The Simpsons
Midnight Towboy
TV Flash files “Midnight Towboy” as hour 403 of 802 in the TV Flash guide — The Simpsons (1989–present) on Fox, season 19, episode 3, aired 2007-10-07, 30 min.
From the desk
How this hour is filed
This leaf is S19E03: listed hour 403 of 802 in the The Simpsons guide, hour 3 of 20 in season 19. It aired 2007-10-07 (30 min). The listed hour before it is “Homer of Seville” (S19E02). Next is “I Don't Wanna Know Why the Caged Bird Sings” (S19E04). Broadcast log — titles and dates, not a plot bible.
Catalog log
Broadcast listing — not a TV Flash recap.
Feeling that Maggie is getting too clingy, Marge hires a counselor to teach her the "C.R.I.E. Method," a counseling program that helps parents raise their children to be very independent at an early age. But the method works a little too well, leaving Maggie with no need for Marge at all. Meanwhile, Homer goes in search of milk for Maggie in Mookington and ends up having his car towed by a tow truck driver named Louie (Matt Dillon) who introduces Homer to the joy of towing cars for a living. Louie invites Homer to be the tow truck driver for Springfield on one condition: that Homer stay off of Louie's turf in Mookington. When Homer gets a little too "tow happy," the residents of Springfield set Homer up to look like he's towing in Louie's territory, and Homer must suffer the wrath. With Homer missing, the newly independent Maggie is spurred to action.
Viewer FAQ
Where does Midnight Towboy sit in the The Simpsons guide?
S19E03 is listed hour 403 of 802 — hour 3 of 20 in season 19, season 19 episode 3.
When did The Simpsons S19E03 air?
Midnight Towboy aired 2007-10-07 and is listed at 30 minutes.
Where should I start if I am not watching all 800 episodes?
Start with the 1989 Christmas premiere, then a handful of golden-age hours from seasons four through eight. Treat the rest as a library, not a novel.
In the series
Why this series still plays
Watch it as a living joke encyclopedia, not a series you owe from pilot to present. The early years still teach how American satire learned to reset weekly; the later catalog is optional weather. You already speak Springfield. This is how the grammar got written.
The first image is a couch, and then it is not. The Simpsons treats the opening gag as a weekly contract: we will reset the living room, and we will still find a new joke about the country that owns it. Fox put a yellow family on Sunday nights in 1989 after the Tracey Ullman shorts, and the half-hour that followed did not merely popularize adult animation. It installed a shared vocabulary. People who stopped watching still speak Springfield.
Filed against
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