The Simpsons: Season 20 [Blu-ray]

It doesn't skip.

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.

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.

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

I love the Simpsons, I can dare say it is my favorites show, period. I cannot bare to mark it low just based on how greedily Fox chose to release this season. I cannot lie, some of the episodes were not that good, and I find myself watching season 1-10 more often; but my love has not wavered.Comparing this season to previous seasons of the Simpson would result in a lower rating. The thing is it is still better than 75% of sitcoms and pretty much every other animation. The writers seem to be tying hard, whereas in other season laughs came freely; I got the feeling everything was forced. Some episodes seem like they should have been featured on seasons way before this, they were really stale. It seems after season 17 or so, they started to incorporate more episodes centered around Lisa; they should know by now Lisa is not funny, she is just annoying. There are still plenty of parodies and hi-jinks for Homer to be subjected to.The way in which this season was released was just wrong. It cost more than any other season that has been released but features nothing special. Half of the season is regular and then it shifts into HD; why not just do all the episodes that way upon release? I know it is suppose to be a milestone "the 20th season" but it was lackluster and if they intend on re-releasing this season with all the extras; they suck.

In my opinion this was the Era of the Simpsons before it went downhill

This delivery arrive right on time. It was wrapped and in excellent condition. I enjoyed it very much.

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.

Great box set. Fantastic episodes that I’d not seen due to no longer having sky. Came quickly in perfect condition. No issues with it being an international dvd - works fine and is in English.

Glad I bought this. This season was a great addition to my collection and given that fox won't be releasing it on dvd anymore I'm glad to have it episodes are quite good if not as good as the classic episodes

I was pretty sceptical about buying the product as used and was back up with the evidence. Each disk was damaged but either deep chips/scratches or with some sort of melted blue plastic. Got to the second episode of the first disc and it simply froze and nothing else played

Love it but they wouldnt buy it off me in cex