A Star Is Born Again/References

References/Trivia

Cultural references

This episode is a parody of the 1999 film Notting Hill.
The episode title is a play on the 1937 film A Star is Born.
After Sara Sloane visits the Leftorium and makes a date with Ned, he sings a song with the lyrics "I've got a date with a girl with no name", parodying the song "A Horse with No Name" by America.
Sara's name is probably a pun on actress Sharon Stone, to whom she bears a slight resemblance.
When Helen Fielding runs around being chased by bobbies and a man in a gorilla suit (following the book club meeting and the end of the episode), it is an homage to the UK sketch comedy The Benny Hill Show. The music featured in the background of the sequences, "Yakety Sax", is the same music used in that series.
Ned says that Sara's movie is starting to get like "SpongeBob NoPants", a reference to the television show SpongeBob SquarePants.

Seen across the mall from Ned's Leftorium are the businesses 'I Can't Believe It's a Law Firm!', 'Expensive Coffee In Little Cups' and 'Something Wicker This Way Comes'.
Homer's lip sync from his response to Ned Flanders' "milk for free" saying is also off.
Lenny's lip sync is off after admitting he's selling Sara's autograph on eBay.

Originally, Sara's line after Ned starts a fight with the director was "Katherine Hepburn never showed her breasts". In an airing in on August 27, 2003 it was changed to Angela Lansbury because Katherine Hepburn died months after this episode was shown.
James L. Brooks is credited as Jim Brooks for his appearance.