810. The Children’s Book Job

Original airdate: September 27, 2026 The premise: In order to save the school, Homer is tasked with transporting reclusive children’s book author Constance Clavinger to the book fair so she can read the long-awaited sequel to her hit book. But then he discovers that Constance’s follow-up story involves violently killing off her own creation, as she has become bitter and disgruntled in life, wanting to pass down her pessimism to a new generation of kids. The reaction: Does a season premiere really hold much significance anymore? I mean in terms of like shooting out of the gate with a particularly engrossing episode for your first one out. We got the format-breaking “Bart’s Birthday” a few seasons back, but a lot of the premieres in recent years have felt weirdly pedestrian. In an age of streaming where people can seamlessly binge one season into another, it feels like the premiere/finale of episodic TV doesn’t really matter much. Or maybe I feel that way since we just had the Black…