How the Test Was Won/References

General

References/Trivia

Appearances

Gags

Credits

Quotes

	Season 20 Episode References
← 430 "Take My Life, Please"	431 "How the Test Was Won"	"No Loan Again, Naturally" 432 →

Cultural references

• The episode title is a pun on the film and TV series How the West Was Won.
• The couch gag parodies the sets of various sitcoms: The Honeymooners, The Dick Van Dyke Show, The Brady Bunch and Cheers.
• When Bart, Nelson, Jimbo, Kearney, Dolph, and Ralph go to the "helicopter", "Gonna Fly Now", the theme song from Rocky, plays.
• Homer's premonition of the massive accident in his house is similar to the premonitions seen in the Final Destination franchise.
• At the end, when Principal Skinner says dancing is allowed again, everyone starts dancing to the song "Footloose" from the 1984 film Footloose.
• When Ralph plays with the rat, he thinks that the rat is Elmo from Sesame Street.

Trivia

• When Bart skateboards over Barney during the opening sequence, Barney says "Hey!" instead of belching.

Continuity

• According to Homer the entire series of scenes showing him getting hurt took place over a week. This is odd, considering that one of the flashbacks was from "Treehouse of Horror XIII". This could, however, be a sign that Homer is not good at keeping track of time—or reality, since the THOH flashback is non-canon. Most of the flashbacks are clips from previous episodes:

"Homer at the Bat" "Bart's Friend Falls in Love" "Homer's Triple Bypass" "Marge in Chains" "Deep Space Homer" "Bart Gets an Elephant" "Homer Badman" "King-Size Homer" "Two Bad Neighbors" "Homerpalooza" "A Milhouse Divided" "The Homer They Fall" "Homer to the Max" "Faith Off" "The Computer Wore Menace Shoes" "Tennis the Menace" "Bye, Bye, Nerdie" "Simpson Safari" "Weekend at Burnsie's" "I Am Furious (Yellow)" "Helter Shelter" "Pray Anything" "Dude, Where's My Ranch?" "Brake My Wife, Please" "Marge vs. Singles, Seniors, Childless Couples and Teens and Gays" "Blame It on Lisa" "Lost Our Lisa" "Lard of the Dance" "Trilogy of Error" "Million-Dollar Abie" "He Loves to Fly and He D'ohs" "Dumbbell Indemnity" "Treehouse of Horror XIII"

Goofs

• People were already staring at Lisa before she screamed.
• In one scene, Lisa is shown sitting next to Milhouse, however in an earlier scene, she is shown sitting at the edge of the table.
• In Marge's meeting scene, when it is just seconds to 3 o'clock, Homer doesn't have anything around his hands. When he confronts Mr Burns, when he says "Oh, Mr Burns!", he has a watch. Then, he doesn't.

← Season 19 Season 20 References Season 21 →

Sex, Pies and Idiot Scrapes • Lost Verizon • Double, Double, Boy in Trouble • Treehouse of Horror XIX • Dangerous Curves • Homer and Lisa Exchange Cross Words • MyPods and Boomsticks • The Burns and the Bees • Lisa the Drama Queen • Take My Life, Please • How the Test Was Won • No Loan Again, Naturally • Gone Maggie Gone • In the Name of the Grandfather • Wedding for Disaster • Eeny Teeny Maya, Moe • The Good, the Sad, and the Drugly • Father Knows Worst • Waverly Hills 9-0-2-1-D'oh • Four Great Women and a Manicure • Coming to Homerica