Got mine at Electronic Boutique in Cleveland OH. As far as disc imperfections, to my untrained eye the disc does not look out of the ordinary. But then again I'm not really sure what to look for.
Same problem here. I have a Toshiba SD-6200 and the third disk locked up on the outtakes; after much pixilation. I also noticed that that the movement of the animation caused weird jagged edges, like thick horizontal scan lines around the edges of the movement. Maybe that's a problem with my...
Just a guess, but maybe both shows are produced by the same studio and that is a standard prop out of their prop closet.
On a similar note I've noticed that an award on Lou Grant's wall on Mary Tyler Moore looks identical to an award on Les Nesman's wall on WKRP.
From one of my all time favorite Simpsons episodes:
Homer: (singing) "Call Mr. Plow, that's my name,
that name again is Mr. Plow!"
My favorite part of this episode is when Barney, aka "The Plow King" shoots out the tires of Homer's truck with a revolver.