During the Dr. Zaius song, an ape is seen breakdancing. Ironcially, break dancing would debut at the Summer Olympics in August 2024, three months after Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes was released.
This episode marks the only time Fat Tony is voiced by someone other than his original voice actor. Normally, Joe Mantegna voices Fat Tony. However, for this episode, Phil Hartman (who already spent most of the episode as Troy McClure) voiced Fat Tony in the short scene where he explains to Louie that, when he said that Troy McClure "sleeps with the fishes", he didn't mean it as "The Mafia drowned him". According to the DVD commentary, the producers chose not to bring Mantegna in due to the part being so small that they believed he wouldn't want to do it. After the episode aired, Mantegna informed them that he would always make time to voice Fat Tony, and has been voicing him ever since, even when only grunts are required and even when the original Fat Tony died and was replaced by Fit Tony, who became the new Fat Tony due to weight gain.
Written by freelance writer Jack Barth. Quoting from a brief mention of the episode in an article on UPROXX where he was interviewed about the movie "Yesterday": "[Barth] got greenlit after only “128 failed attempts.” (Barth clarifies that the bit about Planet of the Apes musical was, sadly, not his idea)."[1]
Interviewed by Vulture, Josh Weinstein said, "The musical wasn’t even in the first draft!" and "I believe [supervising producer] Steve Tompkins had the original concept of Planet of the Apes as a musical." and Bill Oakley added, "It was probably something like a movie or a TV show in the first draft."[2]
Previous Episode References[]
Some of the celebrities shown on the Pimento Grove wall are:
Bette Midler (who appeared on "Krusty Gets Kanceled"),
Adam West (who was on "Mr. Plow" and would later be on "Large Marge" and The Simpsons' main rival show, Family Guy),
Barry White (who appeared on "Whacking Day" and had a brief speaking role on "Krusty Gets Kanceled"),
Conan O'Brien (who was one of the writers of the show on seasons four and five and appeared as himself on "Bat Gets Famous" and, later, "Bart's Birthday"),
Birch Barlow (the Rush Limbaugh-esque conservative radio show host from "Sideshow Bob Roberts" and was later seen on "We're on the Road to D'oh-where" as one of the people buying The Simpsons' expired prescription drugs),
Tito Puente (who appeared on the "Who Shot Mr. Burns" two-parter),
Brad Goodman (the self-help guru who urged the town to be like Bart on "Bart's Inner Child"),
David Crosby (who appeared on "Marge in Chains" and looks similar to the caricatures of Simpsons writer, John Swartzwelder),
Dennis Franz (who appeared as the actor who played Homer on the FOX TV movie Homer S.: Portrait of an Ass-Grabber on "Homer Badman")
Dr. Joyce Brothers (who appeared on "Last Exit to Springfield" when the crew decided against bringing on O.J. Simpson), Ringo Starr (who appeared on "Brush with Greatness"),
John Travolta (who didn't voice himself on the show, but appeared as a bartender on "Itchy & Scratchy Land" and, later, a pilot on "Beyond Blunderdome"),
Though not explicitly stated in the film, the Planet of the Apes character being portrayed by Troy McClure is George Taylor. The character was played by Charlton Heston in the original 1968 film.
Selma's clothes when she's married to Troy McClure are modelled on the clothes of Marilyn Monroe.
Troy McClure is based on the real Chemosphere in the Hollywood Hills.
When learning of one possible acting gig being a Paramount-made buddy comedy involving Hugh Grant and Rob Lowe, McClure (ironically and hypocritically given his own ruined career) yells "Those sick freaks!?". This was a reference to several sex scandals that the two actors were involved in at the time of the episode. In particular:
Rob Lowe had been caught recording a sex tape with two minors.
Hugh Grant was caught getting oral sex from a prostitute known as Divine Brown on Sunset Boulevard.
Goofs[]
Grandpa's beard overlapping the paper
Selma's ear without a hole
At the DMV, Abraham Simpson's beard is drawn over the paper he is holding for a few frames.
When Selma was smoking in the Restaurant's parking lot, she was sitting on the hood of a brown car. When the camera zooms in, she is on a blue car.
Right before Troy seduces Selma, Selma's ear hole disappears.