"Trash of the Titans" is the twenty-second episode of the ninth season of the American animated television series The Simpsons. The 200th episode of the series overall, it originally aired on Fox in the United States on April 26, 1998. The episode, which was written by Ian Maxtone-Graham and directed by Jim Reardon, sees Homer Simpson run for the job of Springfield's Sanitation Commissioner. Steve Martin guest stars as Ray Patterson, the incumbent commissioner, while U2 play themselves after requesting an appearance on the show. and show runner Mike Scully pitched the idea that Homer should run for office. In this interview, Scully hinted that the episode would feature a "big-name movie star and a big-name rock band", adding that these guest stars could not be announced at this stage because it hadn't been recorded yet. The band's head of Principal Management Paul McGuinness and Susie Smith, an employee of Principal Management, also make brief appearances in the episode. U2's drummer Larry Mullen, Jr. appears in the episode, although he has no dialogue.
Cultural references
The episode's title references the 1981 film Clash of the Titans. "The Garbage Man" song is a parody of "The Candy Man" from Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory. During "The Garbage Man", Oscar the Grouch appears. The name Sir Loves-a-Lot is a reference to Sir Lancelot. When U2 is introduced in the episode their song "Pride (In the Name of Love)" is performed. The song is dedicated to Martin Luther King, Jr., who was assassinated in Memphis, TN in 1968 while supporting the Memphis sanitation strike.
thumb|left|Ray Patterson ([[Steve Martin) leaves the stage to the Sanford and Son theme music, in the reference to the Redd Foxx incident]]
The scene where Ray Patterson is reinstated (to which he enters and exits to the Sanford and Son theme song) was a reference to a moment that occurred during a stand-up show of comedian Redd Foxx. During a show in Las Vegas, Redd Foxx came on stage to the Sanford and Son theme song, only to find that there were a handful of people in the audience. Foxx angrily stated that he wasn't going to perform with such a small audience and walked off stage. The house orchestra, puzzled by Foxx's behavior, simply played him off with the Sanford and Son theme song again. The same incident was the basis for a joke in "The Two Mrs. Nahasapeemapetilons", where Moe Szyslak walks onto the stage and, without breaking stride, walks off.
Reception
In its original broadcast, "Trash of the Titans" finished 16th in ratings for the week of April 20–26, 1998, with a Nielsen rating of 10.5, equivalent to approximately 10.2 million viewing households. It was the highest-rated show on the Fox network that week, beating King of the Hill.
This episode won the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Animated Program at the 50th Primetime Emmy Awards in 1998. Jim Reardon won the Annie Award for "Outstanding Individual Achievement for Directing in an Animated Television Production".
The authors of the book I Can't Believe It's a Bigger and Better Updated Unofficial Simpsons Guide, Warren Martyn and Adrian Wood, said: "Although not a great episode, this one has a series of high points that keep you amused until the end."
During Toronto City Council deliberations over the proposal to turn the abandoned Adams Mine in Northern Ontario into a massive dump site for Toronto's garbage, then-councillors Jack Layton and Olivia Chow surprised their council colleagues by playing "Trash of the Titans." "It was absolutely stunning," Layton later told The Globe and Mail. "It was so accurate to what was going on." Layton, who would later become leader of Canada's New Democratic Party and Leader of the Official Opposition, called The Simpsons "the single most important influence on progressive social commentary in the world."
In 2016, the episode received a new wave of commentary from observers of the US presidential election, who compared Homer's campaign to that of Donald Trump. Stephen Sander wrote, "Homer makes crazy promises, and panders to the lowest common denominator in the citizens of Springfield, telling everyone what they want to hear in order to win. And he does win."
Controversy
On April 15, 2008, "Trash of the Titans" was broadcast on Channel 4 at 6 p.m., with both mentions of the word "wankers" broadcast. Although the word has a less offensive meaning in American English compared to British English, its use by U2 suggested the British English meaning was intended. Ofcom, which deals with television complaints in the United Kingdom, received 31 complaints from viewers who felt that the episode should not have been shown before the 9 p.m. watershed. Channel 4 said that the error was caused by a member of the compliance staff, who had incorrectly certified the program as suitable to be shown from 6 p.m. The error was not corrected by the acquisitions department. Ofcom said that while they were "concerned," it would not look into the incident any further because it was "an isolated incident."
Availability
On December 19, 2006, the DVD boxset for season nine was released by 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment in the United States and Canada. “Trash of the Titans” features an optional audio commentary track with Matt Groening, Mike Scully, George Meyer, Ron Hauge, Ian Maxtone-Graham, and Yeardley Smith. The boxset also includes deleted scenes as well as a video from the recording with U2, with commentary by Dan Castellaneta and Yeardley Smith.
See also
- Hallmark holiday
- Waste management
- Politics in The Simpsons