Fox Pulls Plug on 'Simpsons' Discs

10 Apr, 2015 By: John Latchem

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A producer of “The Simpsons” caused a bit of a stir April 8 by tweeting that 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment would no longer release the series on DVD or Blu-ray.

“I personally am v sorry to see DVDs discontinued. We did them purely for the love of hearing ourselves talk,” read the tweet from executive producer Al Jean.

A spokesperson for Fox confirmed the news, attributing the move not to a weakness in the DVD market but rather to a strong online presence for the show. The FXX network acquired syndication rights to the show in 2013 and in 2014 kicked off the “Every Simpsons Ever” campaign, making every episode available through the FX Now app and the Simpsons World website.

Fox began releasing DVDs of the series in 2001, and released the first 17 seasons as well as season 20; seasons 13-17 and 20 were also released on Blu-ray (the 20th season was released out of sequence without extras as part of the show’s 20th anniversary celebration). “The Simpsons” began airing in 1989 as a spinoff of “The Tracey Ullman Show” and is now in its 26th season.

The DVDs were highlighted by extensive extras such as deleted scenes and commentaries on each episode.

“We did them purely for the love of hearing ourselves talk,” Jean tweeted.

In response to fan concerns, Jean tweeted that producers would try to make bonus materials available through FX Now. He also expressed hope for an eventual complete-series DVD boxed set once the show went off the air.

“Simpsons fans are great (which is why we will do commentaries anything else we can),” Jean tweeted.

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