Simpsons Writers Open Up About Abandoned Prince Episode On Twitter

In honouring the passing of music icon Prince this week, The Music published an article in remembrance of an unproduced episode of The Simpsons that would have featured The Purple One in a central role and served as a sequel to beloved season-three 'Michael Jackson episode' Stark Raving Dad.

Since then, as Mashable reports, two central creative staff members from the show — long-serving writer and showrunner Al Jean and former writer/showrunner Bill Oakley — have taken to Twitter to clarify several aspects regarding the episode's contentious history. (To be fair, the piece was written with only easter-egg DVD commentary and Q&A quotes to go off as verifiable accounts.)

At the time of the article's publication, the matter of who had written The Prince Episode's script was debatable; however, Jean has now advised that the recollection of Stark Raving Dad writer Mike Reiss — Jean's then-writing and executive producer partner — where he credits freelance writers (named by Jean as Ian Deitchman and Kristin Rusk) for the script, based on an idea by series co-developer Jim Brooks with rewrites by then-staff writer Conan O'Brien, is the historic truth.

.@TheSimpsons Mike Reiss version is correct... https://t.co/0uxsa7WVj1

— Al Jean (@AlJean) April 23, 2016

@TheSimpsons original draft by Ian Deitchman and Kristin Rusk based on idea by Jim Brooks uncredited rewrite by Conan

— Al Jean (@AlJean) April 23, 2016

Oakley, too, admits that Reiss' recollection is correct, at the same time amending an author error on our part that indicated he and writing partner Josh Weinstein were the series' showrunners at the time (they were indeed the executive producers by season five, when the episode would have aired, but Jean and Reiss were still running the show at the time The Prince Episode's draft was commissioned).

@andybugay @Joshstrangehill yes - I was wrong and Mike Reiss is right by the way and HE and Al were showrunners when 1st draft was written

— Bill Oakley (@thatbilloakley) April 22, 2016

Additionally, while earlier reports explained that the episode would have seen Stark Raving Dad's gentle-giant bricklayer, Leon Kompowsky, return, believing that he is Prince, Jean says that the late icon was only one of several identities with which Kompowsky would potentially grapple, with other possibilities being fellow musicians Bobby Goldsboro, Leo Sayer and Roberta Flack.

@TheSimpsons at points in the draft Kompowsky believed he was Bobby Goldsboro Roberta Flack and Leo Sayer

— Al Jean (@AlJean) April 23, 2016

Fans continued to press Jean for details about the episode, with the veteran staffer happily obliging - having "just re-read" the script, he noted that "there is funny stuff but my guess is prince didn't want to play second fiddle to MJ, which I get".

Most rewardingly of all, Jean posted to Twitter a pair of pages - unearthed by producers' assistant Jacqueline Atkins - from the actual script, post-O'Brien rewrites, giving us all behind-the-scenes look at what could have been. Check them out below.

.@TheSimpsons page from unproduced Prince script thank you Jacqueline Atkins for finding! pic.twitter.com/GvYaJKXxgD

— Al Jean (@AlJean) April 23, 2016

.@TheSimpsons possibly another objection Prince had to the script... pic.twitter.com/OgRxlZ5EKJ

— Al Jean (@AlJean) April 23, 2016

This leaves one potential matter of contention - the authorship of the 'alternative script' championed by Prince as a viable option in response to The Simpsons' script (which Prince didn't like) that ultimately led to the plan's undoing — right?

Well, perhaps not — following our article's publication, we received a comment from a Stan Bradbury, in Michigan, claiming to be the writer behind the alternative script. Background checks online show that there is indeed a(n award-winning) screenwriter by this name (and also, this seems like a weird thing to lie about under your own public profile) so at the very least there's an undeniable degree of credibility to his recollection.

At any rate, with as much salt as you deem necessary, this is his (kind of accusatory) account:

Indeed, while there's no real way to verify Bradbury's version of events (and that's not to say that we don't believe him, necessarily), as one Twitter commenter pointed out to Jean, the Simpsons Wikia has long said that the alternative script was potentially written by Prince's house manager, which is another tick in Bradbury's column.

However, ultimately, not even Jean is sure on this one (though he does clarify it was fellow long-time staffer David Mirkin, not series creator Matt Groening, who suggested jokingly that it was written by Prince's chauffeur). Some mysteries just like to stay unsolved, we suppose.

@davidpom2000 @TheSimpsons Prince employee @DaveMirkin joked it was chauffeur. Maybe it was Prince himself there's 0 proof but I say yes!

— Al Jean (@AlJean) April 23, 2016