XI (Season 12, Episode 1, Aired November 1st, 2000)
Wait, this aired the day after Halloween? Weird.
Anyways, I forgot to mention the I Know What You Did Last Summer reboot, to make the Simpsons parody more relevant. I mention this because the opening of this is a parody of The Munsters, which is getting a reboot courtesy of Rob Zombie. I really like said opening primarily on the basis of its score. Composer Alf Clausen does a great job doing The Simpsons theme in the style of the Munsters theme, especially the 60’s beach rock guitar and the brief orchestral interlude. It’s a lot of fun to listen to, even outside the episode.
“G-G-Ghost D-D-Dad” is obviously a parody of the 1990 film Ghost Dad (starring… Bill Cosby and directed by… Sidney Poitier? Really?). Well, this does utilize the time-tested joke of a person avoiding death only for something mundane to kill them, with Homer choking to death on a piece of broccoli. The segment starts a bit slow, but when Homer’s natural greed and sloth are contrasted with his mission to go back to Earth and do one good deed, that is really when the episode shines. Especially when Homer dies while being a ghost, causes people to slip while drinking a Slurpee (or whatever the Kwiki-Mart equivalent is called), and getting a noggie from Nelson (which is later called back to when the Devil does the same, when Homer gets into Hell). Didn’t get the final gag about John Wayne, but John Wayne sucks anyway, so….
