“The Simpsons” returns on Sunday, Sept. 27, on Fox with a Season 38 opener (“The Children’s Book Job”) that parodies children’s books, featuring guest voice Emma Thompson as a beloved children’s book author who comes to town for a benefit to save Springfield Elementary from closing.
But when her character — saucy British writer Constance Clavinger — turns out to be a handful (getting drunk at the airport bar, for starters), Homer struggles to get her to the school on time. They go on an adventure across town as he tries to get her, “Get Him to the Greek” style, to a school book fair organized by new PTA president Marge.
Colin Jost also appears as himself, reading his own children’s book to the Springfield Elementary audience, much to their indifference.
In one sequence, Homer daydreams that Springfield and its citizens have turned into settings and characters from kids’ books like “The Very Hungry Caterpillar,” Richard Scarry’s universe, “Don’t Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus,” “Captain Underpants,” “Diary of a Wimpy Kid” and more.
“The genesis of this was, when you’re lucky enough to work on ‘The Simpsons,’ you can ask yourself, ‘What kind of cool thing can we portray in the Matt Groening/‘Simpsons’ style that we’ve never done?’” says executive producer Matt Selman. “And one of those are classic children’s books, like ‘Make Way for Ducklings.’”
Selman calls the episode a “love letter” to that world of children’s books. “I love my love letters,” he says. “Richard Scarry, Eric Carle from ‘The Hungry Caterpillar,’ all these generational children’s artists. We got really excited about that.”
Dan Vebber is the credited writer on the episode, while Matthew Nastuk is the director; Selman says Vebber and co-executive producer Mike Price cooked up the story idea, “a take on the ‘mild-mannered person has to get crazy person from ‘Point A’ to Point B’ kind of story … Two people thrown together in crazy situations become friends, become enemies and then become friends again. I love a good ’80s movie structure. So, for all the people who still love ‘Get Him to the Greek,’ this is the episode for you!”
Thompson’s character plays a large role in the episode. “If you’re going to write a giant guest part, you want an icon, a bucket list person like Emma Thompson,” Selman says. “And she threw herself into it with full gusto. It’s sort of an interesting season premiere in that you’re meeting a new character and it’s kind of Homer’s side adventure.”
Homer is enlisted to pick up Constance — and, realizing that he has been spending too much time ignoring his family and playing a free game on his phone, ultimately decides to make up for it by saving the day.
“It makes a lot of great points about parenting and trying not to be a checked-out parent,” Selman says. “And this line I like in it, Homer says, ‘children’s books are a better parent than I’ll ever be.’ It’s a good little bit of truthfulness there from Homer.”
Among more upcoming episodes, “Diary of a Chimpy Kid” (Oct. 4) follows Bart and Lisa as they adopt a baby chimp. “Homer watches a YouTube video about what adult chimps do to their human owners, which is bite off their fingers, faces and genitals,” Selman says. “And Homer becomes terrified of a baby chimp as Bart and Lisa learn how to co-parent. There’s some genital mutilation comedy in that one, but I am very pleased with it!”
In another upcoming episode, “The Kosmic Kruiser,” Bart and Lisa are trapped in an abandoned immersive theme park experience. And “Testing 1-2-3” will look at the world of neurodiversity. “I think it’s terrific,” Selman says of threading the needle on that one between being funny and being empathetic. “We’re very proud of it.”
As for “Treehouse of Horror XXXVII” (Oct. 25), the original opening is a “Simpsons”/“Nightmare Before Christmas” mashup, produced by Stoopid Buddy Stoodios — featuring “Simpsons” versions of the “Nightmare Before Christmas” characters.
Then, one segment is inspired by the British novel “The Husbands,” by Holly Gramazio, in which Homer goes to the shed and comes out as a different husband for Marge. Suddenly, she’s married to Lenny. Or Kang and Kodos. Tiffany Haddish guests as Marge’s best friend in one of her new husband realities, “kind of like how in rom-coms characters always have a sassy best friend,” Selman notes. “She lectures Marge about dating, and it’s like a stand-up set.”
