Take My Life, Please/References

Premiere

• The premiere of this episode was watched by 6.28 million people in America.

Cultural references

• The episode title is a pun on the classic Henny Youngman one-liner, "Take my wife, please." This is also done in Take My Wife, Sleaze and Brake My Wife, Please.
• The song playing during the prom scene is Colour My World by Chicago.

Trivia

• This is the first episode released in HDTV.
  • Also, the episode has a new opening scene. This was the first big change of the intro since Season 2.
  • The HDTV transition is referenced in this episode's chalkboard gag, "HDTV is worth every cent."
  • The idea of the change comes from Matt Groening's interview to the New York Post: "The clouds at the very beginning of the main title were always unsatisfying to me. My original direction to the animators was to make the clouds as realistic as possible, and as we go through the clouds we enter this cartoon universe of The Simpsons. Finally, after a couple of decades, they've gotten closer to what I had in my mind. Not perfect, but better."
• People pictured on the "Springfield Wall of Fame" are: Jebediah Springfield, Diamond Joe Quimby, Rainier Wolfcastle, C.M. Burns, The Springfield Strangler, Duffman, Krusty, Mr. Costington, Hank Scorpio, Howard K. Duff VIII, Troy McClure, Bumblebee Man, Bill and Marty, Artie Ziff, Sideshow Bob, Mr. Teeny, Capt. Lance Murdock, Itchy and Scratchy and Poochie, Kent Brockman, Dr. Hibbert, Professor Frink, Birch Barlow, Drederick Tatum, Bleeding Gums Murphy, Paul Yield, Chazz Busby, Gabbo, Lurleen Lumpkin, El Barto, Homer Simpson, Butthead, Principal Skinner, Fat Tony, Sideshow Raheem, Plopper, Lucius Sweet and Vance Connor.
• The food prices have gone down in the new HD intro.
  • The total is now $486.52 ($847.63 in the old intro).
  • Maggie is worth $243.26, exactly as much as the other items put together.
• This is also the series's 430th episode.
• During the new HD title sequence, the Simpsons family has an HDTV. But for the remainder of season 20, they still have the old TV set.
• This is the second episode where a Simpson loses a class president election. The first was Lisa's Substitute.
  • The credits still occupy the middle 4:3 area, presumably to allow a space for pan and scan presentations.
• The Gracie Films logo is stretched vertically in the 4:3 episodes, it is at about a 2.35:1 theatrical ratio, letterboxed, but now it fills the 16:9 frame.
  • The 20th Century Fox logo is the 16:9 version that basically includes the 4:3 one in the center.
• This is the third time where Colour My World is played in the series. The others were in Homer the Moe and The Wandering Juvie.

Goofs

• Even though Maude Flanders died 190 episodes earlier in Alone Again, Natura-Diddily, she can be seen next to Ned, Rod and Todd when an overview of the crowd is seen.
• Maude Flanders is seen crushing on Homer in high school, although a few episodes back teenager Homer and Marge were picked up by an adult Maude and Ned who were married.
• Homer dived into the sauce, however it was boiling hot and therefore he would have been severely burned.
• It is shown that Smithers was already working for Mr. Burns when Homer went to high school, meaning that he is older than Homer. However, in "The Blunder Years" it is shown that he was a baby when Homer was 12 years old. On the other hand, in a flashback of "Bye Bye Nerdie", it was shown that both were studying together at the same time.
• During the school band scene in the intro, Jessica Lovejoy is not colored correctly. This was fixed in the following episode.