I Don't Wanna Know Why the Caged Bird Sings/References

Episode	References	Gags	Appearances	Gallery	Quotes	Credits

◄ Midnight Towboy

I Don't Wanna Know Why the Caged Bird Sings

Treehouse of Horror XVIII ►

Cultural references

• The episode title is a pun on Maya Angelou's 1969 autobiography I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings.
• The bank robbery is a parody of the movie "Dog Day Afternoon."
• When Dwight crawls through the prison sewage pipe, he sees a "Pure Mountain Spring Water" pipe next to it, and screams "Dammit!", this is a parody of "Shawshank Redemption", where the main character in that film gains freedom from prison by crawling through a dirty sewage and waste pipe.
• The song that featured during the sequence where Marge is being stalked by Dwight Diddlehopper is "Who Can It Be Now?" by Men at Work.
• When Marge and Dwight are at the amusement park, you can see the ride "Dilbert's Flying Cubicle" in the background, a reference to Scott Adams's popular comic Dilbert. The Dilbert animated series theme "The Dilbert Zone" can be heard in the background for a large portion of the scene. "Dilbert's Flying Cubicle" first appeared on a t-shirt in "Please Homer, Don't Hammer 'Em". Danny Elfman composed theme songs to both The Simpsons and Dilbert.
• The ads in the school newspaper are the same text and font used by Coffee News, a small newsletter.
• In the part where Bart and Lisa are watching Itchy and Scratchy, Scratchy appears to be wearing a Star Wars rebel pilot helmet when he is piloting the jet.
• Agnes Skinner says Johnny Stabbo and Dwight are like "Johnny and Clyde", a take on Bonnie and Clyde.
• Chief Wiggum watches "The Negotiator" on a portable DVD player to learn how to deal with a hostage situation during the bank robbery.
• The Itchy & Scratchy episode "The Un-Natural" parodies the baseball steroids scandal, and the title references the book and movie "The Natural".

Trivia

• Johnny Stabbo's prison number is the same as the production code for this episode, JABF19.
• The names on Marge's list of women Homer can marry if she dies are Lindsey Naegle, Booberella, Blythe Danner, and "Also: feed cat"
• This is the third episode (second involving Marge) where a Simpson meets an aggressive prisoner who turns out to be in need of a family member. The previous two were Season 15's "The Wandering Juvie" and Season 12's "Pokey Mom" (the first to involve Marge).
• Dr. Hibbert thought Marge and Dwight had a spark between them.
• The song that plays while Dwight watches Marge is called "Who Can It Be Now?" by Men at Work.

Goofs

• When Homer enters Bart's room, he has no reflection on the mirror and stays in that spot. But in the next scene, he has a reflection even though he stays in the same spot.
• Bart disappears when Marge and Homer start to talk.
• When Homer starts to write his Superman novel, the notebook where he was writing appears out of nowhere.
• When Marge spins herself to see the hour, the bag can be seen behind her but if you see Marge's shoulder the cord is missing.
• Lindsey Naegle's Christian name is spelled as "Lindsay" on the list of women Homer can marry if Marge dies.
• When Dwight was talking to Marge, he was spotless even though he was covered in blue tint.
• The cable of the phone should have been able to extend in the way Marge does.
• The phone rings although Marge answers it.
• A guard should have noticed that Dwight escapes since there are guards for each prisoner.
  • Also, there should be flashlights and alarms but nothing is heard or seen.
• Dwight took the prison jumpsuit off, but when he was watching Marge through the Jumbo-Tron he has the prisoner outfit again.
• When the cops surround the bank, the police car brake lights color changes from red to white.