After five seasons of best-selling DVD collections, fans know what to expect from the box sets of The Simpsons: extras more oriented to in-process geekery like animatics than "behind the scenes" featurettes (there are none here); gang-style commentary that reduces itself increasingly to in-jokes and banter entirely unrelated to the episode at hand; and pristine, restored edits of the funniest and most imitated animated show in television history. But just as the show did at some point during its 16-year run, the DVD issues have now jumped the shark. The show hadn't by season six that jump wouldn't come for at least another couple of seasons, though this season's two-part cliff-hanger/contest "Who Shot Mr. Burns?" was to many a precursor that something mediocre this way would come. Nope, the DVD collections have jumped the shark by altering the packaging in mid-stream, turning it from acceptable industry standard to laughably cheap and half-assed. This season, and the subsequent three seasons at least, features a plastic frame box shaped like Homer's dome to house four shoddily held together DVDs. That the series would change design before the initial run was complete this is no special "collector's" edition is poor; that they did such a cheap job of it is nothing short of insulting. One might expect this type of gimmickry from one of this show's imitators, but from the originators this is just a horrible disappointment. Not even the classic television it contains so familiar from such a long run in syndication can wash out the metallic taste of disappointment that lingers. Plus: episode commentary, animatics. (Fox)
The Simpsons: The Complete Sixth Season
BY James KeastPublished Sep 1, 2005