From bedsheets, to t-shirts, and even underwear, I grew up with The Simpsons. Most weekdays before dinner I would tune in to watch syndicated episodes, while the big deal came on Sunday nights when new episodes were aired on the network that will remain nameless. The classic intro begins with a break in the clouds, and then we fly over the hills and come to rest in a classroom where Bart is writing lines on the chalkboard. Every week his omission of guilt would change, from “I did not see Elvis” to “The Pledge of Allegiance does not end with Hail Satan.” Then we follow all the Simpsons who are rushing to get home. Bart skateboards away from school at the sound of the bell, Homer calls it a day at the end of his shift at the Nuclear Power Plant, Lisa gets kicked out of music class and bikes away, while Marge and Maggy make their way home from the grocery store. The end result has them all converge in their living room for the famous, always changing “couch gag”.
For nearly 20 years, the intro has remained unchanged, save for Bart’s message on the chalkboard and couch gag, which change from week to week. With the onset of HDTV, and the success of their feature length movie, the creators of the show saw fit to breathe new life into the intro. Although I am not sure which elements will change from week to week (the Krusty billboard, sign inside the power plant, people found under piles of leaves and manhole covers), one can easily see that the new HD intro is ripe with potential for minor weekly modification. Although the show’s creators took their sweet time to do this, clearly the end result was worth the wait.
