Moms I'd Like to Forget/References

Cultural references

 * The episode title is a reference to the slang term.
 * During the couch gag, the couch reads a newspaper with the headline "OTTOMAN EMPIRE COLLAPSES", a pun on "Ottoman" referring to its being both a and a.
 * The 4th grade students sings "There Goes the Fifth Grade" to the tune of "".
 * : When Bart challenges the fifth grade to a rumble, Milhouse says it'll be just like "that movie where the Jets fought the Sharks."
 * The fight in the teachers' lounge parodies the typical "saloon fight" scene, a staple of many old Western movies.
 * In Bart's dream, he parodies, taking the asteroid dodgeball and throwing it back at the alien spacecraft.
 * When Bart asks Comic Book Guy to tell him the story of the scar on his hand:
 * At first he refuses, saying, "The answer is no! And I can say it in or ", referring to languages from Avatar and Star Trek.
 * However, he soon relents, beginning the story by saying, "Your scar, like 's last good movie, was ."
 * He sets the stage by saying "It was seven years ago, a time when 'twilight' meant the end of the day, and not the most barftastic horror franchise of all time", referring to the  series.
 * When CBG gets to the point in the story where Bart and the three 5th graders (as toddlers) spoil the fireworks display, he says, "You and your diaper-wearing droogs ruined everything!", comparing the four boys to Alex and his gang from A Clockwork Orange.
 * When Chief Wiggum drops baby Ralph on his head at the picnic seven years ago, he becomes unable to put his bottle in his mouth, visualizing the joke about dumb people having been dropped on their heads as babies.

Trivia

 * When Bart talks to the bullies, the car they are sitting on has the tag number NABF03, which is this episode's production code.
 * In Sky1 broadcasts of this episode, the scene where Bart blows up the bunch of fireworks is cut; however, in some airings, the cut is not present.
 * In some reruns, the scene where the other three Cool Moms start a make-out session after Marge leaves is omitted.

Continuity

 * Some events at the Fourth of July picnic seven years ago explain the way things are in the present:
 * As a baby Ralph Wiggum was dropped on his head by his dad, and almost immediately afterward seemed less smart.
 * Ned Flanders used to have a handlebar moustache, but the ends were burnt off when Bart and the other boys set off all the fireworks at once.

Goofs

 * Homer looks at his clock on his bedside table, but in later shots his clock has disappeared.
 * When Groundskeeper Willie is about to take a bath in the dumpster and opens his robe, his stomach is flabby rather than muscular as it is in other episodes where Willie is seen shirtless.
 * During the dodgeball match at the start, before the 5th grader takes Lewis and Nelson out, they are both on the side cheering instead of on the field.
 * When Homer is skyping with Moe, the timer with the amount of time chatted stays at 0:22 and doesn't change.
 * In the scene where Marge is reading a book in the living room, in the picture of Abe, his eyes are yellow.

Other airdates

 * This episode premiered in the UK on Sky1 on February 25, 2011.