Hostess Twinkies’ shelf life is forever, at least in ‘Ghostbusters’

Bill Murray, left, Dan Aykroyd and Harold Ramis in "Ghostbusters." (Columbia Pictures)

Hostess, the maker of Twinkies, Ding Dongs and Suzy Q’s, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection Wednesday, leaving many to ask the question Bill Murray once posed in “Ghostbusters”: “What about the Twinkie?”

While the company says its Ho-Hos and CupCakes aren’t going anywhere soon, we’re already feeling nostalgic. Especially for the Twinkie, which, with its delicious “cream filling” and laundry list of additives, has inspired everything from the Twinkie diet to “Die Hard’s” sweet-toothed cop. Sure, some may consider it a nutritional wasteland, but the Twinkie is bona-fide Americana and a star on TV and in film. The seemingly never-expiring treat has given us “Family Guy’s” dysfunctional Twinkie kid and a different kind of hunger game for Woody Harrelson in “Zombieland.”

So let’s take a walk down memory lane and revisit some of out favorite Twinkie moments:

1. If  ”Ghostbusters’ ” ghastly demons and Gozer aren’t enough to scare you, a 35-foot Twinkie weighing in at 600 pounds might do the trick. Only Egon (Harold Ramis) would use a Twinkie metaphor to break down New York City’s surge in psychokinetic energy:

2. Adult Swim’s “Robot Chicken” makes one Twinkie a tragic hero in this classic episode complete with a Hostess cupcake tumbleweed:

3. Weird Al amps up the gross-out factor with this classic scene from “UHF” when he tries to cheer up his friend with a Twinkie wiener sandwich:

– Lily Mihalik

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