Another segment is described as “Freaky Friday” meets “Pet Sematary,” where “Homer accidentally kills Bart and the dog and buries them, and they come back just having their bodies switched. And in the third one, “Homer mysteriously vanished years ago, and the teenage versions of Bart and Lisa find out that evil witch versions of Patty and Selma have trapped him in endless murderous Driver’s Ed films.”
This year’s “Treehouse of Horror” is timed to the show’s current tie-in with Jack in the Box. The fast-food chain is currently promoting a “Munchie Meal of Horror,” featuring six collectable glow-in the dark cups (which have already sold out at many locations).
“One of the great joys of this job is to do these little collabs with industries you’re not part of, like fast food or video games or toys or theme parks or whatever,” Selman says. “These collectible cups are just gorgeous and pretty high quality. Like everything we do, they sold out in one second. Yeah. Now they’re on eBay for $200. I said, ‘make sure you make enough cups!’ And they said, ‘we know about how many cups to make.’ And guess what? They didn’t!”
The “Simpsons” meals are full of references from the show — like Bart’s twin brother Hugo, from Season 8, who appears on a cup. “In that episode, Hugo would eat fish heads, and in our version of the cup, Hugo is eating the Jack in the Box fish sandwich. It’s just very fun to do a 30-year fish callback.”
Selman admits that “I procrastinated from working on the stuff that I should be working on by working really hard on this box. And there are so many ‘Simpsons’ Easter eggs on this box that you would think it was Easter, not Halloween. You can quote me on that. Definitely quote me on that.”
And here’s perhaps the ultimate obscure Easter egg: On the “Munchie Meal of Horror” box, several “Simpsons” characters are dressed like the now-obscure 1970s era “Jack in the Box Bunch” like the “Hamburgermeister,” “Onion Ring Thing” and “Secret Sauce Agent.” (Those characters were eliminated in 1980, but a grown-up version of “Jack” returned in 1994 — this time in a suit and round clown head. He’s still the chain’s spokesperson today.
“When I was a kid, I would go to Jack in the Box, and there was the Jack in the Box version of the McDonaldland gang that no one remembers but me. It was a very goofy bunch of fast food mascots. And so I made the bullies wear those costumes. That’s what the bullies are dressed up as, and people are like, ‘Who are they dressed as?’ They’re dressed as the 1970s Jack in the Box Gang: Secret Sauce Agent, Onion Ring Thing and Hamburgermeister. I haven’t gone on the internet to see if anyone has figured this out! But that is a big mashup.”
The meal box also includes comical gravestones with dead “Simpsons” favorites like Frank Grimes. “I bet he didn’t think he’d ever be on a Munchie Meal box, right?” Selman says.
He adds: “This is how hard the movie is that I’m just throwing myself into these boxes.”
Oh yes, the movie. How’s that going? The new “Simpsons” movie is currently slated to premiere on Sept. 3, 2027 (shifted from its original July 23 date). It’s already written, and yes, it may have a title. But Selman won’t share just yet.
“The working title is ‘New Simpsons Movie,’ but we might have an actual title,” he says. “It hasn’t been approved yet. But [the movie] is going to be great! It’s already ’S’ tier.”
S tier? “People love to rank things on the internet as part of our reductive society that we live in, right? People will rank things between F-D-C-B-A, and then S is the best. And people will do it for everything. What’s the best protein drink? What’s the best Alan Moore graphic novel? So, the movie’s going to be S tier. That’s my promise to you.”
Here’s the logline to “The Simpsons” Season 38 premiere, “The Children’s Book Job”: “Marge hopes to save Springfield Elementary by inviting a reclusive British children’s author (guest star Emma Thompson) to appear at the school’s book fair. But Homer botches his assignment of picking the author up at the airport, and the drunken pepper pot leads him on a desperate wild chase to get her to the school on time.” The episode airs Sunday, Sept. 27, at 8 p.m. on Fox, and streams the next day on Hulu.
Here’s an exclusive first look at Emma Thompson in the premiere episode: