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TwitterThe new 'Simpsons' opening: Mmm, hi-def
The Simpsons aired its first-ever high-definition episode Sunday, and with it came a mostly new and appropriately HD-fancy twist on the familiar opening of the show.
For the Simpsons obsessive, there is much to love about the new sequence, from Kearney and Jimbo sawing off the head of Jebediah Springfield before we zoom into Bart writing on the chalkboard ("HDTV is worth every cent") to finally being able to see what the price is when Maggie gets scanned at the grocery ($486.52). Sideshow Bob and Apu's octuplets are new additions to the sidewalk as Bart skates by.
There are also several goodies in the whip-pan across town, including Ralph Wiggum building a sand castle atop the grave of Frank Grimes. Burns and Smithers, who have been replaced by Lenny and Carl at the nuclear plant, are there too, along with Blinky the three-eyed fish and Spiderpig. Fat Tony and his guys are dumping a body over by the school bus, and God and the devil appear to be engaged in an argument.
I was a little underwhelmed with the couch gag, which had the family chasing the couch all over the globe and into outer space. It was a nice way to show off how good The Simpsons looks in hi-def, but it wasn't as funny or inspired as, say, The Evolution of Homer or the Powers of Ten parody, to cite a couple of relatively recent examples.
If you haven't seen it, the whole episode is on Hulu. Here's just the opening sequence.
Thoughts? Do you like the new opening, or should the show just have spiffed up the old sequence?
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Zap2it Twitter Talk 
I hate Verizon for not airing this (or any Fox, NBC or the CW show) in letterbox. I want my letterboxing back!
I love it. Just enough change, just enough the same.
I was at my parents' last night, and I almost peed myself when I saw this all wide.
Then, of course, I went back to my TV where I have no HD-DVR and watched it painfully square. Although the fact that you can notice that things are being cut off just goes to show that they are really using all of the 16:9 image, which is great.
Great for anyone who can see it anyway.
Absolutely loved it. Great way to celebrate 20 years on the air. The updating of the caracters was awesome.
I wonder if the earlier opening might have set the record for the longest-running unchanged opening sequence in TV history? I think there were changes made maybe around season 3 or 4 but that's still 16-17 years ago.
"HDTV is worth every cent" not every penny
GET IT RIGHT YAHOO!!!
The old opening of The Simpsons was cl***ic. CL***IC! Why "update" it? The opening was the only thing that resembled cl***ic Simpsons in recent episodes and now that's gone... It was a stupid decision to change it.
I got it right now, William.
Why after ALL THESE SEASONS HAS THE COMMERCIAL BREAK TIME BEEN CHANGED?
NO REASON FOR THAT.
New beginning was the best part of the show.
Good to see the episode wide screen
But, sure wish the episode had been funny
It has been a couple of seasons since there has been a real good Simpson's episode
LOVE the new sequence - the couch bit was too over-the-top but the new opening is terrific - even Lisa's sax playing is better. LOVE IT!