"The Simpsons:" "Take My Life, Please"

On Sunday's episode of "The Simpsons," Bart's make-work chalkboard assignment is to repeatedly scrawl: "HDTV is worth every cent." And so begins the first episode of "The Simpsons" produced in high-definition, a truly historic occasion, for one can just imagine seeing something like this in high-def:

And a not-bad episode, either, another variation on "It's a Wonderful Life" in which Homer discovers what his life might have been like had he been elected class president in high school, an era described as "a simpler time when the only thing we worried about was total nuclear annihilation."

Could Homer's life have been better? Could he have scored better than Marge? Could he have avoided having Bart as progeny? Homer answers that middle one, telling Marge, "I'd still be married to you, but you'd be hotter."

High-def seems to make Homer a little more philosophical: "If losers like me know one thing it's that, deep down, winners like him are miserable," he says at one point, and also: "I want him to know that if your life doesn't turn out the way you want, there's someone else you can blame."

- "The Simpsons:" 8 p.m. Sunday, Fox (Channel 11 in L.A.).