New Kids on the Blecch/References

Cultural references

 * The title is a pun on "" and "blecch", a word of disgust often used in MAD Magazine, which is featured in the episode.
 * The showed off in Great Moments in Olympic History are the 1936 Berlin Summer Olympics, the 1968 Mexico City Summer Olympics and the 1984 Los Angeles Summer Olympics.
 * Marge says that Homer gets exhausted watching The Twilight Zone marathon. Marge then calls herself a "regular Billy Crystal".
 * Comic Book Guy dresses up as The Flash for the Springfield Marathon.
 * While going over his checklist for the Party Posse, Lt. Smash has three things listed. The third thing says "Boogaloo... Electric". This is a reference to the 1984 film , which featured the electric boogaloo dancing style, or the band of the same name that made it famous in 1977.
 * "No Strings Attached" by plays whenever they enter the scene.
 * The video for "Drop Da Bomb" is apparently directed by.
 * In "Drop Da Bomb", one of the lines is "Your love is more deadly than Saddam".
 * Homer says that "Yvan eht nioj" doesn't mean anything, like "Rama Lama Ding Dong", a reference to the song by, or "" by.
 * The scene of a video-clip in which boys are raising a tetherball pole is a parody of the famous war photograph  by.
 * An issue of  magazine is seen, featuring the Party Posse.
 * In Mad Magazine headquarters, one man says "Why don't we call it Everybody Hates Raymond?". This refers to the sitcom .
 * Nelson said that was just starting to turn MAD magazine around.
 * 'N Sync does a "Matrix", where they all jump into the air and freeze for a second. This is a reference to .
 * In the scene after L.T. Smash blows up the MAD building, one of the writers is seen wearing a shirt with a smiley face on it, with a red stain over one of its eyes. This is a reference to Alan Moore's .
 * Lance Bass says that the US Navy are protecting us from Godzilla.

Trivia

 * Contrary to popular belief, 'N Sync did not provide the voices for Party Posse. Two members of another Lou Pearlman boy band,, provided some of the voices -- for Nelson and  for Milhouse.
 * This episode aired seven months before . During the scene in New York, the World Trade Center is briefly visible.
 * In the episode "The City of New York vs. Homer Simpson", Bart visits the office of and Alfred E. Neuman leans out of an office door and demands a progress report on an article named "New Kids on the Blecch", the title of this episode.
 * Both episodes involve New York City, MAD magazine, and the phrase "New Kids on the Blecch".
 * The way 'Yvan eht nioj' is pronounced in this episode would, if played backwards, actually sound like "in te nævi" and not like "Join the Navy". The characters pronounce the words the way they are spelled backwards, rather than by pronouncing the actual phonetic sounds backwards.
 * When the singers sing "Yvan eht nioj", they hold the last syllable, "oj". When played backwards, they hold the last syllable of "Join the Navy", "vy".
 * Except (obviously) for her brother Bart, all of the Party Posse members have at one time or another been romantically linked to Lisa.

Goofs

 * A few seconds after L.T. Smash flips the switch on the aircraft carrier from "DE-COMMISSION" to "COMMISSION", the switch is again visible, but instead reads "MUSEUM" instead of "DE-COMMISSION" and "SHIP" instead of "COMMISSION".
 * The Yendor doll in Lisa's room appears to have shoes, however they have toes as if Yendor were barefoot.

Continuity

 * As opposed to the episode "Bart vs. Australia", this time the Australian flag shown is accurate.
 * The subliminal tagline "Yvon eht nioj" is later seen in the episode "Yellow Subterfuge".
 * A similar plot line happened in the comic story Faking the Band. Three major differences are that Homer is making the Boy Band, Rod Flanders and are part of the band (Milhouse is not), and they are called 5 From Field.