7G08:
Rated PG-LV
In some sort of surround as delivered by Fox, but I'm not sure if it was Dolby Surround processing on the original stereo track or the 5.1 mix also available on the DVD (the other recent airings of much older episodes don't apply as much).
I compared it to the DVD, and pretty much everything seems to match (no cuts, no alterations - even the upside-down background near the end still sticks around), including the credits (20th logo is arguable). The time is the 23:05 original (and stays within a half- hour time slot). But there is one thing that jumped out at me, and it's curious:
At around 12 minutes, when Homer asks when he gets paid, the Santa school instructor barks "not a dime till Christmas Eve!" In the version just broadcast tonight, there's a funny cloudy coloring over that line (see some of the original takes for 7G01), and the right arm is noticeably lighter, with the suit close to black. The entire suit snaps to the lighter gray in the same shot as he gathers himself and continues. On the DVD, it looks like a retake, perhaps from a later (1989-90-91-93-94, though I'd suspect 89 or 90) repeat... it seems unlikely to have been done at the DVD stage. The only other copy of the episode I have is from a tape of unknown origin (full-length, possibly an airing or the retail VHS), and it does have the glitchy take. I don't know about syndication. Any extra info?
There was also a slight addition, between the end of the third act (+execs) and the commercial break: a few seconds of a silent-movie- esque intertitle card that read: Congratulations FOX on 25 years... We still love you* *This doesn't include Fox News (Does it bug anyone else that people insist on capitalizing the O and X? It's not an acronym!)
Other notes: -Obviously, there are many things that seem weird about the episode now, but one I just noticed was that it sounds almost like Patty and Selma live out of town. The "how was your trip?" line from Homer especially adds to this impression.
-The first episode of "Married... with Children" that preceded this didn't seem to fare quite as well in the time department. I timed it at about 21:45, when I'd expect it to be 23 minutes or more. But I don't know the show that well. I did notice that the theme song seems to be intact (which can't be said of all the DVDs, right?), and the new Sony logo has wormed its way in the way that it always does. Both episodes were also presented pillarboxed on Fox, but in 4:3 on the SD feed.
-Closed captions (on Fox tonight at least) give Homer's line, exiting Santa's workshop and banging his head, as "ho ho... yo!" not "d'oh" or anything like that.
Fox 25th anniversary special (selected notes)
Overall not too bad, and as Seacrest said, they had to condense quite a lot of stuff into 2 hours. (Many shows were overlooked entirely, of course - including, I believe, Futurama, even though a clip of it was used in the promos!)
Speaking of the SD feed: for some reason, even though Fox has been very good in the last few years about letterboxing pretty much everything it might have cause to, and being (I think) the only major broadcast network to even start this practice again after the analog switchoff, it did NOT present the special in widescreen on SD. I got to watch it in widescreen on my big TV, but I recorded it off SD for safekeeping and am pretty annoyed at this. I may have to seek out a widescreen copy. Jeez.
(As for the formatting overall: almost everything was presented in its original aspect ratio, pillarboxed as appropriate with plain black bars. For some reason, though, a clip from MABF15 [Judge Me Tender] in the section on jabs at Fox was shown in 4:3, not that episode's original widescreen, and of course the clip from the movie was trimmed to 16:9. And in the section on sports, everything was in 16:9, with older 4:3 clips cropped to fit [then, of course, cut off on the sides on the SD version!] - which seemed odd, almost as if someone completely different was in charge of putting that together or it was assumed stupid sports fans would tune in for just this segment and revolt upon seeing black bars or something.)
The Simpsons section was fine - certainly an unexpected assembly of clips, which was refreshing. I'm not sure why the stereo channels seemed to be reversed, though. The "host" segments (joining Seth MacFarlane's bunch and Bob's Burgers) weren't bad, nor was the guest appearance from Zooey Deschanel. I kind of wish there was some discussion from cast or producers like there was for many of the other shows highlighted in the special, but considering there was a variety of styles overall (some summaries hosted by Seacrest with montages of clips, some chats with several cast members, some thoughts from just one cast member or a few separately...) I guess it was fine, and again, the current animated shows got their own hosty screen time.
Finally, there was a clip (noted above) of The Simpsons Movie: a somewhat sped-up version of the nude skateboarding scene. "Bountiful penis" was left in, but if you didn't catch it, the actual penis was obscured, not by a "European version only" bar, but by a squarish tiny "25th" logo. It went by in the blink of an eye (it was sped up!).