The Simpsons - The Eleventh Season

Part of the fun of watching The Simpsons on DVD is that you can pause to catch some of the fast-as-lightning visual jokes you may have missed the first time around; Season 11 has plenty of these to enjoy. For example, take the episode "E-I-E-I-(Annoyed Grunt)," wherein the family goes to the Googolplex Theater to see a movie called "The Poke of Zorro". Pause on this scene and read the marquee; the other films playing include "My Dinner with Jar Jar," "Shakespeare in Heat" and "Mars Needs Towels." Also check out the closing credits from "Poke of Zorro": the cast featured Gina Gershon as "Man In the Ironmask" and Posh Spice and Meryl Streep as "Wise Nun" and "Stupid Nun," respectively.

That particular episode is evidence that (despite what some "Comic Book Guy"-type viewers bemoaned) the series was still at the top of its game. The outing finds the family living on a farm, where Homer inadvertently creates a tomato/tobacco hybrid crop called Tommaco. (Rob Bauer, a Simpsons fan from Oregon, actually managed to successfully grow Tommaco, and appears on the episode's commentary track.) The B-52's parody their "Love Shack" for this episode; the hit song is transformed into "Glove Slap."

Season 11 has many highlights. There is the "Behind the Laughter" episode, which won an Emmy Award for Outstanding Animated Program. "Laughter" is a brilliant example of the show's skewering of pop culture and also of its own self-awareness. A parody of VH1's overwrought "Behind the Music" celebrity biography series, the episode features Homer's addiction to painkillers, Marge's cheesy post-series cabaret act, and Lisa's tell-all book, "Where Are My Residuals?' Delicious.

"The Simpsons" tackled some rather substantial issues as well during this 1999-2000 season. In "Alone Again, Natura-Diddily," Maude Flanders, wife of neighbor Ned Flanders, dies in a freak NASCAR related accident; "Days of Wine and D'oh'ses" find raging drunk Barney giving up booze. Both potentially difficult topics are handled with a satisfying blend of mature insight and glib mockery.

There are plenty of extras for the fans here, including commentary tracks with many of the shows writers and guests stars; deleted scenes; a cute featurette: "A Line From Matt Groening;" and the amusing "The Many Faces Of...(D'oh)Animation Showcase."

Now for the complaint - once again the packaging for "The Simpsons Season 11" is unbearable. Yes, it's cute to have a 3D Krusty the Klown adorn the box, but- why must it be so damned difficult to get the actual discs out? I consider myself a fairly intelligent person, yet it took me several minutes to figure out how to remove the DVDs from the incredibly tight, fold out cardboard sleeves without scratching them. Annoying, but not enough to dampen enthusiasm for the animated comic gold within. Yellow gold, of course.