On this episode of The Holiday Specials We Love, we continue the Halloween preseason with The Simpsons: Treehouse of Horror V
from 1994 — widely considered the one of best of the series.

We dive in to the three unforgettable segments: “The Shinning,” a brilliant parody of The Shining where Homer unravels without TV or beer; “Time and Punishment,” where a time-traveling toaster sends Homer through chaos and alternate realities with a fun cameo by Sherman and Mr. Peabody; and “Nightmare Cafeteria,” where Springfield Elementary’s lunch menu takes a dark turn.

We talk how the sharp writing, balance of scares and laughs, makes this episode stand out and how it pushed the limits of what animated comedy could do in the early 90s. Marge quietly steals scenes, Willie takes another axe to the back, James Earl Jones makes an unforgettable cameo, and
yes, watching the Tonys would have made us go mad as well.

We talk the creative freedom that made these early Halloween
specials so great, and how The Simpsons helped shape the next generation of animated comedies.

Funny, dark, and brilliantly done — a perfect Halloween
classic that still holds up three decades later.

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