Rating:

Twenty Years! It’s hard for me to believe that the Simpsons have been on television for more than twenty years now. The show surpassed Gunsmoke as the longest running show in television history and it’s still running – admittedly not as strong as it used to be.

As Paramount has released season after season of the Simpsons to DVD, starting with Season One in 2001, it’s been a treat going back and watching the show mature and reach its pinnacle. The most recent previous release was Season 12. By Season Twelve, the show isn’t as funny as it used to be, but it still manages to be entertaining far beyond many other network show.

So why skip to Season Twenty? Mid-way through season Twenty, the show switched to HD. Rather than wait a few more years to release a high-def Blu-Ray set, Paramount and Fox decided to celebrate 20 years of the show and release Season 20 on DVD and Blu-Ray.

They should have waited.

Don’t get me wrong. The episodes are good, some of them anyway. Like any show in any season, there are some good ones, a few great ones and a few bad ones.

The Treehouse of Horror episode is fairly good. After several years of horrible, horrible episodes (I’m looking at you Night of the Dolphins) – this year’s episode has a few good ideas – especially the Charlie Brown riff.

“Dangerous Curves” flashes back to when Homer and Marge were dating. I love these views in the past, although there will never be a line better than Homer’s old “Marge, you’re as pretty as Princess Leia and as smart as Yoda” quote.

Sideshow Bob returns in “Wedding for Disaster” and “Eeny Teeny Maya Moe” is a Simpsons look at Internet dating when Moe meets the his Internet sweetheart and she’s only 3 feet tall.

With good episodes and the introduction of high definition, what’s wrong with this set? There are no extras.

Previous seasons of the Simpsons have had commentaries, features, and other fun extras. Possibly because of the quick turnaround on this set, there’s none of that to be found. The only thing included is a 3-minute preview of the The 20th Anniversary Special by Morgan Spurlock (which aired two days before this set was released). The full special should have been included on here. Twentieth Season and 20th Anniversary Special – it just makes sense.

Simpsons fans will  want the set to fill out their collection. Likewise, if you want the Simpsons in high definition Blu-Ray, this is the only set for you. However, if you’re on the fence about this one, there’s not anything that will make you change your mind.

Order the DVD or Blu-Ray set from Amazon.com.