Episode 7F07
Written by George Meyer
Directed by David Silverman
Also starring: Greg Berg (as the bum), Maggie Roswell

Premise: It's Thanksgiving, and Lisa has made a marvellous centrepiece for the table - which Bart accidentally throws on the fire. Unwilling to apologise, Bart and Santa's Little Helper run away to join the down and outs in Downtown Springfield.

Features: Patty, Selma, Jackie Bouvier, Grampa, Mr Burns, Smithers, Kent Brockman, Eddie, Lou.

Couch: Grampa is asleep on the sofa but wakes up with a start when the family dash in.

And introducing: Bill and Marty at KBBL.

Trivia:

• Homer's favourite football team are the Dallas Cowboys.
• The music to accompany the break in the Thanksgiving Parade is Get Dancing, a 1974 hit by Disco-Tex and the Sex-O-Lettes.

Notes for the Uneducated: Lisa's angst-ridden poem - 'My soul carved in slices! By spiky-haired demons' - is very close to Allen Ginsberg's poem Howl. Mr Burns' mansion is at the crossroads of Croesus and Mammon, both of whom are mythological figures of greed.

Look out for: Homer telling the family that the Thanksgiving Parade only features old cartoon characters. And the sexless sanitised pop group Hooray For Everything.

Notes: Marge's mother Jackie is particularly nightmarish in her first real appearance. The final sequence on the rooftop with Lisa and Bart is lovely, and Homer's comment to Marge is a magical wrap-up to a good show.