Episode 5F09
DEDICATED TO THE MEMORY OF LINDA McCARTNEY
Written by Ian Maxtone-Graham
Directed by Jim Reardon

Also starring: Pamela Hayden, Tress MacNeille,Russi Taylor, Susie Smith, Paul McGuinness
Special guest voices: Marcia Wallace (as Ms Krabappel), U2 (as themselves), Steve Martin (as Ray Patterson)

Premise: After insulting the garbage men, Homer finds his rubbish not being collected and sets about challenging the current Sanitation Commissioner to an election. Homer of course wins, and then finds he's blown his annual budget in a month. There's only one thing to do.

Features: Mr Burns, Carl, Lenny, Moe, Barney, Patty, Selma, Jasper, Chief Wiggum, Mrs Wiggum, Agnes Skinner, Miss Hoover, Groundskeeper Willie, Kearney, Ned Flanders, Todd, Rod, Mr van Houten, Ruth Powers, Quimby, Captain McCallister, Sideshow Mel, Apu, Dr Frink, Herman, Cletus.

Couch: The family are in Bart's schoolroom where he has written I WILL NOT MESS WITH THE OPENING TITLES on the blackboard.

Trivia:

• On Love Day, Marge gives Homer a toy bear, Sir Loves-A-Lot, which is a redress of another Love Day bear, Lord Huggington.
• U2 sing In The Name of Love at the concert, and Adam Clayton apparently collects spoons.
• Larry Mullen doesn't actually say anything.
• Cosingtons the department store have, they proudly proclaim, been over a century without a slogan. Which is their slogan.
• Oh, and Homer calls Flanders by his first name, which is rather rare.
• Patty, Selma and Moe are all registered as sex offenders.

Look out for: Loads of good jokes: New York City's garbage is mostly guns and syringes; Bart's clever avoidance of having to empty the garbage and, sickest of all, Mr Bunny's sudden resurrection at his funeral. Brilliant.

Song: Homer sings The Garbage Man Can, joined by his fellow garbage men, and Oscar the Grouch from Sesame Street joins in.

Notes: Although not a great episode, this one has a series of high points that keep you amused until the end. The song is actually one of the least impressive ones the show has done, simply because it's so like so many others. U2 actually steal the show with their over-the-credits antics on their plane home. Overall, bearing in mind the seriousness of the episode's topic, Linda would probably have approved.