I missed the first half hour of Ken Burns’ “The National Parks: America’s Best Idea” while watching “The Simpsons.”

Big mistake, but one I’m about to rectify by watching (and recording) the immediate encore.

I guess I thought this was going to be a dry subject, more of interest to Burns than to me. I thought wrong. The first two-hour episode, mostly about the genesis of Yosemite and Yellowstone, is absolutely terrific, ranking among Burns’ best work (which is saying something).