Blu-ray Review: The Simpsons The Complete Twentieth Season

Best. 20 years. Ever.


Back in my day, we didn't have cartoons on Fox on Sunday nights... Well at least until the Simpsons infiltrated the collective pop culture via the Tracy Ullmann Show. Back then, they were standout funny cartoon in a sea of not quite as funny live action.

Twenty years later, they're a standout funny cartoon in a sea of not quite as funny other cartoons. Sure after twenty years people have started to take The Simpsons for granted and focused their attention on other cartoons. First there was South Park, then Family Guy, and no doubt there will be another cartoon or two that gets a chance to bask in the warm glow of the Sun, a privilege granted by The Simpsons who continues to part the clouds with each episode.

Highlights:

  • "Treehouse of Horror XIX" - A parody of It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown was a long time coming, and this doesn't disappoint. This episode also mocks Transformers quite well.
  • "Gone Maggie Gone" - Maggie needs to be rescued from a Catholic orphanage, so Lisa must unlock puzzles aping The DeVinci Code to get Maggie back. The nun is hilarious, like they are.
  • "Eeny Teeny Maya Moe" - Moe starts dating a little person he met online, and Maggie gets bullied at the playground.
  • "Waverly Hills 9-0-2-1-D'Oh!" - Bart and Lisa start going to a school in a rich neighborhood. Who new exhausting played out old stereotypes could end up such a fun episode?
  • "Coming to Homerica" - Those immigrants from Ogdenville are becoming a problem, so we better figure out a way to keep them out. How about a wall?

Extra:

  • Featurette - "The 20th Anniversary Special Sneak Peek by Morgan Spurlock" - This is the season's one and only extra. It's a great and appropriate anniversary extra, but even so, this is Season Twenty here, can't we get some more? No? Oh well, okay, at least we have the show in HD Blu-ray at 1080p, cause this is the season where they first started airing episodes (and the show intro) in HD.

Overall:

The Simpsons is an icon of situation comedy that may last another twenty years due to the overwhelming versatility presented by its format. Few are the shows whose premise would allow them to go this long, and yet for The Simpsons, there's no end in sight. This latest release is likewise built to last with only two Blu-ray discs holding every episode in the season, and a beautiful slipcover as well.
Here's to another twenty years, Simpsons!

ComicsOnline gives The Simpsons The Complete Twentieth Season 4.5 out of 5 living classics of deliciously lowbrow humor.

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