While there are plenty of Treehouse of Horror Halloween specials throughout the 36 seasons of The Simpsons, only two of these famous outings were originally released on October 31. Even the most forgiving fan can admit that The Simpsons has a messy chronology. The long-running cartoon has been on the air for decades and, in that entire time, the show has changed the ages of its main characters countless times. Homer Simpson was supposedly born in 1956 according to one season 4 episode, but he was a teenager in the year 2000 if season 33’s premiere is to be trusted.
Related
The Simpsons Season 36 Finally Explains A Decades-Old Homer Mystery
The Simpsons season 36 episode 4 finally offers an answer to one mystery that has surrounded Homer since the iconic series began over 35 years ago.
The reason The Simpsons never age is the same reason that the show’s dead characters often come back to life. The Simpsons has what showrunner Matt Selman called an “Elastic canon” on X (formerly Twitter), meaning every detail of its lore can change from episode to episode for the sake of a throwaway gag. The Simpsons’ Treehouse of Horror Halloween specials epitomizes this approach. Gruesome, often surprisingly dark horror parodies, these anthology episodes frequently kill off the show’s main characters. However, while they may be beloved among the show’s fans, these iconic Halloween specials hide a dark secret.
Only 2 Of The Simpsons’ Treehouse Of Horror Episodes Actually Aired On October 31
Treehouse of Horror II and Treehouse of Horror X Arrived On Time
While it might be hard to believe, only two of The Simpsons’ 36 Treehouse of Horror specials originally aired on Halloween night itself. Season 3, episode 7, “Treehouse of Horror II,” and season 11, episode 4, “Treehouse of Horror X,” both aired on October 31, 1991, and October 31, 1999, respectively. Outside of these two instances, the show’s release schedule has been characteristically chaotic. The Simpsons season 36 episode 4 aired on October 27, 2024, meaning “Treehouse of Horror XXXV” won’t arrive until November 3. Shockingly, this is just the latest of 13 Treehouse of Horror episodes that aired after Halloween.
From seasons 12-20, The Simpsons consistently released its Halloween episodes after the holiday had already been and gone. The show attempted to avoid this throughout seasons 20-30, although seasons 32, 35, and 36 all fell victim to the same scheduling issue. To make things stranger, The Simpsons season 36 did parody a movie in an episode released midway through October. What made this choice so bizarre is that the movie was Martin Scorsese’s dark comedy After Hours, and the episode wasn’t remotely related to the Halloween season or anything spooky. Fortunately for the show’s creators, strange scheduling hasn’t hurt its legacy.
The Simpsons Missing Halloween Hasn’t Impacted Treehouse Of Horror’s Legacy
The Simpsons’ Halloween Legacy Benefitted From A TV Tradition
Most people know The Simpsons‘ classic Treehouse of Horror Halloween episodes through reruns, not because they necessarily saw the outings when the episodes first aired. This means that viewers have been able to revisit past Treehouse of Horror episodes on Halloween night for years after they were initially released, thus cementing their status as cult classics. Like The Simpsons’ oldest jokes, the episodes became more popular the more viewers returned to them in later years. Thus, the show maintained its popularity, and, eventually, the fact that The Simpsons’ Treehouse of Horror specials didn’t originally air on Halloween ultimately proved surprisingly insignificant.
Source: X (Formerly Twitter)
New episodes of
The Simpsons
air at 8pm on Sundays on Fox.
- Release Date
- December 17, 1989
- Seasons
- 35
- Network
- FOX
- Franchise(s)
- The Simpsons