R&R: The Princess Guide (TABF08)

What did you think?


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Rembrandt Q. Einstein

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Homer is put in charge of keeping Princess Kemi out of trouble while her father, a Nigerian king, works out a uranium deal with Mr. Burns. When Kemi ends up at Moe's, Moe jumps to the conclusion that she must be related to the Nigerian prince who scammed him over email and schemes to get his money back. But much to his surprise, he finds himself falling for the princess.
 
It aired an hour early in Canada. The most confusing thing about this episode was that the plot really set itself up to be about Moe trying to get to the bottom of his Nigerian Prince scam (even though it was most definitely a dead end) but that got totally abandoned. Then it seemed to be about Homer trying to track down the missing princess as the main conflict. Then it turned into a romance story between Moe and the princess, despite no actual romance. Meanwhile, this Smithers joke got dragged out throughout the whole episode. Remember when these Smithers-loves-Burns jokes were brief and not quite so obvious? This speaks to a larger issue I'm having with the show - when the storyline isn't strong, the jokes are the only saving grace. And this episode was full of really tired and worn-out Simpsons go-to's:
- Wiggum being oblivious (the joke here was basically the same as the "invisible typewriter" one from "The Springfield Files")
- Smithers loving Burns
- Burns being weak (the dog on his head)
- Moe's bar being disgusting

All of that material felt really stale to me. Plus, this is the second Moe episode in a row, and he's easily had the most feature episodes of any secondary character the past 10 seasons. So, all these jokes about Moe being ugly, pathetic and disgusting are getting a bit old. I suspect that's why they keep writing Moe episodes. It's easy to come up with jokes about Moe being lonely and disgusting.
But I did think the fresh jokes went over well, like Burns and the monkey brains, Carl not dressing up, Burns' clones, Homer trading his lunch up, etc.

Also, some funny little bits if you freezeframe the gossip sites:
"Bumblebee Man confirms rumors of "furry" sex life. "Are you surprised?" he replied in Spanish.
Wolfcastle birthday party ends with melted helicopter, ten injured, and a lion with a machinegun. Actor said to be heartbroken by lack of offers from studios for the rights.

Anyway, overall the plot was pretty unfocused, a bunch of the jokes were tired/stale, but there was enough good fresh gags throughout to keep it watchable. But the problematic stuff means I'll probably forget this episode altogether by tomorrow though, sad to say. 3/5 C

NOTE: The writers must have really loved that Elon Musk episode. This is the second time they've referenced it within 3 episodes.
QUESTION: I saw Jon Lovitz' name in the credits. Did I miss something? Who did he voice?
 
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ACT ONE:

The couch gag was funny.

Is it just me or does Burns's voice sound off?

They're referencing Elon Musk AGAIN?

Oh hey, Burns forgot who Homer was! When was the last time that happened?

And Moe isn't sad and pathetic. That's another plus.

ACT TWO:

Smithers actually bought Homer impersonating an African princess? Since when was Smithers an idiot?

Ugh... WAY too many Smithers gay jokes these past two acts.

The montage joke was kinda funny.

ACT THREE:

Okay, Moe was a little sad, but not too much.

Umm... why the fuck were Marge, Lisa and Maggie at the nuclear plant? I supposed Lisa could be explained, but the daughter day was the day before.

And we close with the worst Gay Smithers joke of the entire series.


OVERALL:

Umm.... I actually couldn't muster up any feelings for this episode. It had good moments and bad moments, but as a whole, it's just kinda... I dunno.

Guess I'll give it a 3/5 (C-)
 
Here we go!
++ Good couch gag!
- Lisa's mouth was very close to her ear.
+ Bison with Beaver
+ Burns bite down during childbirth
+++ Guy putting cats in bag.
++ Dog weighing down Mr. Burns
+ Smithers fantasy.
+++ The bodies harshest critic, the colon.
++ Mr Burns falling over
+++ Mr. Burns eating monkey brains.
-- Dumb TV show gag.
+ Maggie mailing
++ "Awag"
+ Health grade F.
+ Moe Wacking walls.
++ DO NOT BE SUSPICIOUS
+ 8 million
End of act 1, 10/10 so far! Possibly the best of the year.
++ Drunk car
+ PIN number
+" Thank you for listening"
- Hooray, another Moe gets a girlfriend episode! At least it's not a Bart gets a girlfriend episode.
+ Guy stuck to gum
++ Moe's song/
++ Offering goats
+++ Smither's fantasy.
+ Scooter store
++ Hans Moleman crash
+ Toy's B Cheap
-- Dumb dialouge with Kevin.
+ Woman kisses man. Yuck!
+ Princess kisses troll
End of act 2, still 10/10!
++ Moe tooth falling.
-- That was a really quick resolution to the plot!
+ Vauge stuff
++ Books given to moe.
-- What was that?
In conclusion, that was a weak 3rd act! 4/10.
+++ Mr. Burns closing door on Branson.
In conclusion, strong outing! 8.5/10!
 
pre shit. cringed at the musk references but i guess it worked in context. liked hearing deep voiced jay sherman and KMR is always great. business as usual for unfunny modern simps.
 
I don't see a problem with referencing Musk. That episode showed that the plant was financially crippled by him and I think it's nice to see some continuity. Both references to the episode were to explain the plant being in trouble.
 
What was this about? Homer babysitting the princess, er no; Moe trying to find the Nigerian scammer via the princess, er...no, again; Moe and the Princess fall in love...nope. This episode seemed like for plot fragments that were held together by Smithers's dreaming of having a gay old time with Burns.

On the plus side, what was there was salvageable and some nice jokes, so a 3/5 will suffice.
 
I don't see a problem with referencing Musk. That episode showed that the plant was financially crippled by him and I think it's nice to see some continuity. Both references to the episode were to explain the plant being in trouble.

because the less said about crap eps the better!
 
I don't see a problem with referencing Musk. That episode showed that the plant was financially crippled by him and I think it's nice to see some continuity. Both references to the episode were to explain the plant being in trouble.

At the end of the 4th act, there should've been an outer space collision between Elon Musk and the Virgin space shuttle thing. Roll Credits.
 
What was the previous refrence to the musk episode? People have mentioned there being one in last weeks episode but I never caught it, and I ain't watching it again.
 
What was the previous refrence to the musk episode? People have mentioned there being one in last weeks episode but I never caught it, and I ain't watching it again.

when homer was dicking around moe mentioned musk had left the plant in a PISS state while he was trying to keep homer on task
 
Like I said in the chatbox, this episode kept jumping between different plots and didn't seem to know what it wanted to do. Because of that, the material was so bare and uninteresting. There were some good gags, like "Stupid Branson..." and I dunno, something else that made me chuckle. Stange episode though.

I think the continuity that Musk left somewhat of an impact on the plant is good and a step in the right direction for the show to exercise continuity without being distracting. I mean it's not a funny gag or anything but it's not bad.

While the stock shot of the power plant didn't use the crow, I noticed they used the same whirring ambience in the cafeteria that they used to use in season 3.

This episode wasn't good though which is why I'm talking about basically nothing.
 
Not too bad. There sure have been a lot of "meh" episodes this season about which I don't have much to say. I was glad Homer didn't have an enormous role and it was more Moe-centered, which made it feel a little more fresh. I sort of wish something came out of Moe wanting to get revenge on the guy who scammed him instead of it just being dropped. I really hated the Smithers dream scenes when I watched the trailers, but they weren't as bad as I had thought because the context was decent. His last daydream was pretty cringeworthy, though. It's a 3/5 episode in all, like so many others in season 26.
 
QUESTION: I saw Jon Lovitz' name in the credits. Did I miss something? Who did he voice?

He voiced the paparazzo who took the picture of Moe and the Princess, I think they brought back his character from Homerazzi. I agree with your review, they need to focus on someone other than Burns or Moe when it comes to secondary characters. Is the Bachelor still even on TV? C+
 
Some of the little jokes had me laughing (and/or cooing) the hardest tonight. The man randomly removing kittens from a large pipe. The matching mommy/daddy and daughter dressed in radiation suits. Burns enjoying his monkey brains.

Even the couch gag was short, simple, and gave me a nice laugh. "Mmmmmm, paper jam."

A step down from last week; had it not been so disorganized, it might have been alright. I like any time The Simpsons aims to introduce a new culture to its audience, and perhaps through this episode there will be people who, like Moe, learn that Nigeria is a beautiful country with a lot to offer the world. Those art transitions during the montage were great, and I loved the reading list at the end of the episode.

Edit: Glad to see the dedication to Leonard Nimoy. They picked a great still to use.
 
