"
The City of New York vs. Homer Simpson" is the first episode of
The Simpsons'
ninth season, and premiered on
September 21, 1997 on
Fox. The episode sees the
Simpson family traveling to
Manhattan to recover the family car, which was taken by
Barney and abandoned outside the
World Trade Center complex with numerous parking tickets. Upon arrival, the family tour the city, while Homer attempts to find his car. He discovers it outside the World Trade Center, where a parking officer later arrives to remove the
clamp, but leaves as Homer is urinating inside one of the towers. In frustration, Homer decides to drive the car with the clamp attached. He successfully removes it later and races to
Central Park to find his family and leave the city. Writer
Ian Maxtone-Graham was interested in making an episode where the Simpson family travels to New York to retrieve their lost car. Executive producers
Bill Oakley and
Josh Weinstein suggested that the car be found in the
World Trade Center plaza, as they wanted a location that would be widely known. Great lengths were taken to make a detailed replica of the city of Manhattan. The episode received generally positive reviews, and has since been on accolade lists of
Simpsons episodes. The "You're Checkin' In" musical sequence won two awards. Because of the World Trade Center's central role, the episode was initially taken off
syndication in many areas following the
September 11, 2001 attacks, but has come back into syndication in recent years.
