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 looked 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 animated in plain ol' 480p 4:3 full frame aspect ratio.  However, that's all about to change as The Simpsons makes the jump into high definition.

The new episode "Take My Life, Please" premiering on Sunday, February 15 in the United States will be the first episode created and broadcast in glorious 16:9 HD (where available, of course).  The episode will air in the United Kingdom at the end of the month.  Does anyone else feel a rush of excitement at seeing the old opening title sequence recreated in HD?  Ah, progress.  It warms my heart to see the PlayStation/Xbox era of HD expectations dragging my favorite non-gaming entertainment into the twenty-first century.