We're on the Road to D'ohwhere/References
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Cultural references
- We're on the Road to D'ohwhere is a take on the Talking Heads song "Road to Nowhere". It may also refer to the famous series of Bob Hope/Bing Crosby Road to... movies, which have been spoofed multiple times by Family Guy. This is at least the third time that the Talking Heads have been referenced by The Simpsons, not including "Dude, Where's My Ranch?"
- The song the band class plays is "Louie, Louie", which was also played in "Kill the Alligator and Run".
- The song Flanders sings is the chorus from the hit Andrew Lloyd Webber musical Joseph and the Technicolor Dreamcoat.
- Intellectual Homer, who has been killed by Serious Homer, has written on the floor in his own blood "Ontogeny recapitulates phylogeny". This is the famous statement of Ernst Haeckel's recapitulation theory about the similarity of the embryonic development of organisms to its evolutionary history. Ironically, it has been debunked as a scientific principle. Presumably, Intellectual Homer wrote this before it was debunked, a testament to how long he had been dead.
- The rings circling Fun Homer are a parody of the energy cage rings that encircled General Zod and his two minions at the beginning of Superman II.
- Birch Barlow (the show's parody of Rush Limbaugh) can be seen at Marge's "garage sale" buying drugs, a parody of Limbaugh's drug addiction.
- Otto references Elvis Presley.
Trivia
- When Homer refers to Oregon as "the birthplace of Matt Groening," he mispronounces the show creator's last name as "Gro-ning," a spoof on the common error. The Simpsons show creator's last name is correctly pronounced "Gray-ning".
- This episode disproves the common fan theory that Springfield is in Oregon because Homer must drive to Oregon from Springfield's location.
- Myra, Principal Skinner's secretary, makes her first appearance in this episode. Her voice sounds similar to the late Doris Grau who voiced Lunchlady Doris.
- Serious Homer is dressed in Homer's conductor uniform from "Marge vs. the Monorail".
- On the Simpsons' website, The Simpsons.com, it stated that this episode aired on the same date but originally in 2005. This has since been corrected.
- Homer says during a conversation with Bart: "I'm 38 years old, driving a crappy car, with a son who doesn't respect me, and I'm one Snickers pie away from losing my foot to diabetes." This unusually dark statement was arguably out of character for The Simpsons and Homer, who usually takes a happy-go-lucky approach to life and who shies away from serious discussion with his son. Also, Homer has usually been identified as 39 years old in recent episodes.
- Skinner's car is seen as a pre-owned Toyota Camry, which Skinner quotes that 1995 was a fine year for Camrys, even though his spent three years in a lake which he says while admiring it in the school parking lot. It's never seen again after the episode, according to the episode guide it says that the steam leak destroyed it with the school.
- In the German dub, this was the last episode in which Elisabeth Volkmann provided the voice of Marge Simpson. After Volkmann's sudden death in 2006, Anke Engelke took over. The German version of "We're on the Road to D'oh-where" is dedicated to Volkmann.
- Mona Simpson makes a cameo in a deleted scene.
Goofs
- In one scene, Wendell was sitting in his classroom. Two scenes later, he was practicing with the school band in another classroom.
Continuity
- Nero's Palace, Peacock and Cirque Du Buffet are seen in Las Vegas. ("Viva Ned Flanders")
Broadcasting Information
USA/Canada
- 1st Airdate: Sunday, January 29, 2006
- 2nd Airdate: Sunday, May 7, 2006
- 3rd Airdate: Sunday, August 6, 2006
UK
- 1st Airdate: Sunday, February 26, 2006
- 2nd Airdate: Friday, March 3, 2006 (Encore Screening)
- 3rd Airdate: Sunday, April 23, 2006
- 4th Airdate: Tuesday, June 27, 2006
- 5th Airdate: Tuesday, August 8, 2006
- 6th Airdate: Sunday, August 27, 2006
- 1st Airdate: Tuesday, June 20, 2006
