There is no excuse for this being sold not in its original aspect ratio. This season is being sold on iTunes in a 16x9 ratio despite being produced as 4x3. Some of the content has been stretched to fit the wider format (looks terrible) while most of it has had the top and bottom cropped. What a rip off to pay full price but lose a significant portion of every frame, missing some jokes, and receiving a version not intended by the show’s creators!

I won't be buying 18 & 19 untill they put the original aspect ratio on here. I'm all for widescreen in the widescreen era, doesn't matter. A show that was produced in 4:3 ratio should be released in 4:3 ratio, not cropped to 16:9. I'll be putting my money towards the actual DVDs at this point.

I love The Simpsons and have collected every Simpsons DVD and Blu-ray set. Until recently, seasons 18 and 19 were not available anywhere to own legally, except via The Simpsons World app which requires a cable subscription to FXX. I was thrilled when these arrived on iTunes. However, I am so disappointed that they decided to go with a 16:9 crop and squash rather than the original 4:3 ratio. So when you watch these episodes, you will notice that the picture and characters are squashed horizontally (everyone looks a little fatter) and every frame is cropped to a certain extent, so you may be missing out on visual jokes on the top and bottom of the frame. Its not terrible, and it does look like they have cleaned the animation it up a bit so it looks close to true HD. But I'd prefer the opportunity to just buy the 4:3 original.