Father Knows Worst/References
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Cultural references
- The title of this episode is a play on the title of the 1950s sitcom Father Knows Best.
A "Commie Swatter" with the Hammer and sickle communist symbol, a "49th state" lunchbox of Alaska and a Milwaukee Braves pennant are the 50-year-old prizes at the carnival
- The 50-year-old prizes at the impossible basketball carnival game included:
- A communist flyswatter "Commie Swatter", with the Hammer and sickle inside a prohibited symbol.
- A lunchbox with a picture saying "Alaska, 49th and final state". Alaska was admitted as the 49th state on January 3, 1959 while Hawaii was admitted on August 21 later that year.
- A Milwaukee Braves pennant. The Braves franchise played as the Milwaukee Braves from 1953 to 1966, when they moved to the now Atlanta Braves.
- The Hungarian Dance No. 5 by Johannes Brahms is played by one of the street performers in her violin.
- A bottle of Eviao water, a parody of Évian, is seen at the Simpsons' sauna.
- When Marge imagines Homer bringing his friends to the sauna, Moe does not bring a towel and is completely naked. He says they should all "go Scandinavian". Nudity in saunas is not uncommon in countries like Sweden and Finland.
- The phrase "Burn, Barty, Burn" is a reference to the chorus of the song "Disco Inferno" by The Trammps.
- After Homer finds out he can't eat tacos anymore, he asks Lisa what day of "mayo" (May in Spanish) it is, and Lisa answers "cinco" (five), something that worries Homer. The Cinco de Mayo is celebrated in the US and Mexico, with Mexican food like tacos being very common.
- Homer mentions president Lyndon B. Johnson (LBJ).
- When Homer realizes that Marge is not worrying about the kids and therefore he has to, he says "Help me, Mayonnaise", downs a quart of it, and flexes his biceps. This alludes to Popeye from the comic strip of the same name who utters a similar sentiment about spinach just before downing a can of the same, then seeing his muscle mass of his arms instantly increase.
- The monuments seen on posters at the school include the Eiffel Tower, Seattle's Space Needle and the Washington Monument.
- When Homer emulates an helicopter and hits a locker, he starts saying "black hawk down", a reference to the film Black Hawk Down.
Some models such as the Westminster Abbey, the TARDIS time machine from Doctor Who or The Red Baron hot rod, among others, are seen at Raphael's store
- The models seen at the store when Otto buys some of them in order to hide his addiction to airplane glue are:
- A Messerschmitt Me 262, the world's first operational jet-powered fighter aircraft.
- A 1967 Pontiac GTO.
- An Alfred E. Neuman with interchangeable arms.
- A Battleship Bismarck, the German ship.
- The Red Baron, a custom hot rod built in 1969 which later inspired a Hot Wheels car.
- The TARDIS time machine from Doctor Who.
- KITT from Knight Rider.
- A Westminster Abbey, the famous church in London.
- The girls at Lisa's party use Facebook.
- "Rule, Britannia!", the British patriotic song, is heard when Bart tries to build the Westminster Abbey model.
- Some locations of the Abbey mentioned are the Poets' Corner and the North Transept.
- During his dream, Homer tries to build a casket for Henry VII of England but he actually creates the image of Henry VI on the casket.
- English poet Geoffrey Chaucer, Queen of England Anne of Cleves and Irish poet Oscar Wilde appear in Homer's dream. Bart later cites a phrase by Wilde.
- When Seymour Skinner introduces Springfield Elementary's Next Top Model building contest, a mother in the audience tells her son Kenny that it was his show. This is a reference to America's Next Top Model, a fashion reality show which was developed by Ken Mok.
- The models the kids (or their parents) built include:
- The CCTV Building in Beijing by Milhouse.
- The Brazilian National Congress by Martin.
- The Angkor Wat temple by Üter.
- The Taj Mahal in India by Noah.
- The Westminster Abbey by Bart.
- At the end, Oscar Wilde appears as Disney's Tinker Bell while the "Dance of the Reed Flutes" from The Nutcracker is heard.
- The acapella group Canvas performed an acapella version of The Simpsons Theme during the episode's credits.
Trivia
- Moe lives in the back of Moe's in this episode.
- Homer throws a paper airplane to Bart with the name of the building to made for the Plywood sculpture assignment. After that Homer says "I did it! I helped my son! Helicopter Homer away!" and starts spinning like a helicopter. But in a few seconds he crashes into a wall and falls. After that he says "Black hawk down! Black hawk down!". In this phrase he compares himself to UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter
Notes
- In 2009, Dan Castellaneta won the Emmy for Outstanding Voice-Over Performance for playing Homer Simpson in this episode.
- The theme song at the end of the episode is sung instead of the usual tune.
Goofs
- When Homer decides to help Bart and Lisa he eats mayonnaise (in a Popeye fashion) and previously he had strong taste buds so it would hurt incredibly.
Continuity
- In the cafeteria, Janey is wearing the outfit see wore to the school dance in "Lard of the Dance".
- The popular girls would later be seen in "Waverly Hills 9-0-2-1-D'oh".