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Oh god, I'm in a minority here. I loved this.

First and foremost, I think it's really weird how they've referenced recent in-universe events in episodes that are coming out. Not a complaint, necessarily, I just think it's strange. I hated the Musk episode, but the reference kinda worked. Also, this is a Burns-heavy season! But I like Mr. Burns.

-Homer procuring Lisa's lunch was incredibly sweet. Really liked that.

-Smithers' fantasy scenes were really quirky and cute. Loved 'em.

-"tongues of the court" = LOLs for me.

-"Had a friend who really wanted to go to Africa"-- is this really a jihad joke?

-Moe's conception of what happened to him as it relates to Homer's current task is so weird and funny, even though they didn't really wrap up the story.

-Chief Wiggum's bit was awesome, as was Karl's.

-"You were really vehement" = classic Lenny

-Homer's impression of the Princess recalls "Hello, Mister Burns? This is your mother...!"

-Moe's poem was sweet.

-Laughed hard at Burns' goats!

-Great use of the tire fire

-Homer's speech was lovely, and nice interaction between Lisa and Smithers

-Weirdest ending ever. For everyone.

Overall, I really loved this. It was weird and fun, I wasn't bored for a minute, Moe was used and not terribly abused(!), and the one-shot characters were really cool.

My only complaint was that they didn't really wrap up Moe's initial concern? Oh well. It really isn't bothering me. I think I'm okay with looking at this episode as a bunch of neat things that I liked; I don't necessarily need a ton of focus to enjoy an episode with fun characterization and good jokes.

I haven't felt this good while watching the Simpsons in a little while. So, 5/5 for me.
 
There isn't a lot to write about here. It's a fairly low-key episode; the highlights that come to mind are the nice couch gag and the excellent characterization of Moe. His character can be grating sometimes, but he didn't go full-on creep with this princess. He actually kept his suspicions about that bank scam to himself when it could have become a silly revenge plot or something. I was quite pleased with the interplay between Burns and Smithers, too.
 
Oh the best joke was the 'carl refusing to pretend to be an african princess psyche-out'. That's the only thing I laughed out loud to.
 
ACT ONE:

The couch gag was funny.

Is it just me or does Burns's voice sound off?

They're referencing Elon Musk AGAIN?

Oh hey, Burns forgot who Homer was! When was the last time that happened?

And Moe isn't sad and pathetic. That's another plus.

ACT TWO:

Smithers actually bought Homer impersonating an African princess? Since when was Smithers an idiot?

Ugh... WAY too many Smithers gay jokes these past two acts.

The montage joke was kinda funny.

ACT THREE:

Okay, Moe was a little sad, but not too much.

Umm... why the fuck were Marge, Lisa and Maggie at the nuclear plant? I supposed Lisa could be explained, but the daughter day was the day before.

And we close with the worst Gay Smithers joke of the entire series.


OVERALL:

Umm.... I actually couldn't muster up any feelings for this episode. It had good moments and bad moments, but as a whole, it's just kinda... I dunno.

Guess I'll give it a 3/5 (C-)


Smithers did not fall for Homers "princess" voice. You missed the joke there.
 
The sad thing about the Carl fakeout joke was that Family Guy actually did the same joke 15 years ago in the first Death episode.
 
I laughed out loud at Moe's "Good Night Moon"-style moment and the jab at Jezebel. It wasn't too bad of an episode, I guess. While I didn't necessarily think Smithers' many moments of fantasizing about Burns were all necessary, I don't really agree with the backlash the show gets for being less subtle about Smithers' homosexuality today. The joke about hiding his sexual orientation was done enough time in the classic era that if you don't realize he's gay by now, then you're not paying attention. No need to keep milking it for 20 more seasons.
 
3/5 - it wasn't much of a story, outside of the montage with Moe and the princess


Actually, a number of businesses have "Take Your Child to Work Day" now.

Somebody must have had a lot of faith that TABF04 would air before this episode.

Homer calls Lisa's eyes "baby blacks", but eyes have colors; for example, Marge's are hazel.

Actually, Homer knows a lot about babysitting kids; remember HoJu?

Homer's by-mail ballot has his name on it, which defeats the purpose of a "secret ballot."

Moe has bottles of "Sparking Champagne" - as opposed to the rarer non-sparkling kind, I suppose?

There was no crow call in the establishing shot of SNPP right after the scene where the princess decides to spend the night at Moe's.

They never did pay off that Nigerian Scam gag.


Written by Brian Kelley
Directed by Timothy Bailey
Couch: Everybody on the couch is on a computer printout; when the paper jams, Homer replies, "Mmmm, paper jam"
Special Guest Voice: Richard Branson, Yaya Dacosta, Jon Lovitz, Kevin Michael Richardson
Also Starring: Pamela Hayden, Tress MacNeille, Chris Edgerly
Overseas Animation: Akom
TV Rating: TV-PG-DLV
 
Meh, there were a few funny moments here and there (Moe's' Goodnight Moon gag, Richard Branson acting like Flanders), but besides them, it was just a really boring episode all the way through. Nothing really terrible I guess (though Smithers fantasies got really old, and nonsensical things like Marge and Lisa being at Burns office at the end were just unneeded), just basically the same stuff as usual.

Overall: 6.2/10, or a low 3/5 for the poll.
 
Meh, this is another one of those episodes that's just kinda "there." It's nothing great, but it's nothing too bad either. But I'll write up something anyway.

The biggest praise I have for this episode is how surprisingly well everything came together despite lots of different things happening at once. It's nice to have an episode with once central theme (the Nigerians) that everything builds upon, which in turn makes the switches between plots feel really natural. This also has the added benefit of making the plots interwoven, which was also done surprisingly well tonight (e.g. the tabloid picture affects Burns's deal, which gets Homer in trouble).

Going through the episode: We start with a normal slice-of-life scene in the Simpson house, which is always welcome: it's "bring your daughter to work" day. Homer rapid-paced food switch from a corn chip to an elaborate meal was pretty well-animated, and we had a somewhat sweet moment between Homer and Lisa (made all the better by how understated and simple it is). It's a nice way to get into the main theme of the Nigerians. Burns dealing with the king was clearly just done for laughs, but I can't say I found it all that funny (the "goats" bit lost comedic potential quickly as it dragged on). Ditto with Smithers's sexual desires, which were presented so obviously that it was just kind of stupid to watch. "I'm sorry for hiding that I've been gay all these years" - really, Al & Co.?

Around now, we're introduced to the princess, who Homer's supposed to take care of. Three plots is really too much (Moe's love, Homer taking care of princess, Burns's deal), especially counting the Homer/Lisa scenes at the beginning, so it's nice that the Homer/princess screentime was kept to a minimum in favor of developing Moe and the princess's relationship. (Forgot the princess's name so you'll have to bear with me here.) Moe trying to get at the princess for the scam was passed over relatively quickly too, but it's a nice plot point to keep things connected and believable in that it gives Moe a reason to have any interest in the princess in the first place.

As for Moe and the princess's day together - did no one realize the references to Roman Holiday? That's one of maybe 50 films I've ever seen in my life and I still saw it. The princess wants to spend a day seeing Springfield, her father doesn't want her to, Moe and the princess ride around town on a scooter (or in this case, whatever that bike thing was), and princess leaves forever after one day. From a parody standpoint, it's a fairly nice subplot that makes use of Moe's character (i.e. not making the love scenes overly saccharine), but from an emotional standpoint it lacks any real punch. The princess character isn't developed enough past being a parody of her Roman Holiday counterpart to hold any emotional ground, and her love for Moe isn't really justified enough for it to be believable (isn't Moe usually extremely repulsive?). The only scene I can really say held any emotional weight was Moe's recital of "Good Night Moon."

The third act is pretty solid plot-wise but rather disappointing emotion-wise. You'd think Moe and his love parting forever would hold some more emotional weight than talking about each other in the third person at a press conference. However, I did kind of like the way their exchanging memorabilia worked out at the end, so I guess for emotion in the HD era this was a win. Plot-wise, it's nice how all the plots resolved together through a common conflict and climax: the princess kissing Moe is revealed, which leads to the king breaking off the deal, which leads to a disgruntled Burns/Smithers, which leads to Homer in trouble. Everything is (somehow) resolved in Burns's office. It's evident how the emotion didn't really work in Homer's attempt to explain things to the king, where the king was only convinced by a joke reply rather than anything sincere. The king hugging the princess might have made for a good resolution to a plot about the princess trying to be independent from her father, but for pacing reasons I can see why that wouldn't work (unless they took out the Burns stuff - I'd be cool with that). Burns securing the deal might secure the end of Musk references for us, which would be nice. (On the other hand, I'd be interested to see how long they can keep referencing that episode.) The three-year flashforward for Moe was kind of pointless, as was the Richard Branson guest spot - but at least neither lasted too long, and the latter was sort of amusing.

