"Treehouse of Horror IX" was written by Donick Cary, Larry Doyle and David X. Cohen, and directed by Steven Dean Moore.

"Terror of Tiny Toon" includes a live-action segment starring Regis Philbin and Kathie Lee Gifford.

Jerry Springer and Ed McMahon also appear in the episode, voicing themselves, while Robert Englund vocally reprising the role of Freddy Krueger from the Nightmare on Elm Street film series.

In 1999, composer Alf Clausen was nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Music Composition for a Series for his work on the episode.

In a parody of the Amazing Stories episode "Hell Toupee",[3] Snake is arrested for smoking inside the Kwik-E-Mart.

In a parody of Stay Tuned,[4] Marge forbids Bart and Lisa from watching the Itchy & Scratchy Halloween special while she goes trick-or-treating with Maggie, removing the batteries from the remote control.

When they use the remote, the kids enter the world of Itchy and Scratchy, and begin to laugh at their antics, angering the cat-and-mouse duo, who proceed to hunt them to teach them a lesson.

Oblivious to what he sees, Homer decides to change the channel and Bart, Lisa, Itchy, and Scratchy wind up on Live with Regis and Kathie Lee.

They urge Homer from inside the TV to use the remote to get them out, and he eventually succeeds just as Marge and Maggie arrive home.

As the Simpsons prepare to head home, Maggie says in Kang's voice that she will drive, and laughs diabolically before stating that she needs blood as the credits begin.

[6] "Starship Poopers" was written by David X. Cohen and, until season 32's "Podcast News", was the last writing credit he ever received for the show.

[9] The mystery of the location of Springfield is a running joke in The Simpsons, and a number of fans assumed that Louisiana was where the family lived.

Three talk show hosts appear in the episode: in "The Terror of Tiny Toon", Bart, Lisa, Itchy, and Scratchy accidentally visit Live with Regis and Kathie Lee in a live-action segment starring Regis Philbin and Kathie Lee Gifford and directed by Donick Cary;[5] while in "Starship Poopers", the Simpson family and Kang appear on The Jerry Springer Show, with host Jerry Springer voicing himself; his lines were recorded by Julie Thacker.

For the Regis and Kathie Lee sequence, the soup splash was created by dropping an item into the pot, then adding the animated characters over it.

[8] In its original airing on the Fox Network, the episode had an 8.6 Nielsen rating and was viewed in approximately 8.5 million homes.

[10] The authors of the book I Can't Believe It's a Bigger and Better Updated Unofficial Simpsons Guide, Warren Martyn and Adrian Wood, wrote, "Another collection of horrors, of varying degrees of wit.

"[11] Kay McFadden of The Seattle Times wrote that the episode is "certainly not on a par with that all-time doppelganger classic, 'Treehouse of Horror VII', [...] still, No.

'"[13] In 1999, composer Alf Clausen was nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Music Composition for a Series for his work on the episode.