Monty Burns' Fleeing Circus

"Monty Burns' Fleeing Circus" is the first episode of season 28 and it aired on September 25, 2016.

Plot
On a walk through the town, the Simpsons find people looking at the sky terrorized, finding out that the statue of Lard Lad had vanished. After a riot-non riot between the citizen of Springfield resulting in no damage, the Lard Lad company announces that they have decided to rebrand with a new metallic statue. Robert Chan, inviting Laird Ladd, the model for the original statue, at the ceremony, inaugurated the new statue.

The new statue is presented, however Professor Frink points out that it being metallic it'd present a huge problem: it'll reflect the light from the sun in a death beam all over the town. The town completely burns to the ground thanks to this.

Mayor Quimby announces that the citizens will rebuild Springfield, however six month passes and the town is still in ruins, with a billboard announcing how many minutes have passed since the broken promise.

The Simpsons go to Mr. Burns to ask him to fund the rebuilding of the town, however reclutant at first, he agrees at the condition that he can put a variety show at the Springfield Bowl. He starts the auditions, where he starts reminiscing of his past with his mother at his performance there, at the 1913's Pwee-Wee Pageant.

Later, at Springfield Elementary he is searching kids to perform on stage, and hires Lisa as his assistant after she help him with opening the clipboard where he was taking notes. Back at the Bowl, Burns is having bad flashbacks of people laughing at him at his performance, and his mother not helping him deal with the situation. He proposes to have someone being shot into a cannon, and when even Lisa laughs at it, Burns decides to cancel the show.

Without much success, Lisa goes to Burns' Mansion to convince him to do the show. After wondering why he was upset at people laughing at his idea, Smithers shows her the recording in mute and black and white of what happened, when his suspenders snapped and his underwear fell, revealing his naked bottom, with everyone laughing. After seeing this Lisa manages to convince him to do the show.

Meanwhile at the Power Plant, in Mr. Burns absence, the employees transformed the plant in a resort, with pool and games. Back at home, Homer is preparing a prank for Lenny, however Marge remembers him that he's the safety inspector of the plant, and that he should stop what was happening. Back at the plant, he manages to bring the situation back to normal, however some popcorn caused a fire inside the core, making what looked like fireworks come out of the cooling towers.

At the Bowl, after Burns and Smithers' introduction, the show starts with Rod, Todd, Nelson, the octuplets, Sherri and Terri performing, however the show's ending was interrupted by the fireworks, but Mr. Burns wasn't done and he reenacted his presentation. During the act, the spotlight on him made him flinch back and hit some spotlights in the back that causes his pants to burn down, with the Bowl public laughing and leaving. Burns gets mad at Lisa for this, being she convinced him to do the show anyway, but ends up forgetting her and letting her play the sax for an empty Bowl.

At the end, back at home, Lisa asks Homer the reason why Simpsons always fail, and he answers that it's a curse, telling of the story of how their ancestors didn't let Joseph and Mary at their home at Jesus' birth, resulting in their home being burnt down by Mary. Lisa asks Homer if that's what reall happen, skeptic, and Homer tells her they looked like them...

The episode concludes with the statue being thrown in the Springfield Tire Yard but Ralph was on the statue and it closes with him saying "That's all folks!" while he's covered by the statue.

Production
It is a flashback episode showing Mr. Burns' childhood.