| The Simpsons Season 19 | |
|---|---|
| Series | The Simpsons |
| Country of origin | USA |
| Network | Fox |
| Original run | September 23, 2007 – May 18, 2008 |
| No. of episodes | 20 |
| Previous season | 18 |
| Next season | 20 |
The Simpsons' nineteenth season originally aired on the Fox network between September 23, 2007 and May 18, 2008.[1][2] It is the first season after The Simpsons Movie and contains seven hold-over episodes from the Season 18 (JABF) production line. Al Jean serves as the Executive producer, a position he has held ever since the thirteenth season. Army Archerd reported that due to the 100-day Writers Guild of America strike only 22 episodes would be produced, instead of the planned 23, which is much closer to the length of a regular season than most live-action programs that were affected by the strike.[3] Entertainment Weekly also reported that at the time, there were only 6 episodes remaining that were ready, which would make the season's production run consist of a total of 22 episodes.[4]
The nineteenth season features the returns of several characters from previous seasons. Kelsey Grammer made his tenth appearance as Sideshow Bob and David Hyde Pierce made his second as Bob's brother Cecil Terwilliger in "Funeral for a Fiend".[5] Beverly D'Angelo made her second appearance as Lurleen Lumpkin, who first appeared in season three's "Colonel Homer".[6] Glenn Close returned as Grandma Mona Simpson for the third time.[7][8] Matt Groening described this season as "just about our most ambitious yet".[9] The season's "Homer of Seville" was nominated for a Writers Guild of America Award, but lost to season eighteen's "Kill Gil: Vols. 1 & 2".[10] In a 2008 interview, creator Groening quotes his favourite episode of the series is "Apocalypse Cow".[11]
"Eternal Moonshine of the Simpson Mind" won a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Animated Program, the tenth in the history of the show.[12] Alf Clausen also received an Emmy Award nomination for Outstanding Music Composition For A Series (original Dramatic Score) for the episode "Treehouse of Horror XVIII".[12]
| # | Original title (top) Alternative title (bottom) |
Directed by | Written by | Original airdate | Prod. code |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 401 - 1 | "He Loves to Fly and He D'ohs" | Mark Kirkland | Joel H. Cohen | September 23, 2007 | JABF20 |
| After Homer saves Mr. Burns from drowning, Mr. Burns rewards him with a dinner and a flight on his corporate jet. Enjoying the luxury and special features, Homer loves Mr. Burns's corporate jet so much he vows to never fly the regular way again, which prompts a pitying Marge to hire a personal life coach named Colby Kraus to help Homer achieve his dream of flying. However, when Homer is unable to get the job, he feigns going to work so his family would be proud of him. Guest stars: Stephen Colbert and Lionel Richie.[13] |
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| 402 - 2 | "Homer of Seville" | Michael Polcino | Carolyn Omine | September 30, 2007 | JABF18 |
| After a freak accident, Homer lands in the hospital where Doctor Hibbert informs him he developed an ability to sing in an operatic voice, only when he's lying on his back. Mr. Burns immediately hires Homer to sing the leading role in his production of La bohème. Homer soon becomes an enormous celebrity, and after running away from a throng of crazed fans, Homer is saved by Julia, an obsessive and dangerous stalker who Homer is blackmailed to hire as his manager. Guest stars: Maya Rudolph and Plácido Domingo.[14] |
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| 403 - 3 | "Midnight Towboy" | Matthew Nastuk | Stephanie Gillis | October 7, 2007 | JABF21 |
| After touring neighboring town Guidopolis, Homer ends up having his car towed by a tow truck driver named Louie, who introduces Homer to the joy of towing cars for a living. However, after going "tow crazy", the residents of Springfield plot a revenge. Meanwhile, Marge begins to feel Maggie is getting too clingy and hires a counselor. The method works too well, leaving Maggie with no need for Marge at all, causing a depressed Marge to bond with a sack of potatoes. Guest star: Matt Dillon.[15] |
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| 404 - 4 | "I Don't Wanna Know Why the Caged Bird Sings" | Bob Anderson | Dana Gould | October 14, 2007 | JABF19 |
