The Princess Guide

"The Princess Guide"
The Simpsons episode
Episode no.	567
Directed by	Timothy Bailey
Written by	Brian Kelley
Showrunner(s)	Al Jean
Production code	TABF08
Original air date	March 1, 2015
Couch gag	The printer gets jammed while printing out the couch gag. A "Paper Jam" error appears, prompting the printed Homer to mutter "Mmmm. Paper Jam."
Guest actors	Richard Branson as himself Yaya DaCosta as Princess Kemi Jon Lovitz as Enrico Irritazio Kevin Michael Richardson as the Nigerian King
Season 26 episodes September 28, 2014 – May 17, 2015 "Clown in the Dumps" "The Wreck of the Relationship" "Super Franchise Me" "Treehouse of Horror XXV" "Opposites A-Frack" "Simpsorama" "Blazed and Confused" "Covercraft" "I Won't Be Home for Christmas" "The Man Who Came to Be Dinner" "Bart's New Friend" "The Musk Who Fell to Earth" "Walking Big & Tall" "My Fare Lady" "The Princess Guide" "Sky Police" "Waiting for Duffman" "Peeping Mom" "The Kids Are All Fight" "Let's Go Fly a Coot" "Bull-E" "Mathlete's Feat" List of The Simpsons episodes
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"The Princess Guide" is the fifteenth episode of the twenty-sixth season of the American animated sitcom The Simpsons, and the 567th overall episode of the series. It aired on Fox on March 1, 2015. The episode was dedicated to the memory of Leonard Nimoy, who died two days before the episode aired. Nimoy guest-starred in two Simpsons episodes, "Marge vs. the Monorail" and "The Springfield Files".

Plot

Homer takes Lisa to a Take your daughter to work day, but Lisa's milk leaked all over her lunch. Homer then finds a way to trade a corn chip with a full salad for her, and they hug each other. Meanwhile, Mr. Burns needs uranium immediately to keep the SNPP running and has the King of Nigeria fly in for negotiatins to supply it, and the King says his daughter, the Princess Kemi is staying in the country and they need an employee to babysit her. That's when Burns look to the surveillance monitors and see Lisa and Homer Hugging, and see that Homer might be the perfect man for the job.

While Homer is babysitting the princess, Marge gets angry because he refuses to babysit their own child. But he isn't doing a great job with the princess, leaving her bored in the apartment. He then decide to take her to Moe's, but Moe is not so happy to see her because he suspects her brother stole money for him, making Homer angry, but when he decides to take her back to the apartment, she disappears. Homer tries to explain the situation to Chief Wiggum, but he gets arrested moments before she gets back to the bar.

Later, Lenny and Carl bail Homer out of the jail, but he was responsible for the princess. They think in cover up the situation dressing Carl like the princess. Meanwhile, at the bar, Kemi is getting hungry, and Moe tells her there's food in the back, but when Moe gets in there, he find out her sleeping in his bed leaving him to sleep in the balcony. The next day, the princess wants to see Springfield and spend time with Moe, to his surprise. They take a scooter and have some fun in the city, but Homer gets angry at Moe because it was his job to take care of the princess. Moe and Kemi evade Homer and when she gives him a kiss, a paparazzo takes the picture and it quickly is viewed by her father on the Internet, leading him to declaring he will never sign the uranium deal with Mr. Burns. The princess explains to her father that kiss was just friendly, which hurts Moe until she declares that Moe is a wonderful friend who made her happy. The king wants to punish her, but Homer explains him that he should let his daughter live her life as she wants, and the king relents and signs the deal.

Reception

The episode received a 1.8 rating and was watched by a total of 3.93 million people, making it the second most watched show on Fox that night, behind the series premiere of The Last Man on Earth.^[1] Dennis Perkins of The A.V. Club gave the episode a A-, saying "Resting the show on Moe’s shoulders has been done before, sure—but never in so gracefully funny a manner as this. While never sacrificing Moe’s inherent and necessary misanthropy and general creepiness, the episode nonetheless builds a refreshingly warm and funny story around him. Honestly, it’s the best episode of season 26 so far."^[2] Furthermore, Bakwa did a two-part series on The Simpsons, wherein, bloggers, writers, cultural thinkers and academics were asked to comment on the episode. Most of the reactions highlighted poor research, one-dimensional characters, the challenge of portraying believable Nigerians, and the episode’s relatable character, Princess Kemi.^[3]

Hank Azaria's role in the episode as Moe and the Pedicab driver was nominated for the Award for Outstanding Character Voice-Over Performance at the 67th Primetime Emmy Awards, one of three Simpsons actors to be nominated.^[4]

References

1. "Sunday Final Ratings: ‘The Last Man on Earth’ & ‘Dateline’ Adjusted Up". TVbytheNumbers. 2015-03-03. Retrieved 2015-05-04.
2. Perkins, Dennis (2015-03-01). "Review: The Simpsons: "The Princess Guide"". Avclub.com. Retrieved 2015-05-04.
3. "The Simpsons and the Challenge of Portraying Believable Nigerian Characters". Bakwa. Retrieved 2015-05-04.
4. Montgomery, Daniel (August 25, 2015). "Voice-Over Emmy: Tress MacNeille ('The Simpsons') vs. four past champs". Gold Derby. Retrieved September 7, 2015.