Every year for the last four or five years, I've found that I may not like every single Simpsons' episode, but that I must watch the annual Simpsons' "Treehouse of Horror" Halloween episode. This year was no different!

For those of you not familiar with The Simpsons' brand of crazy, the show is an animated series that began as a series of shorts for The Tracey Ullman Show in the late 1980s and received the green light for a half hour primetime animated series to start in 1989. Created by Matt Groenig, it provides a twisted parody on family life in the United States. Now in its 20th season, the show continues to provide hilarity, absurdity, and weirdness on the FOX Broadcasting Network's Sunday night lineup.

The family in question exists as follows:

Homer Simpson, the father of this fun, yet dysfunctional family, works at the Springfield nuclear power plant. If there's something stupid to be done, Homer's your man. He does stupid proud! 

Marge Simpson, Homer's wife, loves Homer dearly, and does the best she can to manage their three kids as a stay at home mom. With her towering blue hairdo, she is the apple of Homer's eye and he always comes home begging for forgiveness. 

Bart Simpson is the oldest of the three Simpson children. The troublemaker of the group, he's always playing pranks, skipping school, or otherwise causing mischief. 

Lisa Simpson is the good child of the group, which always puts her at odds with her brother Bart. She plays saxophone in the school band, always does her homework, and does her best to help the world around her.

And lastly, there's Maggie Simpson, the baby of the group. She can be found with her pacifier in her mouth nearly all the time. She's just as smart as her sister Lisa I think, but keeps quiet about it. 

In addition, there are all the various other characters that make up the Simpsons universe. Grandpa Simpson, Homer's dad, is good natured but always forgetting something. Santa's Little Helper is the Simpson dog and Snowball II is their cat.  There are, of course for such a long running show, many, many other characters in Springfield that interact with the Simpson family.

This year's "Treehouse of Horror XIX" episode begins, aptly enough, with a segment lampooning electronic voting and the 2008 presidential election. Though the Republican and Democratic candidates are represented with streamers, posters, and park benches, my favorite part was Grandpa Simpson's sign stating "I Still Like IKE!"

In the voting segment, Homer, in traditional Homer style, goes to vote and, as he is a little overweight, can't fit into a traditional booth. He's then told to use the "double-wide" by the voting officials. There he finds trouble with the electronic voting machine and when he complains... well, let's just say he meets a bad end. Actually, I think he dies in most of this episode's segments, funnily enough.

Article Author: Fitz

Brian Fitzpatrick (aka "Fitz") is a software engineer and writer living in Colorado Springs, Colorado, with his wife, two daughters, two dogs, and two cats -- trying desperately to survive the chaos!

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