| While waiting in line at the bank, Marge befriends a man named Dwight, who later holds up the bank. Marge manages to convinces him to turn himself in, with the promise that she would visit him in prison if he does. Despite his turning himself in, Homer convinces Marge that Dwight will not expect her, so Marge, too frightened to go to prison, does not fulfill her promise and Dwight breaks out looking for her. After stalking her in various places, Dwight kidnaps Marge. Guest stars: Steve Buscemi, Ted Nugent and Julia Louis-Dreyfus.[16] |
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| 405 - 5 | "Treehouse of Horror XVIII" | Chuck Sheetz | Marc Wilmore | November 4, 2007 | JABF16 |
| The nineteenth season's annual trio of Halloween stories: "E.T. Go Home" - Bart and Lisa find Kodos (who is hiding from the government) and help him obtain devices to contact his home planet, but Kodos' intentions are proven to be murderous. "Mr. and Mrs. Simpson" - Homer secretly lives a double life as a secret agent, and is assigned to kill Kent Brockman but also discovers Marge is also an agent with the same mission. "Heck House" - While trick-or-treating, Bart, Lisa and some other kids pull pranks and going too far, Ned Flanders turns the church into a Hell house, also gaining devilish powers. Guest star: Maurice LaMarche.[17] |
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| 406 - 6 | "Little Orphan Millie" | Lance Kramer | Mick Kelly | November 11, 2007 | JABF22 |
| After remarrying, Kirk and Luann go on a honeymoon cruise; however, the boat tips, causing the two to topple into the sea and are later presumed dead. As such, Milhouse decides to act like a real man. As a result, his new attitude makes him more popular than ever, prompting to Bart decide to find a way to regain his popularity. Meanwhile, Homer finds himself in trouble when he can't remember the color of Marge's eyes, who vows never to show him her eyes until he remembers.[18] | |||||
| 407 - 7 | "Husbands and Knives" | Nancy Kruse | Matt Selman | November 18, 2007 | JABF17 |
| When a new comic book store, "Coolsville Comics & Toys" owned by a friendlier owner named Milo opens up directly across the street from Comic Book Guy's store, Comic Book Guy competes for his customers. When he finally gives up, he sells the Android's Dungeon to Marge, who opens up her own women-only workout center called Shapes. Marge becomes rich and famous, which promps a self-conscious Homer to get stomach staples. Still feeling useless, he goes to get plastic surgery. Guest stars: Alan Moore, Art Spiegelman, Dan Clowes, Jack Black and Maurice LaMarche.[19] |
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| 408 - 8 | "Funeral for a Fiend" | Rob Oliver | Michael Price | November 25, 2007 | KABF01 |
| The Simpson family agrees to go to a rib restaurant advertisement, and after arriving, they discover Sideshow Bob attempts to murder the entire family. When Bob is captured by the police, he is put on trial, where Bart throws away his vial of medicine, inadvertently killing him. Bob's brother Cecil invites Bart to pay his last respects to Sideshow Bob. Although Bart doesn't know it, it turns out to be an elaborate plot devised by Bob's entire family to murder Bart instead. Guest stars: Kelsey Grammer, David Hyde Pierce, John Mahoney and Keith Olbermann.[20] |
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| 409 - 9 | "Eternal Moonshine of the Simpson Mind" | Chuck Sheetz | J. Stewart Burns | December 16, 2007 | KABF02 |
| Homer wakes up in the snow with no memory from the night before, and Moe informs him he drank a "Forget-Me-Shot", a drink powerful enough to rid the previous 24 hours from a user's mind. With his family missing, Chief Wiggum and Ned Flanders tell him of a domestic disturbance from the night before, prompting Homer to worry he may have done something awful and tries to regain his memories with help from Professor Frink. After gaining portions of his memory, Homer believes Marge cheated on him.[21] | |||||
| 410 - 10 | "E Pluribus Wiggum" | Michael Polcino | Michael Price | January 6, 2008 | KABF03 |
| Homer burns down Springfield's fast-food restaurants. In order to rebuild them, Mayor Quimby moves up election day, making Springfield's primary election the first in the nation. The candidates in the election are not compelling and voters instead write in "Ralph Wiggum" on the ballot and he wins. As a result, both candidates embrace Ralph, even though it is not known which party he is running for.[22] Guest stars: Jon Stewart and Dan Rather. |
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| 411 - 11 | "That 90's Show" | Mark Kirkland | Matt Selman | January 27, 2008 | KABF04 |
