Two Bad Neighbors/References
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Cultural references
- At the beginning of this episode, Bart and Homer interrupt Apu singing the Cheap Trick song "Dream Police" while washing his car.
- The relationship between Bart and Mr. Bush is portrayed in a style reminiscent of Dennis the Menace and Mr. Wilson; Barbara Bush acts just like Mrs. Wilson, even using her catchphrase "Oh, George...".
- Homer asks Bush to "apologize for the tax hike", a reference to Bush creating a 31% income tax as part of the 1990 Budget Reconciliation Act, despite his 1988 campaign promise of no new taxes.
- When Homer and Bart shoot bottle rockets at the Bush house, it parodies a scene similar to the "Desert Storm" operation of the 1991 Gulf War, which occurred when Bush was in office.
- Bush uses a trick he "learned in the CIA". Bush was director of the CIA from January 30, 1976 to January 20, 1977.
- Bart references blowback from the "wig offensive", a reference to Bush's role as CIA chief.
- Bush says that he'll ruin Homer "like a Japanese banquet", a reference to an incident that happened on January 8, 1992. During a state dinner, then-president Bush vomited on the lap of the Prime Minister of Japan, Kiichi Miyazawa.
- Homer tricks Bush into coming to the door so he can glue a rainbow wig to his head by placing cardboard cutouts of Bush's sons in front of the door leading Bush to believe they're real. The sons represented are former President George W. Bush and Florida Governor Jeb Bush.
- Bush is paid a visit by Mikhail Gorbachev. Homer calls him a "Commie friend" to Bush, referencing Gorbachev's role as the last leader of the Soviet Union before the fall of Communism, and the thaw in relations between the two countries during Bush's term in office. Ironically, Homer himself had befriended a "Commie friend" in the case of Adil Hoxha in The Crepes of Wrath.
- During the shot in which the shredded memoir is falling, a torn piece of paper briefly falls past the screen, with the only non-shredded words reading "V.P. Quayle" and "embarrassment".
- When Bart and Bush are looking through a photo album, Bart says that Bob Mosbacher is "a dumb name".
- When Homer calls Bush a "wimp", this is a reference to the Wimp Factor, a criticism of Bush during the 1988 Election claiming that Bush looked "too weak" to be a president.
- Homer and Ford simultaneously fall over the sidewalk incline when the show ends. This is a parody of Gerald Ford's perceived clumsiness and trick knee (most notably when he fell down the stairs of Air Force One several times) while in office.
- Barbara Bush says George and Homer got off on the wrong foot, claiming their relationship is "just like the Noriega thing - now he and George are the best of friends." This reference to the former Panamanian leader Manuel Noriega is actually the opposite of the real situation: as CIA director, Bush had arranged for annual payments to General Noriega, but years later Bush launched Operation Just Cause to depose him.
- His going into the sewer was a reference to the 1988 campaign and the dirty tactics involved as a result of advice from Bush's then-advisor Lee Atwater.
- Twice during the episode, Bart says 'Helllooooooo, Mr. Bush!' similar to how Yakko, Wakko and Dot (to a male nurse) say 'Hellllooooooo, Nurse!'.
Trivia
- This is actually the second appearance for Barbara Bush, although in the earlier cameo in "Mr. Lisa Goes to Washington", she was voiced by Maggie Roswell and showed off the Presidential bathroom.
- George Bush Sr. also appeared in the episodes "Mr. Lisa Goes to Washington" (while he was President), "Mr. Plow" when Homer met him in a daydream and Rosebud, not being allowed into Mr. Burns' birthday party because he was a "one-termer". This scene, however, was cut in syndication.
- Gerald Ford also made an appearance in the episode "Simpsoncalifragilisticexpiala(Annoyed Grunt)cious" as a guest on the Krusty the Clown show.
- This episode was inspired by the animosity towards the show by the Bushes from earlier in the series' run.
