The Simpsons: The Complete Third Season

The Simpsons juggernaut inches inexorably forward until it's simply declared the greatest creative moment in human history and we get it over with; in the meantime, most people will pick this set up not because we haven't seen "Colonel Homer" (when he manages country singer Lurleen Lumpkin) or "Flaming Moe's" ad nauseum, but because we haven't seen 90 seconds of them since they were trimmed for syndication. That totals almost an episode-and-a-half of Simpsons we haven't seen since this year's first year university students were Lisa's age. As the show gets tighter, season by season, the DVD commentary gets looser; for season three, stalwarts Matt Groening (creator), Al Jean and Mike Reiss (writers/show runners) are joined regularly for the first time by voice actors, including Dan Castellaneta (Homer), Julie Kavner (Marge) and Nancy Cartwright (Bart), as well as a parade of writers, directors and who knows — there's probably an intern or family member somewhere in the back. This season begins the show's magic run, where for about half-a-decade it can't be touched by anything else on TV, and not much in TV's history. And the "Pop Up Video"-style trivia feature, which is used just minimally on one episode here, is absolutely the Simpsons DVD extra of the future. Extras: commentaries; pop-up bonus trivia; audio outtakes; scene sketches; storyboards; jukebox; more. (Fox)