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‘The Simpsons’ Will Finally Release Season 19 on DVD, Helping Out Purist Collectors

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The Simpsons” DVD collectors who also happen to be obsessive-compulsive can rest a little easier: You’ll finally be able to fill in that missing Season 19.

Executive producer Al Jean revealed on Saturday that 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment will finally release the 19th season of “The Simpsons” on DVD this December 3, two years after it last put Season 18 on sale.

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The Season 19 DVD includes 20 episodes and features “collectible Homer Simpson packaging,” Jean said. (Scroll down to see.) There are also custom menus on every disc, along with commentary on every episode, he added.

That will finally give fans a complete set of the first 20 seasons. For a long time it looked like DVD collectors would be out of luck, as “The Simpsons” had been on a regular DVD release schedule up until Season 17 in December 2014. And then production halted on any future seasons.

Fan outcry finally convinced the home entertainment unit to release Season 18 in 2017. But the show’s producers, and some cast members, had also already recorded commentaries for Seasons 19 and 20.

A barebones Season 20 DVD was released in 2010, out of order, to capitalize on the show’s 20th anniversary. With Season 19 now getting a release, that means collectors will at least have the first 20 seasons available on disc. “The Simpsons,” of course, is heading into Season 31 this fall, so at this slow pace, it might be a long time (if ever) for the show’s entire run to be available on DVD.

“The Simpsons” episodes have already been available for digital purchase, and cable subscribers who have FX and FXX (which currently holds the off-network cable and streaming rights to the show) have access to Simpsons World, where every episode of the show ever produced is available.

But when the new Disney Plus streaming service launches this fall, the complete “Simpsons” run will move there.

Season 19 of “The Simpsons” originally aired on Fox between 2007 and 2008. Episodes that season included “Eternal Moonshine of the Simpson Mind,” which won the Primetime Emmy for outstanding animated program, and “The Homer of Seville,” nominated for a WGA award. Guest stars that season included Kelsey Grammer, David Hyde Pierce, Glenn Close, Stephen Colbert, Matt Dillon, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Jack Black and “Weird Al” Yankovic.

The DVD announcement was made during “The Simpsons” panel at Comic-Con International in San Diego.

“I can’t think of a better thing to put on your shelf between seasons 1-18 and 20,” Jean quipped to Variety.

Here’s what the packaging looks like:

 

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