Generally speaking, the show became a little less edgy and a lot goofier around the tenth season. The series found a comfort zone focusing on Homer’s crazy antics. A lot of time was spent with the family traveling to far off places and Homer nearly causing some sort of international incident. This stuff is pretty funny, but it lacks the edgy social commentary of the series earlier years. Somehow, that’s okay though. As long as The Simpsons continues to provide laughs, it’s a bit like comfort food: we know what to expect, but it makes us feel good while we’re taking it in.
The biggest reason for The Simpsons success and longevity is the wonderful and talented cast. Dan Castellaneta’s well meaning but often clueless Homer; Julie Kavner’s often-irritated, yet unwavering Marge; Nancy Cartwright’s fun and mischievous Bart; Yeardley Smith’s insightful Lisa and the versatile talents of Harry Shearer (Burns, Smithers, Skinner, Flanders) and Hank Azaria (Moe among many others) all have created such brilliant characterizations, that their work on The Simpsons is now part of the American lexicon. Without them, the characters wouldn’t have been brought to life with such vigor and legions of fans wouldn’t have followed The Simpsons every move.
Season fifteen begins as usual with the annual “Treehouse of Horrors XIV.” In this one, Homer kills the Grim Reaper and takes his place. Homer doesn’t really mind taking lives, until Marge appears on his list. In the same episode, Bart and Milhouse are able to manipulate time; they grow up while the rest of the town is frozen. Aside from the Halloween episode, some of this season’s outstanding episodes include: “The Regina Monologues,” which has the family jetting off to London, “The President Wore Pearls,” an Evita parody which finds Lisa becoming school president, the brilliant “Margical History Tour” which features a satirical take on three historical icons: Henry VIII, Sacagawea, and Lewis and Clark, and “Smart & Smarter” where Lisa is mortified to learn that baby Maggie has a higher I.Q. than she does.
As is the case with nearly every season of The Simpsons, this season features plenty of celebrity guest voices; sometimes playing themselves, sometimes a character far removed from their public personas. This seasons guests included the following: Jerry Lewis, Jennifer Garner, Oscar De La Hoya, Glenn Close, Michael Moore, Marcia Wallace (who appears in quite a few of the episodes), Tony Blair, Jane Leeves, Ian McKellen, J.K. Rowling, William Daniels, Isabel Sanford, Charles Napier, Jackie Mason, Mr. T., Simon Cowell, Jon Lovitz (returning as Artie Ziff), Sarah Michelle Gellar, Jane Kaczmarek, and creator Matt Groening.
The fifteenth season’s twenty-two episodes are spread over four discs. Below is a list of those episodes:
1. Treehouse of Horror XIV
2. My Mother the Carjacker
3. The President Wore Pearls
4. The Regina Monologues
5. The Fat and the Furriest
6. Today I Am a Clown
7. ‘Tis the Fifteenth Season
8. Marge Versus Singles, Seniors, Childless Couples, and Teens and Gays
9. I, (Annoyed) Grunt-Bot
10. Diatribe of a Mad Housewife
11. Margical History Tour
12. Milhouse Doesn’t Live Here Anymore
13. Smart & Smarter
14. The Ziff Who Came to Dinner
15. Co-Dependents’ Day
16. The Wandering Juvie
17. My Big Fat Geek Wedding
18. Catch ‘Em If You Can
19. Simple Simpson
20. The Way We Weren’t
21. Bart-Mangled Banner
22. Fraudcast News
Presented in the 1.33.1 aspect ratio, the show is very colorful and the deep, rich hues come across nicely. Given the interlaced nature of these 480i transfers, you will notice some issues with occasional aliasing, but it doesn’t ruin the overall viewing experience.
The Dolby Digital 5.1 sound mix is very good for an animated series on television. The track itself is mostly in the center channel, with the surround channels mostly used for music. Directional effects are limited, including characters talking from off-screen and vehicles moving across/through frame. There’s not a lot of movement between the rear speakers.
The following special features are included:
- Audio Commentaries: One track on every episode. Each track features one or more of the following people: producers/sometimes writers Al Jean, James L. Brooks, Matt Groening, Kevin Curran, Ian Maxtone-Graham, Michael Moore, Matt Selman, Michael Price, Tom Gammill, Max Pross, Matt Warburton, Marc Wilmore, Don Payne, Joel H. Cohen, Carolyn Omine, Dana Gould, J. Stewart Burns, John Frink, and David Silverman, directors Mark Kirkland, Lauren MacMullan, writers Tim Long, Valentina Garza, Jeff Nathanson, and Allen Glazier, storyboard artists Steven Dean Moore and Mike B. Anderson, layout artist Nancy Kruse, and actors Dan Castellaneta, Yeardley Smith, Nancy Cartwright, and Maurice LeMarche.
- Deleted Scenes: Ten episodes allow you the ability to watch them with deleted scenes. A scissor icon appears to denote the cut footage. The deleted scenes have also been collected as a standalone special feature on disc four and can be viewed with an optional commentary by Al Jean (9:44).
- All Aboard with Matt (1:50) A Brief introduction by the series creator.
- The Usual Ones (17:10) A look at some of the unusual animation moments that have occurred over The Simpsons first fifteen seasons.
- Living in the Moment (2:00) A gallery of photographs from the shows 500th episode celebration.
- Two Sketch Galleries: A nice montage of rough pencil sketches for each of the episodes.
- An animation showcase picture-in-picture option for The Wandering Juvie and a special language comparison feature for My Big Fat Geek Wedding (which is a fancy way of saying the episode features German, Portuguese, Ukrainian, and Italian dialogue tracks).
- Commercials: The Simpsons are featured in two commercials.
- Booklet: The 26-page booklet contains all kinds of information about each episode.
