The Changing of the Guardian

Danny DeVito as Herb Powell
Rashida Jones as Portia

"The Changing of the Guardian" is the eleventh episode of the 24th season of The Simpsons and the 519th episode overall. It originally aired on the Fox network in the United States on January 27, 2013. The title "The Changing of the Guardian" is a pun on the term the changing of the guard. The episode received negative reviews by critics.

A storm passes over Springfield, and the Simpson family tries to pass it by playing a board game. Suddenly, Lisa spots a tornado that has touched down and sucks up Santa's Little Helper. Homer and Marge leave the children behind to find Santa's Little Helper and are aided by Lenny and Carl. They come across the tornado which nearly sucks everyone up and then traps Homer and Marge inside the intact building of a bank. The police eventually get them out, but Marge is traumatized by the situation. Realizing that the kids do not have proper guardians, she and Homer decide to find someone to pick as the kids' guardian. They try Grandpa, Patty and Selma, Homer's half-brother Herb Powell (who, for reasons unknown, is now poor again), Kirk and Luann Van Houten, and Cletus and Brandine Spuckler, but Homer and Marge reconsider all of them, and eventually rumors spread through Springfield that they are looking for guardians for their children, to which no one else in Springfield wants to take the job.