Lisa's Rival/References

Cultural references

 * The scene where a federal agent confronts Milhouse at a dam is identical to a scene from the 1993 movie . The agent resembles ' character and uses his signature line "I don't care."
 * Marge is seen reading (and fantasizing about) a romance novel titled Love in the Time of Scurvy, which is a pun on  by Gabriel García Márquez.
 * Homer's "In America" speech while guarding his sugar pile comes from .
 * His line "Oh, what a world!" when the sugar melts was used by the in .
 * Ralph's diorama contest entry is just original Star Wars action figures: his collection includes, and.
 * Lisa's hiding of The Tell-Tale Heart diorama under the gym floorboards is a parody of Edgar Allan Poe's "".
 * The speech patterns of the beekeeper voiced by Hank Azaria are based on Adam West's portrayal of Batman.
 * Lisa's nightmare features her playing in a band with famous backup artists:, and.

Trivia

 * Marge says that Homer lost $40 by not going into work that day. Assuming Homer works an average 8-hour shift, that means Homer makes $5 an hour, or not much over, which was $4.25 an hour in the USA at the time the episode originally aired.
 * Bart reads Bad Boys Life magazine.
 * Allison has an autographed picture of Bleeding Gums Murphy in her room.
 * Principal Skinner's favorite Star Wars character is Chewbacca.

Continuity

 * Ralph also upstages Lisa and Allison in a contest, and in the same sort of bumbling fashion, in a Ralph's Room comic story.
 * Bart also used a fake spider in "Sibling Rivalry".