The Simpsons: Season 20 [Blu-ray]

FIRST, my opinion about the program: I really get a kick out of the Simpsons, and the fact that some extras, such as commentary by Matt Groening, are missing from this set is no problem for me. What I care about is the program itself, and I find that hearing the creator ramble on about his wonderful creativity just detracts from my enjoyment of the show. So if, like me, you mainly want to watch more Simpsons ASAP, go for it! NOW, my rant: CULTURAL DEVOLUTION. The packaging of these DVDs is further evidence of the decline of our culture. Surely professional marketers have scientifically surveyed consumers and determined they prefer fancy, dysfunctional packaging of DVDs over plainer, convenient and functional packaging. But I am not one of those stupid consumers. I want to store my DVDs in packaging that protects them and makes them easily accessible; this is my primary criterion for evaluating packaging. Unfortunately, the packaging of these DVDs, like the packaging of the majority of DVDs in my collection, is extremely inconvenient to use. To get to these DVDs, first, I must slide the carton out of a plastic sleeve. Then, I must open the flap on the carton and extract the accordion-style packaging of the DVDs. This innermost packaging has the DVDs stored in connected cardboard sleeves, making it awkward to get to the individual discs, and making it likely the consumer will put scratches on the DVDs when removing and replacing them. And the fact that the packaging is fancy, expensive, and adorned with images of the Simpsons only makes matters worse because it is obvious that a significant amount of money was spent to create a package that is annoying and likely to damage the product itself. What a stupid waste of money! And what a tragic way to package a product that should last many decades if it is handled properly. In fairness, the packaging of these DVDs is no worse than many other DVDs in my collection. But the fact that some other reviewers of this set of DVDs complained about the packaging prompted me to add my two cents. But I suppose the real culprits are not the marketing professionals who are providing consumers with what they want. No, the real culprits are the stupid consumers themselves, who prefer things fancy and dysfunctional, such as the common practice of adjusting widescreen televisions to have a non-wide image stretched horizontally to fill the wide screen, preferring to see images stretched and distorted horizontally rather than seeing proper images with some unused screen at the left and right edges of the screen. And how about the stupid majority of consumers who prefer a wide computer monitor that matches widescreen DVD movie images but which is compressed vertically, reducing the amount of a word-processing document or spreadsheet or a webpage that can be seen without scrolling. As if the primary activity on a PC is watching DVDs! I tell ya, the decline of the United States in the world community... oh, never mind.

great

The Simpsons had been on a steep decline for many years with almost each new episode being as bad as it possibly could be. I guess the writers were far too preoccupied with the street-cred they gained by actually being Simpsons writers instead of coming up with good storylines. Season 20 remedies all that by giving us some of the best-written episodes yet with better use of the extensive cast and a greater sense of continuity. Each episode has several laugh out loud moments and is truly a joy. However 20th Century Fox ought to be ashamed for releasing such a shoddy box set. There are NO EXTRAS (sorry, but a 3-minute preview of a potential extra is NOT an extra itself). No commentaries. Nothing! For a landmark 20th season they've given us no landmark release. The 1080p HD quality and sound however are great. Just a shame they had to cheat us on features.

I thought these episodes were funny. I mean what more can you say other than this is "The Simpsons". I know some people were disappointed about there not being bonus material of any additional scenes or commentaries but I still thought this was an excellent purchase. I gave it 5 stars because the episodes were funny and I didn't feel it was fair to take away stars because of no bonus material.

