The Simpsons opening sequence couch gag is shown, before the credits are displayed on a new widescreen flat panel television. Sometimes, the flat panel television falls to the floor and breaks, but unlike "Bart Gets a Z", the episode will begin then anyway. In the 500th episode, the opening sequence was a montage of all previous couch gags. Creator Matt Groening developed a lengthy opening sequence for the first season of "The Simpsons", in order to cut down on the animation necessary for each episode, but devised the two gags as compensation for the repeated material each week. In the first of the original
The Simpsons opening sequence the famous high-pitched scream of Homer's when he runs from Marge's car into the house is cut. The scream is added in the third episode, "Homer's Odyssey". The TV version of this opening has the caption "In Stereo Where Available". For the second season, the original opening was reanimated. Most shots were very closely copied (with some shots, such as Homer's first shot) appearing to be traced. The coloring was changed on most shots, and the characters and animation cleaned up. Some scenes were replaced or modified: In Bart's chalkboard gag, the school is now orange with purple accents instead