To Surveil with Love

Eddie Izzard as Nigel Bakerbutcher

"To Surveil with Love" is the twentieth episode of The Simpsons' twenty-first season. It premiered on the Fox network in the United States on May 2, 2010 as the 461st episode of the whole series. In the episode, radiation seeps out of Homer's gym bag after a bomb squad blows it up and Springfield officials decide to suspend all civil liberties. Meanwhile, Lisa dyes her hair after being stereotyped for being blonde.

The episode was written by Michael Nobori and directed by Lance Kramer and guest stars Eddie Izzard. It also featured a new sequence with Kesha's single "Tik Tok" as the theme song, replacing the whole opening sequence as part of "Fox Rocks Week" for which Fox shows were encouraged to incorporate music into programming. The episode was praised by critics for its storyline and satire of surveillance and conformity, while Lisa's subplot was criticized. The episode also received a 2.7/8 in the 18-49 Nielsen Rating demographic going down one-tenth from the previous episode "The Squirt and the Whale".

When Mr. Burns is informed that the Nuclear Power Plant has run out of room to store waste plutonium, Smithers hides some of the radioactive matter in Homer's gym bag. Shortly afterwards, Homer goes to the train station and forgets the bag. The police see the bag as a threat and decide to detonate it, causing a nuclear explosion in the train station. The incident sparks fear of terrorism, and the town votes to hire British security consultant Nigel Bakerbutcher to install surveillance cameras all around Springfield. Soon the entire town is being watched, but when Chief Wiggum and the other police officers get tired of watching the surveillance screens, they recruit some of the townspeople — including Marge and Ned Flanders — to keep watch. Marge is not comfortable watching the activities of her fellow townspeople, but Ned discovers he enjoys being Springfield's "conscience" and proceeds to nag everyone through loudspeakers on the cameras.