Bart's blackboard line, "My homework was not stolen by a one-armed man", is a reference to The Fugitive and Kimble's saying that a one-armed man killed his wife.
At the bookstore, in order to cover up his and Marge's looking through the "Marital Relations" section, Homer accidentally grabs a photography book by Robert Mapplethorpe and screams when he gets a look at the contents (Mapplethorpe was famous for the homo-erotic nature of his work).
Also in the bookstore, the fictional (as in non-existent) Al Gore books Rational Thinking, Reasonable Future (which Lisa mentions) and Sane Planning, Sensible Tomorrow (which she buys) may be tongue-in-cheek references to Gore's real-life 1992 book, Earth in the Balance.
When Lisa buys Sane Planning, Sensible Tomorrow and Gore is notified as soon as the clerk scans it at the counter, the music in the background is very reminiscent of the X-Files theme.
The "X-Files-style" music also plays when Bart peers through his telescope at the adults (Revitalizing Tonic customers) arriving at their houses, hurrying inside, and closing the curtains.
The town Lake Flaccid, which Grampa mentions, is a reference to the real-life town of Lake Placid, New York.
Lisa references Occam's Razor, a real 14th century theory.
Milhouse's line "We're through the looking glass here, people" is from the Oliver Stone's movie JFK.
When Grampa is selling his tonic, he's mostly seen dressed as a quintessential Southern Colonel, an image most associated with Colonel Sanders, the founder of Kentucky Fried Chicken.
As Homer and Grampa are escaping from the hillbilly crowd after a bad sales pitch, Foggy Mountain Breakdown is being played as "that getaway music". The song is famous for being played during any vehicle pursuit that take place in rural settings in films and television, in particular Arthur Penn's 1967 biographical film, Bonnie and Clyde in which the music was playing during a car chase between the titular duo in a 1933 DeSoto Six and the police in a 1934 Dodge Sedan.
Trivia[]
Homer is shown shaving off his stubble, which grows back moments later. This gag was also done back in "Some Enchanted Evening", Season 1, where Homer has a clean shaven look for precisely seven seconds, then his stubble regrows.
Among the rooms at the "Aphrodite Inn Fantasy Rooms and Conference Center" are the following:
The Arabian Nights Room
The Pharaoh's Chamber (Homer notes that it has a vibrating sarcophagus.)
The Caveman Room (Mayor Quimby, dressed in an "appropriate" outfit, comes out to say that the toilet is overflowing.)
The Safari Room
The Camelot Room
The Utility Room (the hotel's actual utility room; Homer and Marge end up here because everything else is booked.)
This is the final utterance of Marvin Monroe ever on the show prior to his confirmed death later on in The Simpsons 138th Episode Spectacular, Season 7, as in this episode's case, only his voice was heard over a telephone. Although, he would briefly appear again in a later episode entitled Diatribe of a Mad Housewife, where he comes up to Marge at 1 point and she is astonished by his appearance, saying that she hasn't seen him for years, with Monroe's response being that "[he has] been very sick." Additionally, he would return 1 last time in Treehouse of Horror XXV in late-2014 or Season 26, which is not canon at all, where he would appear as a ghost in it's 7-minute long The Others segment in the Simpsons' restroom, and Marge gets confused by this and decides to question him if he is dead or alive, and he states that he is stuck in between the 2 statuses, as when he tries to float back out the house, he is ultimately stuck in the walls and can't move nor get back out.
The opening scene where Bart interrupted Marge and Homer's amorous moment was originally going to be more explicit, showing Marge and Homer's bodies in full as they're panicking. This version was later used for the "Hardcore Nudity" montage of "The Simpsons 138th Episode Spectacular".
Abe with a yellow beard under his glasses
Goofs[]
Wendell with yellow skin
When Homer leaves to 'do some serious thinking' he drives away from the house in the orange station wagon (Marge's car), but arrives at the farmhouse in the pink sedan.
When Abe initially advertises his tonic to the crowd, the part of Abe's beard behind his glasses repeatedly is colored yellow like his skin.
Barney's miscolored belly
When Homer and Marge are in the car, between scenes, the windscreen goes missing. It becomes noticeable when the rearview mirror appears and disappears, and Abe's head manages to pop out when he and Homer argue over the getaway music.
In this episode, both Homer and Grampa set fire to the Simpson farm, and it burns to the ground. The later episode "E-I-E-I-D'oh" creates a plot hole, as the Simpsons temporarily move to the Simpson farm, though it could have been rebuilt.
In one scene in Bart's treehouse, Wendell's skin is yellow, rather than its usual white color.
After Barney falls over, his belly turns the same color as his shirt.
Deleted scenes and concepts[]
Originally, the subplot of Grampa replacing Homer with Barney for his tonic business was supposed to be expanded upon, including showing how the partnership ended. Specifically, Grampa got fed up with Barney's notorious alcohol addiction and proceeded to dump Barney's beer stash down the toilet, with Barney deciding to settle with downing Grampa's entire tonic reserve instead and running out as Grampa chases after him. Grampa then runs into the manager and attempted to explain the situation, but ends up delivering the explanation in such a terribly-worded manner that he unwittingly implied he was a male prostitute who tried to seduce Barney yet the latter fled with his money, causing the hotel manager to draw two guns at him and demand he walk away and not stop until he reaches "Green-Witch Village" (presumably Greenwich Village).[1]
Similarly, there was going to be more scenes showing Homer's failed attempts at being a good father. One scene entailed Homer doing an activity wheel with his kids and it landing on a puppet show. Bart was tasked with doing a puppet show adaptation of Sleeping Beauty, only to end up botching the play. Another scene expanded specifically on Bart's girl bike situation where Nelson did his trademark laugh at Bart, only for Homer to demand that he apologize to Bart. Nelson tells Homer to give him privacy, which Homer naively obliged, prompting Nelson to wedgie Bart.[2]
Homer and Marge's waning sex life was originally supposed to get more focus, but it ultimately developed into an episode exploring Homer's relationship with Grampa. It would eventually be revisited in Natural Born Kissers.
Originally, the subplot relating to the kids was supposed to end with their learning from Ralph Wiggum what was actually going on, with Bart spinning it into another conspiracy theory. However, it was cut from the episode when it aired because the writers couldn't figure out how to justify someone like Ralph as having any knowledge about sex.
