DVD Review: Excellence Continues With Twelfth Season of ‘The Simpsons’

CHICAGO – Since Fox released the first season of “The Simpsons” on DVD, fans of the series have anticipated each new release like a kid waiting for presents for a fat man in a red suit to fall down a chimney in late December. Each season set for “The Simpsons” has set the bar for what TV on DVD should be. It’s no surprise that the twelfth season doesn’t change the excellent pattern.

DVD Rating: 5.0/5.0

There has been a growing divide between the haves and the have-nots in the world of TV on DVD. It feels like a show is either released practically bare-bones, placing the emphasis on just the episodes themselves, or a show is released with enough special features to require fans to cancel their plans for the weekend.

The Simpsons: Season Twelve was released on DVD on August 18th, 2009.
Photo credit: Fox Home Video

The DVDs that fall into the latter category include the season sets for “24,” “Lost,” “Mad Men,” “Battlestar Galactica,” and more, but one of the MVPs when it comes to TV on DVD has long-been “The Simpsons”. The season sets are not mere collections, they are made for the fans who know them by heart and want something more.

By the time “The Simpsons” got to the twelfth season in 2000, even the most hardcore fans of the show would admit that it was over the hill and past its prime. But there are still moments of brilliance in this season set. This was around the time when I would regularly say, “Even bad Simpsons is better than most TV.”

Highlights of the season that Matt Groening claims “Can Transform You From a “Bag of Boredom” To The “Life of the Party!”” include “A Tale of Two Springfields,” “Homer vs. Dignity,” “The Computer Wore Menace Shoes,” the great (and Emmy-winning) “Homr,” “Trilogy of Error,” and the season-best “Skinner’s Sense of Snow”. Those episodes alone are worth owning. The rest are bonuses.

The special features for the twelfth season of “The Simpsons” are so remarkable that we should break them down disc-by-disc.

Disc One:
-A Comic Moment with Matt Groening
-Audio Commentary on All Episodes
-A Bit From the Animators
-Animation Showcase
-Deleted Scenes
-Special Language Feature

Disc Two:
-Audio Commentary on All Episodes
-Deleted Scenes
-Comic Book Guy: Best. Moments. Ever.
-A Bit From the Animators

Disc Three:
-Audio Commentary on All Episodes
-Deleted Scenes
-Animation Showcase

Disc Four:
-Audio Commentary on All Episodes
-Deleted Scenes
-The Global Fanfest
-Original Sketches
-A Bit From the Animators
-The Commercials

Even casual fans of one of the best shows of all time should add every season of “The Simpsons” to their collection.

By BRIAN TALLERICO Content Director HollywoodChicago.com brian@hollywoodchicago.com