop-up FOX graphics at the start.
#TreehouseOfHorror XVII (2006) - Better! Married To The Blob is fun, gross TOH fare; the golem segment is the weakest one but also fine; and the whole third story is built around LaMarche playing Orson Welles, and totally worth it. "Nose... bud." Highlight: The Day The Earth Looked Stupid
New game - which joke from these specials has aged the worst? Think this might just pip the (still awful) Whoopi Goldberg nudes joke, which was at least bad then too.
#TreehouseOfHorror XVI (2005) Not a horror film, not a horror story, and a Buffy Halloween ep knockoff - the latter is the best. The opening skit (about Fox bumping The Simpsons for the World Series) comes off as random without context. Highlight: I've Grown A Costume On Your Face
#TreehouseOfHorror XV (2004) The Ned Zone is solid, but by now, they usually start with the good one then tail off. The closing number is pleasingly gross rather than excessively horrible like a lot of the last few eps, so that's nice. Highlight: I've got you... under my skin...
#TreehouseOfHorror XIV (2003) Why didn't anyone tell me John Swartzwelder wrote all three of these? This may well be the last consistently good one, but these are funny and on theme, and each has at least one standout bit of animation/art direction. Highlight: Reaper Madness (Family Guy did it tho)
