Pork and Burns

Joyce Carol Oates as herself
Michael York as Dr. Budgie

"Pork and Burns" is the eleventh episode of the twenty-eighth season of the animated television series The Simpsons, and the 607th episode of the series overall. It aired in the United States on Fox on January 8, 2017.

Marge Simpson is inspired by a Japanese book on minimalism to adapt to a new way of living, so the Simpsons have to part with items that no longer bring them joy which includes Homer Simpson having to find a new home for the family pig, Plopper.

Dennis Perkins of The A.V. Club gave the episode a B- stating, "But why graft three full stories (and possibly a fourth) together into one resultingly cluttered episode? It’s a common complaint, but a lot of recent Simpsons episodes waste promising storylines this way. You’ve got Homer and his pig buddy, coming back together before a barbeque sauce-and-hounds mishaps leads to Mr. Burns taking a shine to the injured Plopper. But that’s only set up by Marge’s enthusiasm for a Japanese anti-cluttering book/philosophy that sees her urging the family to toss out anything that 'no longer brings them joy' (that’s an episode), which leads to Lisa discovering that, once she’s given away everything but her sax (and her Bleeding Gums Murphy poster), she’s lost all joy in playing. 'I finally feel about my sax the way you all do!,' she wails in horror. And that’s another episode. Throw in some promising emotional beats to that story—Homer comforts the confused Lisa during an anxiety attack, Bart hijacks the school’s PA system to restore her love for jazz—and there’s an abundance of good ideas not given enough time to come to fruition."

"Pork and Burns" scored a 3.5 rating with an 11 share and was watched by 8.19 million viewers, making it Fox's highest rated show of the night.