A Star is Burns/References

Cultural References

 * The episode title is a pun on the 1976 Barbra Streisand film A Star Is Born.
 * At the beginning of Mr. Burns' first appearance in this episode, the Imperial March from Star Wars is played.
 * Burns says he wants Señor Spielbergo to do for him what Steven Spielberg did for Oskar Schindler, a reference to the 1993 film Schindler's List.
 * The desert sequence in Mr. Burns' film is a parody of Ben-Hur, although the line, "You truly are the King of Kings," may be a recasting of a similar line delivered by John Wayne in the movie King of Kings, where in a cameo as a centurion, he says, "Truly, this man was the Son of God."
 * Barney's film is (unfortunately) entitled Pukahontas, a pun on the 1995 Disney animated movie Pocahontas.
 * When Jay Sherman first comes into the Simpsons' house, Bart is watching a Flintstones-Jetsons crossover cartoon special (A parody of The Jetsons Meet the Flintstones). He criticizes the crossover special despite the episode being a crossover special itself.

Trivia

 * Matt Groening was reportedly against the idea of a crossover, and demanded his name be removed from the episode.
 * This episode aired in March 1995 to coincide with the premiere of The Critic on FOX. The Critic would be cancelled two months later in May 1995.
 * Jon Lovitz speaks in the DVD commentary for the episode. He also talks about his one similarity with Jay Sherman: His testicular size.
 * A deleted scene shows the residents of Springfield Retirement Castle making a risqué movie titled What the Pool Boy Saw to enter in the Springfield Film Festival.
 * Lisa appears in Barney's film, a Girl's Scout member.

Goofs

 * In Bart Gets Hit by a Car, Barney and Homer were the same age.