preliminary Nielsen household rating and share and adult 18-49 rating on the Fox channel that night were 7.6 rating/11 share. Media Life Magazine described The Simpsons performance in the ratings that night as "superb". On September 2, 2003, the episode was released, along with the episodes "Treehouse of Horror V", "Treehouse of Horror VI" and "Treehouse of Horror VII" as part of a DVD set titled The Simpsons – Treehouse of Horror. The episode was released again as part of The Simpsons: The Thirteenth Season DVD and Blu-ray set, released on August 24, 2010. Following its television broadcast and the home video release of the thirteenth season of The Simpsons, "Treehouse of Horror XII" received mixed reviews from critics. Casey Broadwater of Blu-ray.com stated that the episode "is merely so-so entry in the show's annual Halloween anthology", while Colin Jacobsson of DVD Movie Guide wrote that, while it "doesn't present many significant flaws", it also "doesn't ever really shine". He concluded his review by writing "'XII' isn't bad Simpsons, but it's mediocre". Writing for Good Film Guide, Matt Wheeldon held a similar opinion, calling it "an average quality 'Treehouse of Horror' episode" and described it as being "easily watchable" and "fairly memorable, but far from the best of the bunch". Nate Boss of Project:Blu stated that the episode is "At times memorable, at times forgettable" and that it "kicks off Season 13 with a smile, whimper, and thud". Ron Martin of 411Mania stated that, while he does not consider "Treehouse of Horror XII" to be the worst episode of the series, "as far as 'Treehouse' episodes go, it has to be one of the weakest". Writing for Suite101, Dominic von Riedemann described the episode as a "disappointment". Reviewing the episode for the Daily News of New York City before the episode's official broadcast, Eric Mink complimented it for being "fitfully funny", however he added that the episode "seem[s] short on the pop-culture digs and celebrity skewering that used to put a high gloss on the show's gleaming reputation". Jennifer Malkowski of DVD Verdict however gave the episode a positive review, and referred to the episode, along with "Weekend at Burnsie's", as the two best episodes of the season. She wrote that "[the episode] succeeds because of wall-to-wall laughs", and cited several scenes and gags, in particular the "horrible vomiting frog 'prince' that Bart enchants". She gave the episode an A−