"And They Call It Bobby Love" is the second episode in the third season of the Fox animated series King of the Hill, and the 37th episode overall. The episode's title references the Paul Anka song "And They Call It Puppy Love". It is notable for being the first, and only, episode of the series to win a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Animated Program (For Programming less than One Hour).^[1][2]

Plot[edit]

Hank and the guys convene in the alley, only to find that someone has abandoned a couch in their usual spot. This new development is not well received at first, and Hank calls the county's waste services to come and remove the couch. As the days progress, however, the guys grow to like the couch, sitting down to enjoy their beers, installing a footrest and sunshade, and even moving the couch out of sight when the requested garbage pickup finally arrives. Meanwhile, Bobby finds himself running late for class and runs into the hall monitor, an older girl named Marie. When she confronts him for his tardiness, his comedic responses amuse her, and she lets him go without any trouble; later on, she calls him over to a gathering of her friends to show them his comedic stylings. That night she calls him at home to meet up at the mall, where Bobby learns that Marie is a vegetarian. She walks him home afterwards, and they come across the couch in the alley and sit down. Marie gives Bobby a kiss and heads off, leaving an infatuated Bobby behind. When they kiss on the couch again the next day, the act is witnessed by Connie, who then realizes that she herself has an attraction to Bobby.

The next day, Kahn walks by the guys on the couch and reveals that he was the one who left the couch in the alley, after it had been urinated upon by a neighborhood cat that had gotten into his house. Meanwhile, when Hank and Peggy find out about Bobby's 'girlfriend', they object, although Hank's objection is to Marie's vegetarianism, and Peggy's is in believing Bobby to be too young to date. Their objections renew upon discovering that Marie is two years Bobby's senior when she comes by to pick him up for a party. At the party, however, Bobby is shocked to see Marie dancing with other guys. When he interjects, she takes him outside; when he demands to know why she was willing to dance with others, she reveals that she only thinks of him as a friend and calls having kissed him a mistake. Despondent, he returns home, lying on the floor and listening to sad music. To cheer him up, Hank and Peggy take him to the Panhandler Steakhouse the next night, where, coincidentally, he spots Marie also having dinner with her parents. There, he takes on the restaurant's standing challenge to eat a 72-ounce steak in under an hour, simultaneously spiting Marie and finding catharsis by eating the entire steak in just 37 minutes as everyone in the restaurant watches, earning himself the thunderous applause of everyone but Marie (including, to her indignation, her own parents).

When the Hills return to the alley after dinner, they find Dale, Bill, and Boomhauer standing sadly around where the couch used to be, puzzling over its sudden apparent disappearance. As Hank joins them, Connie approaches Bobby and invites him over. Bobby however, immediately starts vomitting, Connie at first thinks Bobby is reacting to breaking up with Marie but Bobby assures her it's from overeating. As the credits roll, Dale and Bill talk on the phone, still wondering after the whereabouts of their beloved couch; it is revealed, however, that Bill has simply moved the couch into his living room.

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