KD^3C^3 - 20250706 Grab my boots and a sandwich
Someone told me that the US population eats 150 million hotdogs on July 4th every year. Which is a little surprising. That’s 1/2 hotdog per person. Which means lot of you aren’t eating a hotdog at all. I did my part, and I ate 3 hotdogs on the fFourth, but I can only do so much by myself. I totally get it if you aren’t a meat eater, but I’m pretty sure the meat-alternative hot dogs are pretty good nowadays so that hardly feels like an excuse. Obviously at this point we’re too late to make a difference this year, but that means you have plenty of time to make your plans next year, so get ready to eat some hot dogs! Together we can make a difference!
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As part of my Hamletwatching project (yes I’m still on that) I wanted to rewatch the episode of the Simpsons where they do a sub 10-minute version. It’s one of the shortest Hamlets, along with the one done by the Reduced Shakespeare Company in The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (Abridged). I watch it near the beginning of the project, via disney plus, but figured I ought to own a copy as well. I did some perusing of eBay and found someone selling the appropriate season (13) on blu ray for five bucks, along with the next three seasons, also each for five bucks. This was much cheaper than it usually goes for, where season 13 alone is usually $30-$40. I think season 13 in particular is more expensive is because it was the first season released on blurry, but that is mostly just a guess on my part. The seller quickly let me know that his copy was erroneously listed as blur when it was actually DVD so if I wanted he could give me a discount, or a refund for that set. I wanted the blu, so I took the refund and ended up with three seasons that didn’t contain any Hamlet at all. I like the Simpsons well enough, so it was fine.
When I start ripping and sorting the episodes, I realize that each season goes with three bonus episodes from other seasons. This is a cool little surprise, and the sort of thing I can’t imagine happening in today’s physical media landscape.
A note on the Simpsons physical media: Did you know only the first 20 seasons are available to purchase on disc? The first seventeen seasons were released in order, with a special out of sequence 20th anniversary release of season 20. Then for a few years nothing happened at all. Disney, after purchasing Fox, released seasons 18 and 19 and then basically shut up shop in 2019. There have been no new seasons released in the intervening six years, and no evidence that there ever will be. I’ve been slowly buying up the available seasons piecemeal, but every time I do, I know I’m one step closer to having a complete set and that it will only cover half of the total episodes.
Side note to the side note: Earlier this year, Disney renewed the show for 4 more seasons, with the 40th season planned to start airing in 2028. Even a juggernaut like The Simpsons isn’t immune to the shorter seasonal streaming rot of the 2020s however, as each of the four seasons leading up to and including the 40th will only have 15 episodes. It’s still more than a lot of shows get, and it will take the show over 850 episodes, so there’s hardly a dearth, but even the longest running cartoon in the US is not unaffected by the overall cuts to season lengths that are becoming standard. I think a major reason It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia has been able to stay on the air for so long is because it started with shorter seasons. It’s also dirt cheap to produce compared to a lot of other shows (or at least i used to be, I don’t know if that is still true).
Back to the first side note: I know I bang this drum a lot, but I hate how much of media these days only continues to be accessible because of the whims of executives. David Zazlav at HBO Max, I mean Max, I mean HBO Max, has repeatedly shown it’s easy to throw media down the memory hole and make it completely inaccessible just because it makes number bigger on a spreadsheet somewhere. Usually it happens to smaller shows in the hopes that people won’t notice, but it still happens all the time. This is by design! Artificial scarcity isn’t new to this particular industry. Disney pioneered releasing movies on VHS for only a limited time with the eternal threat of the movies going “back in the vault” which meant you had to buy them now. This kept prices high and supply low. But now that streaming is an option companies don’t feel like they even have to release a movie or tv show to physical media at all. They have total control over it and that’s the way the people running the corporations want it.
While I was writing the last paragraph Peacock removed Murder, She Wrote from the streaming platform entirely, despite it being on there since Peacock launched. I should probably see about buying that show on blu ray, if it’s available.
Back to my main point. Did I have one? Oh yes, bonus episodes on the Simpsons blu-ray’s. I think this is such a cool extra. Some of the extra episodes are themed to go along with the box set, for example the 14th season has the alien character Kang and the bonus episodes are other episodes of the Treehouse of Horror series, where the character features. Or the 15th season features Otto the bus driver on the box art, and the bonus episodes are ons where Otto features prominently. The Sixteenth season whit Professor Frank on the cover, doesn’t have bonus episodes that focus on him, but rather a trio of “future” episodes. Occasionally The Simpsons as a show will come up with an excuse to show a potential future of what the family looks like in 25 or 30 or 40 years. Of course none of these actually come to pass because the Simpsons is eternally in the present. One of the earliest episodes that does this, “Lisa’s Wedding” is set in the far future year of 2010 (at least according to the Simpsons Wiki).
