In my twenty years of watching The Simpsons, I have to say that it was 2007’s The Simpsons Game from Electronic Arts that made our favorite family look the best. The animated sequences that bridged the story gap between gameplay levels look fantastic on my HDTV, and I can’t help but believe that these scenes were animated as part of the production of The Simpsons Movie. It’s such a shame to watch new episodes on Sunday evenings and see Springfield back to being displayed in plain ol’ 480p 4:3 full frame. However, that’s all about to change as The Simpsons jumps into high definition. “Take My Life, Please” premiering on Sunday, February 15 in the United States is the first episode created and broadcast in glorious 16:9 720p (where available, of course) with an air date in the United Kingdom later this month. Ah, progress. It warms my heart to see the PlayStation/Xbox era of HD expectations dragging my favorite nongaming entertainment into the twenty-first century.
