Season

12

Production Code

CABF13

Episode Number

0

Airdate

01 April 2001

Writer

John Swartzwelder

Director

Mark Kirkland

Executive Producer

Mike Scully

Editor

Jimmy Heenan

Plot When Maggie eats a magazine, Marge makes Homer do the grocery shopping. Homer mistreats a bag boy at the grocery store, and all the bag boys of Springfield go on strike. Homer goes on a search for food when it runs out, and Santa's Little Helper finds a box of animal crackers which is more than 30 years old. Homer bites into a giraffe, but he doesn't know that it is made of solid gold, which indicates Homer has won a trip to Africa. The maker of the animal crackers (which actually does not even make food anymore) originally refuses to honor the prize, but when Homer is injured by the sharp corner of the box, they reconsider, to avoid a lawsuit.

When the family is in Africa, they experience tribal dance, but a hippo chases after the family, who escapes on a raft going down a raging river. The family is saved by a scientist (a spoof of Jane Goodall) who is using monkeys for research, but poachers come to take the monkeys, until it is revealed that the poachers are from Greenpeace and the researcher actually runs a chimp diamond mine. Worried that the Simpsons will report her to the authorities, she offers them her diamonds, which the Simpsons accept. The Simpsons leave Africa, and return to Springfield. On the plane, it is revealed that their former tour guide is now president of the country, with the former president now the Simpsons' flight attendant.