The Simpsons: The Complete Fifth Season

"Mmm...64 slices of American Cheese" Homer's midnight snack
The Simpsons DVD sets so far have been jam-packed with extras, commentaries, and creative menu pages, which may be the reason the seasons are fairly slow in coming out. I am getting a bit antsy because the next 7 seasons or so are so great, but good things come to those who wait. Season five has some of my favorite episodes. Some were pretty rare to see in syndication and now almost impossible to see as the current reruns seem to concentrate on the later seasons. Here are my season five highlights:

"Homer's Barbershop Quartet" with an appearance by George Harrison. This parody of the Beatles is very clever, especially Barney's girlfriend, "the Japanese conceptual artist."

"Rosebud" is in my top 10 Simpsons episodes ever. Mr. Burns is obsessed with finding his boyhood teddy bear Bobo. It is one of the funniest shows I've ever seen. The best part is when Smithers dresses like Bobo to try to, uh, cheer up Burns.

"Bart's Inner Child": Self-help guru Brad Goodman is impressed...

Whoo-hoo!
Seems like Fox Studio is getting faster at pumping these DVDs out. The fifth season might be where the simpsons jumped the shark pit, but I'll leave that discussion to the ubernerds. The fifth season includes the following episodes:

Homer's Barbershop Quartet: While looking through old records, the kids discover their dad was in a barbershop quartet. Guest appearnce by George Harrison.

Cape Feare [sic]: Side show bob is out to kill Bart and the family is put in the witness relocation program. Includes the famous "hello Mr. Thompson" scene.

Homer Goes to College: After a nuclear plant inspection, Homer has to go to college. The episode is a send up of popular college movies of the 80's (e.g. Revenge of the nerds or animal house). Homer falls in with the nerd crowd.

Rosebud: In a long turn of events, Mr. Burn's childhood teddy bear ends up in Maggie's hands. Burns and Homer negotiate for the return of the bear. Special guests: the...

This is the season I've been wating YEARS for.
Finally! A great holiday gift for myself. This is the Simpsons at their peak. Seasons 4, 5, and 6 were the prime of this series. There have been great shows since, but this period was consistantly the smartest, funniest, fastest paced era of the Simpsons, and I consider season 5 to be the master piece. In my opinion, 5 of the top 10 episodes of all time, are in this set. The Beatles parady set to early 80's Barbershop quartet. Deep Space Homer's Classic 2001 Homage with the potato chips. Homer improvising dinner for the kids while Marge is out gambling. The Animated Open to "The Tompson" in Cape Fear. And perhaps the greatest episode of all time, The Citizen Cane Parody with "Bobo."

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