“The Simpsons” travel to “The Yellow Lotus” on Sunday’s episode, where they “encounter death on vacation at a high-end resort.” If that sounds a bit like “The White Lotus,” well, of course. It’s the show’s parody of Mike White’s Emmy-winning HBO series — starting with a take on the show’s creepily catchy opening credits:
“The Simpsons” helpfully adds some lyrics to the “White Lotus”-esque instrumental: “Hot bodies, and murder/ Rich, sexy people behaving badly/ Makes you feel better about being broke and unknown/ Symbolic statues and endless brunch/ How do they eat like that and still look great naked/ Are they on ozempic?”
Guest voices on “The Yellow Lotus” (8 p.m. ET on Fox this Sunday, Oct. 6) include Kelsey Grammer, back once again as Sideshow Bob — after all, if there’s a murder involved, Bob can’t be far away. “SNL” star Chloe Fineman also guests. This reps the second episode of Season 36, and comes after last week’s “series finale” fakeout.
The melody of the “Yellow Lotus” song was written and sung by Kara Talve; the episode itself was written by Loni Steele Sosthand and directed by Matthew Faughnan. (Talve is principal composer at “The Simpsons”; her other credits include “The Tattooist of Auschwitz” and “Faraway Downs.”)
The original “White Lotus” theme, “Aloha” by composer Cristobal Tapia de Veer, won the Emmy in 2022 for original main title theme music. De Veer also won the Emmy that year for music composition for a limited or anthology series, movie or special (original dramatic score), and then music composition for a series (original dramatic score) in 2023.
Here are the openers to the two seasons of “The White Lotus”:
“The Simpsons” parody is more a take on Season 2, including de Veer’s reworked main title theme, now dubbed “Renaissance.” The Season 2 title sequence is from Katrina Crawford and Mark Bashore from the studio Plains of Yonder.
“The Yellow Lotus” is just one of several parodies making their way to Season 36 of “The Simpsons.” Later this month, Stoopid Buddy (“Robot Chicken”) partners with the show to take on “Venom” in this fall’s annual “Treehouse of Horror” extravaganza. In this case, Homer meets his match with “Denim.” It’s the 35th “Treehouse of Horror,” and the show is promising “the scariest 35th Halloween special ever.”
“Treehouse of Horror” won’t be the only spooky “Simpsons” event this season, as the producers announced that a “second scary trilogy” will focus on a trio of stories inspired by Ray Bradbury, dubbed “Simpsons Wicked This Way Comes.”
