O Brother, Where Bart Thou?/References

Trivia

 * Showrunner Al Jean chose Peyton Manning as a guest star for this episode after seeing his performance on a season 32 episode of Saturday Night Live. Coincidentally, Peyton's brother, Eli, cameoed in that episode, and later, guest hosted for the 2011-2012 season.

Cultural References

 * The title of the episode is a reference to the name of a fictional book in the 1922 film Sullivan's Travels, Oh Brother, Where Art Thou?, which is also the title of a season two Simpsons episode, and a popular 2002 film.
 * The title of this episode is also the title of a season two Gossip Girl episode.
 * Bart's vision of what life would be like in years to come if he had another sister is a spoof of Sex and the City, and Kim Cattrall (one of the stars of the series) even plays the imagined third sister.
 * Bart dreams of famous brothers, including the Marx brothers (Chico, Harpo and Groucho), the Blues brothers (Jake and Elwood) from the film The Blues Brothers (even though the actors who play Jake and Elwood -- Dan Aykroyd and John Belushi -- aren't brothers in real life, they were close friends, with Aykroyd being devastated the day he heard that Belushi died of a drug overdose), the Mario Bros. (Mario and Luigi), the Smith brothers (William and Andrew), the Terwilliger brothers (Robert (aka &quot;Bob&quot;) and Cecil), the Wright brothers (Wilbur and Orville), the Manning brothers (Peyton, Eli and Cooper), and the Smothers brothers (Tom and Dick).
 * Strangely, Homer and his half-brother Herb (who was only featured twice in the series) don't make it into Bart's dream, even though Bob and Cecil, the latter of which was also featured twice in the series, do.
 * The Smith Brothers coughing then taking cough drops is a reference to the fact that the brothers were famous purveyors of cough drops, and, well over a century later, their product is still one of the most popular brands.
 * Wilbur Wright saying "I want a turn! I want a turn!" while following the plane, which is being piloted by Orville, is a reference to the fact that Orville piloted the first flight of the Wright Flyer, with Wilbur following on foot.
 * Peyton and Eli Manning's teasing of Cooper is a reference to the fact that Cooper never got drafted by an NFL team, while Peyton and Eli went on to become Super Bowl-winning quarterbacks with the Indianapolis Colts and the New York Giants respectively.
 * The song that plays at the start of Bart's "Bro-Town" dream sequence is "Everybody Get Together" by The Dave Clark Five.
 * The scene where Bart, Milhouse, Nelson, and Ralph are standing at the bus stop is a parody of South Park, with Bart dressed as Stan, Milhouse as Kyle, Nelson as Eric, and Ralph as Kenny. When Otto hits Ralph with the school bus, he says "Oh my God, I killed Kenny!", which is a recurring line in the series.
 * Bart takes Charlie to a movie called Sever V, which is a spoof of Saw V.

References to other episodes

 * Bart replaces Marge's birth control pills with Tic Tacs, as he does with Mrs. Krabappel in the episode "Itchy & Scratchy: The Movie".
 * Barney's role as the Plow King is reprised from the episode "Mr. Plow".
 * A Simpson last conducted electricity in "Treehouse of Horror VII".

Goofs

 * After the scene of the horses fighting, the shot of the house clearly shows the upper part of the window snowless, but in the shot of the window it has snow on it.
 * The word "NED" on Homer' cup disappears and reappers while he talks to Lisa.
 * There was a lantern on Lisa' bed, but when she tells Bart to change the clothes the lantern is gone.