Homer the Father/References
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Cultural references
- One of the comics shown in the newspaper during the couch gag is titled The Other Side, a parody of The Far Side.
- Tube Town, the TV channel which Homer frequently watches during the episode, is a parody of TV Land. Tube Town's classic programming lineup parodies real-life TV shows and movies as follows:
- When Homer watches I Lost Lucy and a crow flies away with Lucy's skull, Homer comments, "You still see that crow on shows sometimes", referencing the crow's occasional appearances in the title screen gag and in shots such as wide views of Springfield Nuclear Power Plant.
- Inside the Actor's Studio is very similar to James Lipton's real-life show, Inside the Actors Studio (spelled without an apostrophe), which airs on Bravo.
- The scene where Homer stands in front of a line of taxis and blocks them from leaving is a reference to the Tank Man, who blocked a column of tanks during the Tiananmen Square protests of 1989.
- Among the enemies of America, Apu names Mordor, referring to the region of Middle Earth controlled by Sauron in The Lord of the Rings.
- The junk mail for "Gutter Cleaning" has a picture of a roof with a large green glove with fingers folded, except for one which is extended into the downspout: a metaphor for a prostate exam.
Trivia
- James Lipton makes his second guest appearance.
- After watching Thicker than Waters, Homer raves about the various producers and especially praises the "Supervising Producer". A few minutes after that, during the hammock scene, Dan Castellaneta (who voices Homer) is credited as a Consulting Producer for the episode.
- Before Bart interrupts Lisa by appearing on a webcam pop-up, she is writing an essay about the chemical element Palladium. Lisa's essay is strikingly similar to the Wikipedia article about Palladium.
- When Homer tells Bart that the feeling of accomplishment from studying hard and getting an A is its own reward (instead of giving Bart the mini-bike he was expecting), Bart gets mad and runs out of the room. Homer then says, "If this were a TV show, that would be a hell of an act break." Shortly after that, in TV airings an act break does indeed occur as the show cuts to a commercial.
- The license plate on Bart's bike that he receives from the Chinese spies says "TR80R" which means "traitor".
Goofs
- When Marge starts kissing Homer in the kitchen, he tells her not to kiss him "in front of the refrigerator" and glances to his left. However, he looks in the wrong direction, as the fridge would've been to his right.