Jokes were pretty average tonight, but there were two I really liked - the incredibly cheesy music playing while Moe was being scammed, and the screw-the-audience joke where Carl insists that he won't be a princess, only for the reveal that he isn't, backed up by a classic naive Lenny line ("really vehement!"). EDIT: "A place that's fun with a capital F" cutting to the F grade for Moe's bar made me laugh on a rewatch.

Overall, an all-around forgettable episode, but a decent effort from Al & Co. nevertheless. 7/10, 3/5 for the poll

But more importantly, who was Jon Lovitz??
 
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Meh, that was mediocre and quite reminiscent of Married to the Blob in how an attractive foreign woman is interested in a repulsive man while their father gets in the way. I have to admit though that Kemi was probably one of the better one-time characters they've had in quite a while. Although Nigeria is not a monarchy so I'm not sure why it suddenly has a king and a princess. It was also disappointing that Moe being swindled by the email scam amounted to absolutely nothing. The relationship between Moe and Kemi was predictably underdeveloped and I'm not sure why it happened at all, but there was nothing awful there. Smithers' fantasies were okay; it is nice to see him as Burns-sexual again, even though it's just a subset of his homosexuality which has dominated his recent appearances. But I guess all gay people are is gay and they have no other characteristics, so I can't complain about that. Anyway, there was nothing too bad there, and the rest of the episode was pretty free of cringeworthy stuff. It was also probably one of the funnier episodes of recent. Solid by HD standards. 3/10

The biggest praise I have for this episode is how surprisingly well everything came together despite lots of different things happening at once. It's nice to have an episode with once central theme (the Nigerians) that everything builds upon, which in turn makes the switches between plots feel really natural. This also has the added benefit of making the plots interwoven, which was also done surprisingly well tonight (e.g. the tabloid picture affects Burns's deal, which gets Homer in trouble).
Agreed, the plot was unfocused and a lot of things were underdeveloped, but I didn't find it that overly distracting because most of the events revolved around the princess and various plot elements tied together. The plot wasn't terrible by HD standards.
 
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Here I was expecting the worst from this episode, but what I got what an episode that's actually decent. The relationship between Moe and the Nigerian princess was surprisingly done very well which is surprising as I thought it was going to be like Krusty/Princess Penelope where the romance was not believable at all. The plot was done pretty well despite it feeling somewhat similar to The Two Nahasapeemapetilons and it was executed much better than I thought it would. As for jokes the funniest parts of this episode was Mr. Burns eating monkey brain, (Which is funnier than it sounds, trust me.) Moe struggling to scrape the gum off of one of the barflies, that fake-out joke with Carl and the lunchroom trading bit. Also an honorable mention to Homer pretending to be the princess on the phone which I thought was funny mainly because he sounded like Towelie. There were a few jokes that fell flat, but most of the good jokes in this episode outweigh the few that didn't work. The biggest problem I had with this episode was the whole Smithers thing. It wasn't too big of a problem at first, but it just bugged me that they kept hammering in this one joke that was basically "Hahahaha, Smithers is gay for Mr. Burns." They've done this joke before in the past and it seems like they're just hammering in this rusty nail by telling us that Smithers is gay like we already didn't know. I mean I guess most of the Smithers jokes in this episode were average (Excluding Mr. Burns throwing coconuts at Smithers which had me laughing.) and not terrible, but it just bugged me that they were hammering it in. Overall this is a decent, but forgettable episode which is what most of Brian Kelley's episodes tend to be, but I'd rather have that then an episode that gave me nothing and it is better than My Fare Lady. 7/10
 
But more importantly, who was Jon Lovitz??

In this episode, Jon Lovitz reprised his role of the paparazzo he played in S18's Homerazzi. Enrico Irritazio was hired by Wolfcastle and co. to take embarrassing pictures of Homer out of retaliation. In The Princess Guide, he takes the snapshot of Moe and the princess together, ending the scene with something like "Thank you for making this so easy." It's not the first time Jon Lovitz came in to reprise a character for just a line or two; he also came back to voice Llewellyn Sinclair in S25's Yolo.
 
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