You know what I miss from Treehouse of Horror Episodes?

[Cash Kerouac]

The warning from Marge or someone else at the beginning. I know it only happened a few times in the early run of the ToH bits, but I thought they were fun. To boot, with the four act structure it might be a good way to use the first act rather than shoehorning in some kind of weird almost-story. I'd like to see it tried again in the modern age.

[Old painty-can Ned]

Yeah an interesting idea. I sort of miss the running gags they'd have in THOH's occasionally. When was the last time Mr.Burns told Smithers he owed him a coke? Maybe they do them and I just don't remember.

[The Governor]

An opening warning from Lisa Simpson:

"Good evening good viewers. Tonight's Tree House of Horror is the scariest one to date. It features socialistic idealogies created by pro-union, leftist, ivy league boogeymen in an attempt to subvert the conservative foundations that many of you hold dear to your hearts--"

We hear whispers from off-screen. Lisa's expression goes from worried to irritated.

"Fine, I've been told my warning was only scary to 31% of the viewing audience. So, here's the new warning: 'Yeah, scary stuff happens. There's a boulder, farting, disemboweling, and James Cameron'...eh, if anyone wants me, I'll be in my room."

Lisa exits, disgusted.

[Friz]

I miss the wraparounds. Stories in a Treehouse. Candy-induced dreams. Halloween party. Art gallery. Plus, with the four act structure, the wraparound could have a conclusion in the final act.

[Ryan]

Yeah, I was dismayed they got rid of the wraparounds so early on. Of course, it's kinda ridiculous to expect them now, seeing how short the episodes have become.

But you know what I miss the most, having all of the segments be horror-themed. It's not the worst thing in the world when you just want to present a more fantastical story starring the characters, but when two out of three of your bits in a Halloween special aren't even attempting anything macabre, it's embarrassing. More often than not, these segments fail and completely miss the mark. I really enjoyed the one from a couple of years ago, which actually managed to have three satisfying horror stories, the last having a unique twist. Then the next year Bart and Milhouse are playing on giant board games, Marge and Homer on a yacht and a yawn-inducing Twilight parody. Sigh. (tonight's looks even worse, with its ancient Avatar parody)

Honestly THOH episodes are beyond hope like much of the series, although they seemed to go down the tubes much quicker since the writers really started to take advantage of the obvious "no limits" imposed on such. Even some from the best seasons falter with rather bizarre-ish, anti-climatic endings, like "Attack of the 50-Foot Eyesores". Lisa and Paul Anka writing a jingle? (yes it's real funny too, which helps) I guess brevity has its flaws at times.

[Diversity Pumpkin]

Yeah, I just realized that there's nothing very horror themed at all about tonight's episode. Homer gets his arm trapped under a boulder, Homer farts to communicate, Ned parodies Dexter. The Avatar parody is the only thing, and only because it involves Kang and Kodos, who aren't as peaceful as the civilians they're parodying.

[Cash Kerouac]

An opening warning from Lisa Simpson:

"Good evening good viewers. Tonight's Tree House of Horror is the scariest one to date. It features socialistic idealogies created by pro-union, leftist, ivy league boogeymen in an attempt to subvert the conservative foundations that many of you hold dear to your hearts--"

We hear whispers from off-screen. Lisa's expression goes from worried to irritated.

"Fine, I've been told my warning was only scary to 31% of the viewing audience. So, here's the new warning: 'Yeah, scary stuff happens. There's a boulder, farting, disemboweling, and James Cameron'...eh, if anyone wants me, I'll be in my room."

Lisa exits, disgusted.

See, it could totally work!

I also agree on the more horror thing. There's still plenty of Twilight Zone episodes to rip off before you just start parodying the movie of the week...or of thirty weeks ago.

[Hommer]

An opening warning from Lisa Simpson:

"Good evening good viewers. Tonight's Tree House of Horror is the scariest one to date. It features socialistic idealogies created by pro-union, leftist, ivy league boogeymen in an attempt to subvert the conservative foundations that many of you hold dear to your hearts--"

We hear whispers from off-screen. Lisa's expression goes from worried to irritated.

"Fine, I've been told my warning was only scary to 31% of the viewing audience. So, here's the new warning: 'Yeah, scary stuff happens. There's a boulder, farting, disemboweling, and James Cameron'...eh, if anyone wants me, I'll be in my room."

Lisa exits, disgusted.

Why are you not a writer for the show?

Anyway, I miss the wraparounds the most.

[Bleedin' Gums Murphy]

Quality programming?

[The Wiggs]

I miss when THOH episodes actually kind of tried to be scary instead of just parodying things.

[Hommer]

I miss when THOH episodes actually kind of tried to be scary instead of just parodying things.

They parodied things since the first THOH.

[YellowFever]

I still can't grasp how they can parody films that aren't even horror and call it THOH! And they should definitely re-introduce the whole Marge on stage with the red curtain thing, and make it spooky, maybe do some branching scenes with Bart and Lisa in the treehouse telling stories, yes I know it's been done but this is Treehouse of Horror! When are we gonna get back to the treehouse, people?!

[Insecthero]

I was just talking to someone about how I miss the tie-in storyline instead of just dumping three random shorts onto us. The pre-show warnings were fun too. It's a pity they dropped both, but I see why.

Le Jake, that warning from Lisa would be PERFECT!!!!

[Oh, that's raspberry!]

Agreed Kerouac, steal some more Twilight Zone episodes!!!!

[IceToSeeYou]

The Raven segment shows us that even with lots of borrowed material, if the execution is spot on then it works brilliantly.

[Matty]

Most of all I miss scary stuff and jokes

[Handsome B. Wonderful]

They parodied things since the first THOH.

Yeah, but they were Halloween-themed parodies.

[Jesse Pinkman]

i miss the intros. they were pretty good and set you in the right mood for what was to come.

i also miss the tombstones, but i imagine those were pretty hard to do to come up with actual good jokes with those