New Simpsons credits

The new opening of The Simpsons reminds me of the re-release of the original Star Wars films.

George Lucas inserts various special effects, seemingly just because he could with advances in digital technology.

Mostly these are new creatures and spaceships or old ones given a makeover.

In the case of the desert planet of Tatooine these do little than more clutter the original sparse western feel of the scenes in the originally released movie.

In the first (pre-prequel) Star Wars there is even a whole new scene where the digital Jabba the Hut rehashes, to no dramatic purpose, the same plot exposition with Han Solo as occurred in the cantina with the bounty hunter sent to kill him.

Like many a directors’ cut, there is little gained by the altered and reshot footage, other than to bloat and even dilute a leaner piece of film-making.

The reworking of the 20-year-old Simpsons credits kick off with a self-conscious Bart blackboard joke that HDTV is worth the money.

To prove it the new opening gives you more gags, while essentially going through the same narrative of the Simpson family heading home at the end of the day towards the couch.

But again more sometimes seems like less.

For instance, Homer’s terrified run to escape Marge’s oncoming car now concludes with the punchline of him being sent through the garage wall, jagged outline and all.

This was the sort of humour The Simpsons early on parodied but restricted to its wonderful Itchy and Scratchy take on Tom and Jerry/ Warner Bros cartoon violence.

Undoubtedly The Simpsons deserves to be mentioned as one of the greatest, if not the greatest, comedy shows on TV.

For a number (how many is the subject of much nerdish debate) of seasons it was a brilliantly sustained satire that forensically observed a US lower middle-class family with recognisably “real” challenges and sympathetic characters.

But that seems far removed from today’s offerings from Springfield, which rely heavily on slapstick, grotesques and frenetic fantastic plots, sometimes chopped and changed mid-program.

The reworked credits are not a new beginning but another sign of Homer and co’s slow decline.