- When Gerald Ford moves in at the end of the episode, the license plates for his two cars are MRDUH and LUV2SKI. The latter celebrates the former President's passion for skiing since he owned a house in Vail, Colorado in real life.
- This episode sees the first appearance of Disco Stu.
- In the DVD commentary for this episode, the writers claim that they were not even vaguely aware that George Bush had a younger son also named George Bush (at that time he was Governor of Texas, later becoming the 43rd President of America in 2000), and Homer's reference to one of the cardboard cut-out sons as "George Bush Jr." was simply meant to be a joke about the stupidity of Homer and Bart's plan.
- Grampa saying he was spanked by Grover Cleveland on two non-consecutive occasions, is making a reference to Grover Cleveland serving two non-consecutive terms, the only president to have ever done that.
- Lisa mentions that a possible motive for the Bushes moving there is that Springfield is located in one of the nine states that Bush has claimed residency in. This would narrow down Springfield's location to either California, Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Texas, Virginia, or possibly Washington D.C..
- According to the DVD commentary, Wes Archer, the episodes' director, attempted to TP George H. W. Bush's house during his childhood.
- When Bart is questioning George the first time they meet, Bart asks "How many times were YOU president, George?" This may be a reference to his loss to Bill Clinton when running for a second term. Also, the destruction of his memoirs after a lot of hard work may be meant as a comical reason to explain why, in real life, he does not plan to write them.
- Homer is against spanking in this episode, yet in "Two Dozen and One Greyhounds", he says he has "a hankerin' for some spankerin'".
- The popular "Ayatollah Assa-hola" (Ayatollah Khomeni) shirt being sold is shown twice, with the second 'S' purposely being censored: Marge's finger covers it the first time, the camera angle and a fold in the shirt covers in the next.
- Lisa Simpson only has one line in this entire episode, similar to how Marge doesn't have any lines in "Krusty Gets Kancelled".
- A deleted scene shows Bart destroying a greenhouse that belongs to Lenny.
- Richard Nixon was originally going to be the one to move in at the end, but this was changed due to his death in 1994.
- This episode was scheduled to air in 1997 as the premiere to Season 7 on what was called The Box (now Sky 5) in New Zealand. However, the network accidentally mixed up the rotation of episode premieres/reruns from seasons 1-6, and therefore, the season didn't premiere until 1998. Season 8 started airing in November 1998, Season 9 started airing in March 1999, and Season 10 started airing in September 2000, which is why new seasons were held off by 1-2 years.
- A similar incident happened later in December 2009 when "Eternal Moonshine of the Simpson Mind" finally aired on Christmas Day of that month when it was supposed to air around or by late November-early December 2008.
Continuity
- Some of the items Marge sells at the yard sale include:
- Paintings of Ringo Starr. ("Brush with Greatness")
- The Olmec head. ("Blood Feud")
- "I didn't do it" t-shirts. ("Bart Gets Famous")
- The Be-Sharps album "Bigger than Jesus". ("Homer's Barbershop Quartet")
- The Mary Worth telephone. ("Lady Bouvier's Lover")
- Lisa Lionheart dolls. ("Lisa vs. Malibu Stacy")
- Simpson & Son, Revitalizing Tonic. ("Grampa vs. Sexual Inadequacy")
- The events of this episode are mentioned in several later episodes:
- In "The Cartridge Family" while reading Homer's background check Raphael points out that Homer once "beat up President Bush", Homer quickly corrects him by saying "former President".
- In "The Trouble with Trillions" Homer is trying to get dirt on his friends for the FBI, Moe mentions Barney beating up George Bush, Homer then reminds him that he was the one who beat up Bush.
- When trying to track down an attempted murderer, Homer mentions ex-President Bush could be one of the culprits. ("The Great Louse Detective")
- In "Regarding Margie" Homer shows Marge a photo album to rejog her memory and shows her a photo of his fight with Bush. He also shows her a photo of him fighting George W. Bush.
- In the couch gag of "Mathlete's Feat" Rick tells Morty The Simpsons did a episode when George W. Bush was their neighbor.