Yes, FOX is clearly anxious to get into the HD & Blu-Ray world, and thinks it will be more lucrative, or at least stir up more interest. I must admit I would rather buy this season than the seasons 13-19, because the HD HAS ADDED A LOT! (though only about half the season is actually HD). Not just the incredible detail, which is considerable (have you noticed the backgrounds? the finally updated opening??), but also the new visual details seem to have inspired the writing a bit. I found "How the Test Was Won" quite funny, as well as "No Loan Again". If you haven't seen the new HD Simpsons, it's worth checking out. But I don't know about the extras situation, and will be waiting to see what all is offered, not to mention the packaging complaint. They have GOT to get something more disc-friendly, though I fear the recent "The Beatles Remastered" sleeve treatment will not help our cause here. But really, the HD has been something of a revelation to me, and given me hope that the Simpsons could actually continue to reinvent itself to greatness. Though, I would agree in general with others, that seasons 1 - 6 are must see; seasons 7 - 10 are still worth getting though quality-level trails off; after that, until season 20, not so good (is this why they've skipped ahead, admitting their sub-par quality past 7 seasons?) Lets face it, The Simpsons writers have been coasting the last 7 years or so, falling into the usual long-run sitcom traps: bringing in lots of favorite "guest stars" usually playing themselves in a bald-faced attempt to garner the affection, or at least attention, of the youth (not unlike the old-time stars Milton Berle or Walter Matthau going on Saturday Night Live to host); regurgitating old plot-lines and coming up with ones so ridiculous even the characters are written a line to acknowledge the absurdity; and, as Simpsons acknowledged head-on in the episode "The Itchy & Scratchy & Poochie Show", added characters to enliven the already buldging cast, like: Homer's mom, Arnie Ziff, Apu's wife and eight children; and of course, many, many road trips: Japan, Scotland, Hawaii, etc; which is also acknowledged with the wink of "The Simpons are going to...". I'd like to see more of the bizarre episodes left to Halloween (Treehouse of Terror) and more relational/situational humor, like earlier season episodes (Lisa's Substitute, Separate Vocations, Lisa the Geek, I Married Marge, Saturdays of Thunder, etc;). OK, I'm done ranting.

I have always loved "The Simpsons" and have collected all the dvds. I never bothered with the extras in previous sets, I just wanted to see the shows, especially ones I missed when I was working at night. The price was right, too. I look forward to Season 13. I just wish the packaging was better as I don't like to have to pull out the discs as not to damage them. That's the only complaint I have, praise Jeebus! This is one of the few tv shows I watch consistently.

As fans of "The Simpsons" know, the producers have been releasing excellent DVD sets of the show's initial seasons, with the first 12 seasons now available. To celebrate the 20th anniversary of the show, they jumped ahead in the sequence and released this 20th season set. Not a bad idea. However, as other reviewers have noted, this set seems hastily put together and includes no commentaries, deleted scenes, or other typical extras. As a fan of the show, I always watch the episode and then the corresponding commentary track, which are invariably funny and informative. This set seems like a rip-off, and I suspect that, when they get to season 20 in the sequence of DVD sets, they will redo the package, meaning that I will probably be purchasing a similar set in a few years. So how are the episodes? Well, for the 20th season of a show, the episodes are quite good, with some excellent episodes and just a few clunkers (I'd argue that the episodes are better overall than at least one of the prior DVD sets - Season 11). "Coming to Homerica" is a very clever examination of the hysteria during the 2008 election over the issue of immigration. In this case, Norwegians from nearby Ogdenville flood into Springfield, creating xenophobia and resulting in the building of a giant wall around the town. I'm not always a fan of the Halloween episodes, but "Treehouse of Horror XIX" is quite good, especially the play on Peanut's The Great Pumpkin. Finally, "Mypods and Broomsticks" does a nice job skewing Apple and iPods. Season after season, "The Simpsons" manages to remain relevant through their timely and witty satirizing abilities, and Season 20 is solid in this regard. On the other hand, the set contains two of the worst episodes in recent memory. "Gone Maggie Gone" is a lame parody of "The Da Vinci Code" that makes little sense and has few laughs. Worse yet is the scattershot "Four Great Women and a Manicure," in which Marge and Lisa for some reason trade stories about women. This episode had very little connective thread and left me puzzled. Deservedly, it was the lowest rated episode in Simpson's history. I consider myself to be a fairly hardcore fan of the series, although I am not always able to watch the show every week. So I also welcome the DVD sets, and I enjoyed watching the episodes from season 20. The season was a relatively good one, worthy of 4 stars. However, I have to dock the DVD set at least one star for lacking the typical extras and care with which the show is usually packaged.

If you’re having a horrible day, this could turn it into a fabulous one!

Mon petit fils m'en avait parlé et je lui ai fait la surprise de lui faire parvenir ce DVD. Il a bien sûr A-DO-RE.

With it being an import item, I was incredibly sceptical about whether or not the DVD would actually work. The item is written in English on the front and French in the handbooks that come with it. The DVD works absolutely fine and it has the same quality as all the other previous seasons, it's just a shame that it isn't available within the UK. I hope they reconsider about releasing the rest of the seasons on DVD otherwise what's the point in having an unfinished collection? Anyway, I was incredibly satisfied with this item and would highly recommend it for Simspons fans.

Parfait merci 🥳🥳

日本語無しのシンプソンズを探してたのですごく楽しめました♩日本語版DVDボックスよりも薄くてコンパクトで嬉しいです☆

Really, can you do anything but be happy with the Simpsons? Everything fine with this purchase - delivery, price, it's all good. Thank you.