It originally aired on Fox in the United States on October 30, 1994, and features three short stories: "The Shinning", "Time and Punishment", and "Nightmare Cafeteria".

The episode was written by Greg Daniels, Dan McGrath, David Cohen and Bob Kushell, and directed by Jim Reardon.

In response to longstanding complaints about excessive graphic violence in the show, showrunner David Mirkin mandated that the episode contain as many disturbing and gory elements as possible.

After they are frozen stiff, the Tony Awards ceremony begins airing on the TV, and Homer's murderous impulse comes back.

He returns to a present where Ned Flanders is the "unquestioned lord and master of the world"; after Homer gets the Simpsons sentenced to 're-Neducation' (a program which includes full-frontal lobotomies), he escapes and tries to fix his mistakes.

On his final trip back, Homer destroys everything in sight with a baseball bat and causes a number of weird alternate universes before going home.

Principal Skinner and Lunchlady Doris try to find a common solution to the problems of poor cafeteria food and an overcrowded detention hall.

After Jimbo Jones trips Lunchlady Doris and gets food slop on him, Skinner realizes the solution: cannibalizing any child that is sent to detention.

The teachers all become addicted to the mix of food slop and human meat, compelling Skinner to kill Üter and turn him into "Üterbraten".

With the other students either dead or imprisoned for fattening up before slaughter, Willie tries to help Bart, Lisa, and Milhouse escape, but Skinner stabs him in the back with an axe.

The family, joined by Willie, perform a parody of "One" from A Chorus Line as the credits roll and Santa's Little Helper drags Bart away.

Layout artist Lance Wilder worked on the drawings for more than two days, but were ultimately cut as the picture quality of standard-definition televisions of the time would have made the image unrecognizable.

[3] He wrote the final scene where a nightmarish fog turns the family inside out, inspired by an episode of the radio show Lights Out called "The Dark", which frightened Cohen as a child.

[3] Marge says the following program is so scary Congress won't let them show it, and they'll instead air the "1947 classic Glenn Ford movie 200 Miles to Oregon."

The basic plot is the same and there are many references to specific scenes from the film, such as the blood coming out of the elevator and Homer breaking through a door with an axe and yelling "Here's Johnny!".

[9] The closing song is a parody of "One" from the musical A Chorus Line,[1] while the concept of the family being turned inside out by a mysterious fog comes from an episode of the radio show Lights Out, "The Dark".

The authors of I Can't Believe It's a Bigger and Better Updated Unofficial Simpsons Guide, Warren Martyn and Adrian Wood, called it "Another fine entry to the Treehouse canon".

[1] Entertainment Weekly ranked this episode as the ninth best of the entire series: "The Shinning" was described as "a parody brimming with such detail [and] comic timing" that it "ranks with the greatest of pop culture spoofs" and Grandpa's wedding advice to Homer in "Time and Punishment" was praised as "one of the most beautifully random moments in Simpsons history".

The list stated that the episode "offers three completely different tales, [...] boasting a potent combination of wit and humor" that, "the laughs never end", and that it "does a great job of incorporating Halloween-themed stories with the standard Simpsons charm".

[17] Consequence of Sound called it "a true benchmark of the series," ranking it the second greatest Treehouse of Horror episode of all time.

[21] Adam Finley of TV Squad opined that it "could [...] be the best Treehouse of Horror segment ever" and praised the opening of "Time and Punishment.

[26] David Mirkin said that Homer's line, "Oh I wish, I wish I hadn't killed that fish", is one of his favorites, and that the alternate future in which the family is rich "breaks [his] heart every time".

[29] Simpsons-themed metal band Okilly Dokilly based their song "Reneducation" on "Time and Punishment", in which Homer visits a dystopian future where "Flanders is the unquestioned lord and master of the world.