Spoilers below for The SimpsonsSpecial “Treehouse of Horror: Not IT”, so be careful if you haven’t seen it yet!
For the first time in 34 seasons, The Simpsons eventually delivered double the dose of trick and treat two different episodes of “Treehouse of Horror” the first is a complete Simpsonsification of Stephen King’s epic horror tome. THIS IS Yes its adaptations of the fine adjustment functions and the second is a more traditional three-story episode. But as viewers no doubt witnessed, “Not IT” was less of a full-fledged parody and more of a storytelling exercise that threw Springfielders into the clown-infested streets of King’s Maine.
Gossipify spoke to veterans The Simpsons writer / producer / co-showrunner Matt Selman on upping the ante on “Treehouse” in 2022, getting a standalone addition to the show’s annual Halloween rip-offs, and how they approached the King’s special so other than what fans might have expected. Besides the fact that the prolific novelist and past The Simpsons guest of honor declined a second animated cameo.
Because The Simpsons IT Special wasn’t a reference-Palooza parody
In general, when The Simpsons aims to parody something, the parody is clear, present and effective, with abundant references, including parodies of “Treehouse of Horror”. But the creative team took a detour around that methodology with “Not IT,” instead, tying the characters to the bones of King’s dual timeline narrative and placing more emphasis on the Homer-Marge love triangle. -The boy from the comics. Here’s how Matt Selman said it:
That of computer science is not really a parody of computer science. You are using the computer history, as if it were a computer exploit. Some kind of parody implies that we have a version of the original story that criticizes computer science, or that we make fun of computer science, but we don’t really make fun of computer science. Let’s just say, “Hey, thanks for this great story, TI. We’re going to run with it here. And our great writer who wrote the episode, César Mazariego, did a great job trying to include all of the TI stuff.
Although the episode obviously adheres THIS ISThe more familiar beats of Krusty the Clown, with Pennywise’s bright version of Krusty the Clown anchoring everything (not to mention the music beyond the fantastic), there aren’t as many Stephen King nods as you might expect. The lower turnout obviously wasn’t due to a lack of source material, but rather it was a firm approach that avoided comparison with other known shows for using King-specific references. Selman continued:
Honestly, we haven’t really gone the Easter egg route with this computer thing. Because there’s this Castle Rock show, which I’ve never seen, but I’m sure it’s a lot of fun, which feels like an expanded universe of Stephen King. You know, every restaurant is a three-pound reference, and every sandwich, every car, right? All the radio stations have the 50s bebop beat of Stephen King or whatever, and the men in yellow coats are everywhere, and the gunslinger is somewhere. There are definitely references to Stephen King in the episode, but it wasn’t like other things we’ve done in the past where we were like, ‘Okay, let’s play Stephen King as much as we can.’
Matt Selman was certainly not out of place, as references were scattered everywhere. rock castleboth seasons of (both available with a Hulu subscription ), although obviously not the same type as The Simpsons I dare say the canceled drama would never attempt a Doctor Sleep Mattress Store gag. While amusingly acknowledging the brazen royalty of the setting, Selman said the writers were more interested in riffs on the novelist’s themes and devices than in providing visual lines.
Yes, everything in Kingfield was definitely a landmark. Imperceptible. And, you know, we really tried to borrow his storytelling style from him, because he’s so good at telling stories of friendships between kids and adults whose lives didn’t turn out the way they wanted. Besides being the master of the macabre, he is a kind of teacher of broken childhood, of the terrible kind of adulthood. Man is a sage, he is a complete sage.
The showrunner also talked about how they mirror Stephen King’s world, sometimes making Pennywise’s version of Krusty really menacing, rather than making jokes, but deliberately reworking part of it. THIS ISplots to better fit the story they were looking for. A particular example of this is the way love poetry is handled, and then Selman talked about adapting the adult timeline as a reflection of their past. In his words:
In this, all adults think they have overcome their fears, and therefore have specific adult careers based on fears. The degree to which they have been conquered, like, Carl is afraid of aliens and then becomes an astronaut, and Moe is afraid of ventriloquist dummies and then becomes a rock ‘n’ roll, Criss Angel style, tough Las Vegas, heavy. metal ventriloquist. And Marge is afraid of sparkling water and becomes a sparkling water tycoon. So I guess that’s a nice twist to the Stephen King thing, which is that they really thought they were clean, and actually had these beautiful lives that come with overcoming their childhood fears. So it’s different, Stephen King.
The fact that Marge’s mineral water company specifically uses the verb “drown” in its marketing campaign is a particularly excellent choice that obviously would have been too broad for the source material, but is still slightly chilling. I also loved how Bart and Lisa’s personalities have been swapped with Comic Book Guy as a father, but that’s for another time.
The Simpsons cameo rejected by Stephen King
Considering that Stephen King once lent his sweet tune to the Fox mainstay in the 12th season episode “Insane Clown Poppy”, fans might have expected the author to reappear in the “Not IT” special. And apparently that was the plan as far as writers and producers are concerned, but it didn’t have to be. Matt Selman revealed that King refused the request, wondering if the author understood the power and fascination he wielded.
Well, you know, former guest star Stephen King refused to attend this. Yes, he didn’t want to. I don’t know what his problem was. I don’t believe it at all – some of these writers don’t realize they have all the power. He is the sign. He must know; he is Stephen King. So iconic. For example, I don’t even think I have the time to read all the books he wrote in the rest of my life, let alone have one person write all these books.
I doubt anyone realizes how busy Stephen King is each day, so he could have worked on any number of projects over time The Simpsons to come. Nor does it appear that he was outwardly discouraged by the role he was asked to play. Selman once again explained the role he was assigned, saying:
We wrote a role for Stephen King as a creepy gravedigger who turns out to be a monster, and he said no. Which ended up being good for us, because we didn’t have time for that scene. I don’t know what we would have cut. Even if we only tell one story in the 20 minutes and 40 seconds allotted, we were barely able to put it all together. We barely fit part 1 into the vague past and part 2 into the vague present.
It would have been a form of non-poetic justice to have a Stephen King cameo cut from a special dedicated to one of his most famous novels. But there is no need to worry about this now. Perhaps the author is more interested in returning to the show if Kang and Kodos contribute something. tommyknocker madness around next year.
The Simpsons aired on Sunday evening in the fox at 20:00 Program of the first TV 2022 to see what else is on the horizon and discover all the Stephen King’s upcoming movies and TV shows who are also traveling.
Source: Cinemablend