As I was checking the discs to make sure none were faulty (a good idea when buying used) I clicked play on one of these bonus episodes, Bart to the Future. This is the one where Bart sees his future as a shiftless layabout who has accomplished nothing, while Lisa Simpson has ascended to the presidency of the United States. I remember this episode for a running gag where in the future “Smell ya later” has replaced Goodbye in how to wish someone farewell. I think everybody else remembers this episode, which was released in the year 2000 (March 19 to be specific) has President Lisa Simpson bemoaning the work she has to do after her predecessor left the economy in shambles. That president? Donald Trump.
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As part of my Hamletwatching project (yes I’m still on that) I wanted to rewatch the episode of the Simpsons where they do a sub 10-minute version. It’s one of the shortest Hamlets, along with the one done by the Reduced Shakespeare Company in The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (Abridged). I watch it near the beginning of the project, via disney plus, but figured I ought to own a copy as well. I did some perusing of eBay and found someone selling the appropriate season (13) on blu ray for five bucks, along with the next three seasons, also each for five bucks. This was much cheaper than it usually goes for, where season 13 alone is usually $30-$40. I think season 13 in particular is more expensive is because it was the first season released on blurry, but that is mostly just a guess on my part. The seller quickly let me know that his copy was erroneously listed as blur when it was actually DVD so if I wanted he could give me a discount, or a refund for that set. I wanted the blu, so I took the refund and ended up with three seasons that didn’t contain any Hamlet at all. I like the Simpsons well enough, so it was fine.
When I start ripping and sorting the episodes, I realize that each season goes with three bonus episodes from other seasons. This is a cool little surprise, and the sort of thing I can’t imagine happening in today’s physical media landscape.
A note on the Simpsons physical media: Did you know only the first 20 seasons are available to purchase on disc? The first seventeen seasons were released in order, with a special out of sequence 20th anniversary release of season 20. Then for a few years nothing happened at all. Disney, after purchasing Fox, released seasons 18 and 19 and then basically shut up shop in 2019. There have been no new seasons released in the intervening six years, and no evidence that there ever will be. I’ve been slowly buying up the available seasons piecemeal, but every time I do, I know I’m one step closer to having a complete set and that it will only cover half of the total episodes.
Side note to the side note: Earlier this year, Disney renewed the show for 4 more seasons, with the 40th season planned to start airing in 2028. Even a juggernaut like The Simpsons isn’t immune to the shorter seasonal streaming rot of the 2020s however, as each of the four seasons leading up to and including the 40th will only have 15 episodes. It’s still more than a lot of shows get, and it will take the show over 850 episodes, so there’s hardly a dearth, but even the longest running cartoon in the US is not unaffected by the overall cuts to season lengths that are becoming standard. I think a major reason It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia has been able to stay on the air for so long is because it started with shorter seasons. It’s also dirt cheap to produce compared to a lot of other shows (or at least i used to be, I don’t know if that is still true).
Back to the first side note: I know I bang this drum a lot, but I hate how much of media these days only continues to be accessible because of the whims of executives. David Zazlav at HBO Max, I mean Max, I mean HBO Max, has repeatedly shown it’s easy to throw media down the memory hole and make it completely inaccessible just because it makes number bigger on a spreadsheet somewhere. Usually it happens to smaller shows in the hopes that people won’t notice, but it still happens all the time. This is by design! Artificial scarcity isn’t new to this particular industry. Disney pioneered releasing movies on VHS for only a limited time with the eternal threat of the movies going “back in the vault” which meant you had to buy them now. This kept prices high and supply low. But now that streaming is an option companies don’t feel like they even have to release a movie or tv show to physical media at all. They have total control over it and that’s the way the people running the corporations want it.
While I was writing the last paragraph Peacock removed Murder, She Wrote from the streaming platform entirely, despite it being on there since Peacock launched. I should probably see about buying that show on blu ray, if it’s available.
Back to my main point. Did I have one? Oh yes, bonus episodes on the Simpsons blu-ray’s. I think this is such a cool extra. Some of the extra episodes are themed to go along with the box set, for example the 14th season has the alien character Kang and the bonus episodes are other episodes of the Treehouse of Horror series, where the character features. Or the 15th season features Otto the bus driver on the box art, and the bonus episodes are ons where Otto features prominently. The Sixteenth season whit Professor Frank on the cover, doesn’t have bonus episodes that focus on him, but rather a trio of “future” episodes. Occasionally The Simpsons as a show will come up with an excuse to show a potential future of what the family looks like in 25 or 30 or 40 years. Of course none of these actually come to pass because the Simpsons is eternally in the present. One of the earliest episodes that does this, “Lisa’s Wedding” is set in the far future year of 2010 (at least according to the Simpsons Wiki).
As I was checking the discs to make sure none were faulty (a good idea when buying used) I clicked play on one of these bonus episodes, Bart to the Future. This is the one where Bart sees his future as a shiftless layabout who has accomplished nothing, while Lisa Simpson has ascended to the presidency of the United States. I remember this episode for a running gag where in the future “Smell ya later” has replaced Goodbye in how to wish someone farewell. I think everybody else remembers this episode, which was released in the year 2000 (March 19 to be specific) has President Lisa Simpson bemoaning the work she has to do after her predecessor left the economy in shambles. That president? Donald Trump.