| After discovering Marge's diploma, Homer recounts the story of how he gave up his dreams of being a musician so Marge could attend Springfield University. However, after she became attracted to one of her professors Homer started focusing his emotions into music and formed the first grunge band called Sadgasm. But after Homer's band breaks up, Marge must decide between a glum and miserable Homer and or her pretentious professor.[23] Guest stars: Kurt Loder and "Weird Al" Yankovic. |
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| 412 - 12 | "Love, Springfieldian Style" | Raymond S. Persi | Don Payne | February 17, 2008 | KABF05 |
| On Valentine's Day, the Simpson family gets stuck in a tunnel; to pass off time, Homer to begins to tell a romantic tale about Bonnie and Clyde, Marge tells her take on Lady and the Tramp, and Bart tells a tale about Sid and Nancy, where Nelson Muntz is Sid Vicious, Lisa is Nancy Spungen and Bart is Johnny Rotten from the Sex Pistols.[24] | |||||
| 413 - 13 | "The Debarted" | Matthew Nastuk | Joel H. Cohen | March 2, 2008 | KABF06 |
| A new kid named Donny comes to Springfield Elementary School and Bart thinks he's found the ultimate partner for pranks. However, these pranks backfire and Bart begins to suspect that there is a rat amongst his group of friends. Meanwhile, Marge wrecks the family car and Homer gets a new loaner vehicle, to which he becomes attached. Guest stars: Topher Grace, Terry Gross and Marcia Wallace.[25] |
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| 414 - 14 | "Dial 'N' for Nerder" | Bob Anderson | Carolyn Omine & William Wright | March 9, 2008 | KABF07 |
| Homer goes on a diet, but cheats on it, and Marge hires a TV show to keep track of his diet and make sure he is being honest. Meanwhile, Bart and Lisa play a prank on Martin Prince which backfires, subsequently leading them to believe that they have killed him.[26] Guest Star: Marcia Wallace. |
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| 415 - 15 | "Smoke on the Daughter" | Lance Kramer | Billy Kimball | March 30, 2008 | KABF08 |
| Lisa becomes a ballerina at an academy and discovers that her natural talent is enhanced by second hand cigarette smoke from the other dancers. Meanwhile, Homer reveals that he has secretly been making beef jerky and is dismayed when a family of raccoons steals it.[27] | |||||
| 416 - 16 | "Papa Don't Leech" | Chris Clements | Reid Harrison | April 13, 2008 | KABF09 |
| Lisa discovers that the town of Springfield hasn't collected millions of dollars worth of taxes. As a result, the town starts collecting from most of the evaders and the only remaining debtor is Lurleen Lumpkin. As the police try to find her, Lurleen stays with the Simpson family. Lurleen is reunited with her father, however, he sells her song to the Dixie Chicks.[6] Guest stars: Beverly D'Angelo and The Dixie Chicks.[28] |
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| 417 - 17 | "Apocalypse Cow" | Nancy Kruse | Jeff Westbrook | April 27, 2008 | KABF10 |
| When Bart and Lisa save a cow, Lou, from going to the slaughterhouse, they give it to Mary, a farm girl. Her father mistakenly believes it as a token of marriage, prompting Homer and Marge to break the two up.[29] Guest star: Zooey Deschanel. |
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| 418 - 18 | "Any Given Sundance" | Chuck Sheetz | Daniel Chun | May 4, 2008 | KABF11 |
| When Lisa creates a hit documentary about her family for a school project and enters it into the Sundance Film Festival, Homer, Bart and Marge become embarrassed by the candid behind-the-scenes look at their lives.[30] Guest star: Jim Jarmusch and John C. Reilly.[31] |
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| 419 - 19 | "Mona Leaves-a" | Mike B. Anderson & Ralph Sosa | Joel H. Cohen | May 11, 2008 | KABF12 |
| Mona Simpson returns, and says her days of activism are over.[7] But when she unexpectedly passes away, Homer feels guilty for not expressing his love for her before her death. He decides to fulfill her wishes by scattering her ashes over Lake Wastershare at Springfield Monument Park.[32] Guest stars: Glenn Close, Lance Armstrong. |
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| 420 - 20 | "All About Lisa" | Steven Dean Moore | John Frink | May 18, 2008 | KABF13 |
| Lisa becomes Krusty the Clown's new assistant and steals his spotlight. She soon gets her own show and wins Entertainer of the Year at the Springfield Media Awards, but realizes that she may not be cut out for showbusiness after all. Meanwhile, Bart and Homer start coin-collecting and go after a rare 1917 coin known as "The Kissing Lincolns" penny. Guest star: Drew Carey.[2] |
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