The promo image for the episode parodies the headline "Ford to City: Drop Dead", a headline from a 1975 edition of the New York Daily News covering President Gerald Ford's refusal to bail out a near-bankrupt New York City.
The Squeaky-Voiced Teen jumps off Geezer Rock, depressed due to the cancellation of Futurama, a show that was created by Simpsons creator Matt Groening. It was also developed by him and David S. Cohen (known as David X. Cohen in the latter show).
It should be noted that the joke has since aged well and aged horribly simultaneously, as Futurama would later be shown in reruns on Cartoon Network's Adult Swim line-up and have four made-for-DVD films released before Comedy Central offered Groening the chance to make new episodes of the show in 2008. However, Futurama would be canceled again in 2013, but not before the crossover episode "Simpsorama" would air as a Simpsons episode. In 2023, Futurama would once again be revived with a 20-episode run on the streaming service Hulu.
This is the second episode of the series to have the hit song from the Spice Girls, Wannabe to be played, the first was from "Maximum Homerdrive".
The band Blood, Sweat, and Tears plays one of its songs (Spinning Wheel, 1968) during Geezer Rock's birthday, although Mayor Quimby made a comment that indicated that Sweat had died recently.
Continuity[]
The "lovers' lane" where the teens are making out underneath Geezer Rock was previously seen when Homer says, "And I'll go skinny dipping in that lake where the sexy teens were killed 100 years ago tonight" in "I Know What You Diddily-Iddly-Did" segment of "Treehouse of Horror X".
Censorship[]
The following scenes were edited when the episode was rerun on both Channel 4 in the UK and FOX in America:
Squeaky-Voiced Teen jumping off the top of Geezer Rock over Futurama's cancellation (at the time) and landing in a car with two other teens making out was cut on Channel 4 airings.
Mr. Burns suckling on a mother mole's teat as a means of survival was cut on Channel 4 airings.
Groundskeeper Willie talking about the new tractors and saying "They're all shite!" was cut in Sky Showcase and Channel 4 airings. In America, the word "shite" was bleeped out/muted in reruns. It was also once accidentally shown uncut on Channel 4 in 2009, but has been shown edited since.
Trivia[]
This was the last Simpsons episode aired on the BBC. Two years later, Channel 4 would acquire the rights to air Simpsons episodes.
Goofs[]
When the astronaut is shown reading the Red Dress Press during a space walk, the shot is reversed, with Florida and Cuba shown on the west coast of North America.
In Skinner's flashback, he is captured in 1968. However, in "I Love Lisa", he is shown to be a free soldier in 1969 when he was on a military boat in Da Nang and saw his friend get shot to death while sending his girlfriend a Valentine's Day card. Considering how the episodeThe Principal and the Pauper(and, to a lesser extent, the flashback fromSkinner's Sense of Snowwhere Skinner saw his friend get eaten by an elephant) threw Principal Skinner's Vietnam War days for a loop, it's best not to take this goof seriously. Also, he could have been captured in 1968 and escaped before or during the early part of 1969.
After Burns sticks his tongue to eat the cockroach, only its body falls off while he eats the legs, but when he ate a caterpillar and another cockroach, he ate their whole bodies entirely.
Mr. Burns is shown to be physically weaker than an ant in this episode.
It is unknown how the shrew was brought to Mr. Burns' mansion.
During the scene where Ralph starts to run in circles, he looks a lot bigger than normal.
Production Notes[]
October 3, 2003
The final draft of this episode is dated October 3, 2003.[1]
