The Simpsons producer Mike Price has shared details about Season 38 of the long-running animated series, discussing the creative process behind the season premiere and upcoming episodes. The season 38 premiere, titled "The Children's Book Job," features a memorable sequence where Homer transforms into a hippopotamus after suffering a head injury, leading him through a series of children's book-inspired scenarios with references to classic authors like Eric Carle and Richard Scarry.

The sequence was designed to be the centrepiece of the episode and involved collaboration between writer Dan Vebber and director Matthew Nastuk, with the team intentionally crafting the entire episode to build towards this moment. Looking ahead, Price revealed that the upcoming "Treehouse of Horror" episode will feature stop-motion animation created by Stoopid Buddy in a style inspired by Tim Burton's Nightmare Before Christmas, alongside other innovative episodes including one involving Moe undergoing a sleep study that affects the entire town's dreams, described as being influenced by the Nicolas Cage film Dream Scenario and Nora Ephron films from the 1980s.