I was ripping my Simpsons DVDs to put on my media server (as you do) and noticed how the audio is 5.1 surround on the disc. I didn't think that could possibly be true, but at the end of the episodes it does say it's presented in Dolby Surround.
The Simpsons wiki has the wild uncited claim that Dolby created Dolby Surround specifically for the Simpsons. If you've got info on that PLEASE tell me.
Getting down to business, since I've ripped the discs I can import the audio right into Audition and view the channels. In order: Left, Right, Center, Subwoofer, Rear-Left, and Rear-Right. There's actually stuff there! That waveform is from A Streetcar Named Marge. You can see all the songs in the surround channels and some sound effects. The stage audio exists as faint reverb. Here's what it's like without any of the front audio:
Pretty cool to see that it's actually in use! I'm still downmixing to stereo to save space, but it's neat!
