The Ziff Who Came to Dinner/References

General

References/Trivia

Appearances

Gags

Credits

Quotes

Cultural references

• The episode title is a pun on the film The Man Who Came to Dinner.
• The educational film Powers of Ten is parodied in the couch gag.
• The song sung by the rappers in Phineas Q. Butterfat's parodies the 1979 song "Rapper's Delight".
• Real-life film critic Michael Medved is listed as the author of What Would Jesus View?, the First Church of Springfield's movie guide.
  • The guide's title is a pun on the Evangelical catchphrase "What would Jesus do?"
• References in the film The Re-Deadening:
  • The movie is most likely a parody of Dolly Dearest, which is a horror movie about a possessed doll.
  • Village of the Damned, Child's Play, and The Others are also parodied in the plot.
  • The music of The Re-Deadening parodies the music played in Rosemary's Baby.
• The scene where Lisa videotapes herself and Bart searching the attic for the source of the noises is a reference to The Blair Witch Project.
• When Homer investigates the attic, he finds a copy of Newsweek from 1986 with a cover story titled "Why America Loves Saddam Hussein".
• Artie Ziff's company going bust and cheating its shareholders is reminiscent of Enron and its downfall.
• Charlie and the Chocolate Factory: Lisa tells Artie that Homer once started reading the book to the Simpson children, but became confused when he thought the chocolate factory was real; he has been searching for it ever since.
• When Homer is arrested by the SEC, he tells Moe to tell his family that he ran off to join the Blue Man Group.
• Music from the soundtrack of The Green Mile plays briefly when Artie enters the prison yard.

Now Playing at the Googolplex

In addition to The Re-Deadening, the movies being shown or advertised at Springfield Googolplex Theatres are as follows:

• "The Wild Dingleberries Movie," which is a parody of "The Wild Thornberries Movie."
• "3 Fast 3 Furious," which is a parody of "2 Fast 2 Furious."
• "The Fashion of the Christ," which is a parody of "The Passion of the Christ."
• "A Kiss Before Boring," which is a parody of "A Kiss Before Dying."
• "Ghost Frat," which is a parody of "Ghost Rat."
• "From Justin to Kelly 4," which is a fictional sequel to the 2000s flop film "From Justin to Kelly."
• "Eating Nemo," which is a parody of "Finding Nemo."
• "Teenage Sex Wager," which is a parody of the 1990s raunchy teen film, "American Pie."
• "My Big Fat Greek Salad," which is a parody of "My Big Fat Greek Wedding."
• "Freddy vs. Jason vs. The Board of Education," which parodies "Freddy vs. Jason" and the Supreme Court case Brown vs. the Board of Education.
• "Return to Ape Valley," which parodies "Return to the Planet of the Apes."
• "A Matrix Christmas" and "You're in the Matrix, Charlie Brown," which parodies "The Matrix."
• "The Unwatchable Hulk," which parodies "The Incredible Hulk."

Trivia

• When Homer takes Artie to Moe's Tavern, the patrons sitting at the bar who greet Artie are Professor Lombardo, Jay Sherman, Aristotle Amadopolis, and Llewellyn Sinclair -- all four of whom are voiced by Jon Lovitz, in addition to Artie himself.
• When Homer and the kids are attending The Re-Deadening, Homer rests his soda on Lisa's head exactly the same way that he rested his beer on Bart's head in "Lisa's First Word".
• Bart and Lisa also investigate strange noises in the attic in "The Thing and I," a segment of Treehouse of Horror VII.
• Interestingly, the movie guide What Would Jesus View? bans Teenage Sex Wager, but apparently has no problem with The Re-Deadening. A similar situation occurred in real life in 2008 when a movie theatre in Salt Lake City refused to show Zack and Miri Make a Porno but had no problem with showing Saw V.