'The Simpsons' 'Treehouse XX' -- One Treat, Two Tricks

Can "The Simpsons" really be up to "Treehouse of Horrors" No. XX? Egads, where did the time go?

The 20th edition of the show's annual Halloween episode will air Oct. 18, and to put the half-hour in the parlance of Fox's upcoming World Series coverage, it bats about .333.

The first segment, an homage to Alfred Hitchcock with a lot of references to movies like "Strangers on a Train," is extremely clever, containing all sorts of stuff that's too good for the kids to appreciate. (Remember, those who were in middle school when the series premiered are in their 30s now, so its audience cuts across a wide swath, to say the least.)

The next two installments -- one loosely derived from "28 Days Later," and reasonably gruesome, which is quite a feat for animation -- are considerably less effective, including a stage show complete with musical numbers.

There's a great line in "Chinatown" about how politicians, ugly buildings and whores becoming respectable if they last long enough. "The Simpsons" has become an institution, perhaps -- as one jaw-dropping longevity milestone after another has fallen -- and will even be honored by the Paley Center for Media as the centerpiece of its annual gala this December.

But to its credit, as the latest "Treehouse" attests, the Fox program has managed to steadfastly avoid the dreaded "respectable" label.