The Simpson family looking for the body is a reference to the film Stand By Me, which is based on Stephen King's novella The Body. Coincidentally, both ''The Body'' and ''Stand By Me'' were set in Groening's home state of Oregon, and not Maine like most of King's work, at a time when Groening was writing his weekly comic strip Life In Hell.
In this episode, it hints that Waylon Smithers, Jr. became gay after Mr. Burns give false information about how Mr. Smithers Sr. passed away. Burns says that he told Mr. Smithers, Jr. that his father was killed by women in the Amazon rain forest, and says that he hopes it didn't have any effect him. Then, Waylon uncontently and hesitantly states that "they may never know" if it did or not.
Homer recalls the time he attempted to jump the Springfield Gorge in "Bart the Daredevil" by showing a flashback but is interrupted by Lisa before he can finish.
It reveals that Smithers' first word as a baby was "Sir", which he usually calls Mr. Burns.
Homer's screaming has been reused in the near end of "Treehouse of Horror XV" as the Gracie Films and 20th Century Fox Television logos play.
This is the last episode (in broadcast order, not production order) under Mike Scully's tenure as showrunner, though he would be writer and executive producer of the season 14 episode, "How I Spent My Strummer Vacation".
Goofs[]
Marge's neck layered over her hand
When Marge is talking over the phone to "Chad Sexington" (Homer), her neck is incorrectly layered over her hand for a few frames. As such, her hand looks incomplete.
At the end of the episode, Homer is placing Smithers Sr.'s skull in a memories box on the coffee table. Moe arrives, and when he sits down, the memories box is gone. After a close-up of Moe's face, the table is gone.
In this episode, Waylon Smithers, Jr. was an infant and Homer Simpson is almost a teenager, yet in "Bye Bye Nerdie", Smithers was around Homer's age when Homer reminisced about his "bully problem" (as in "Homer bullied other kids -- namely, Smithers back when his hair was brown and he wore braces -- and it was a problem") in grade school. The body may have been there for a number of years by the time Homer found it. However, this contradicts Lenny's statement that the nuclear plant just opened.
When young Moe shoots Fat Tony, it was clear that he has acne. However, when Fat Tony and his gang run for their lives, Moe's acne is nowhere in sight.
When Homer first discovers the body of Smithers Sr., the body had glasses and hair but when its face is shown, the body has no glasses or hair.
When the film of Smithers Sr plays it shows him in brown pants, when homer finds he body the pants are blue.
Also when the find the skeleton the pants are nowhere to be seen, although they may have disintegrated over time.
When the flashback scene transitions to the quarry, Moe is narrating the scene. However young Moe can be seen talking, lip syncing the same words when older Moe quotes, "The next morning, we went out to the old quarry to have a swim."
During a deleted scene, a clapperboard is briefly visible.
The nuclear power plant already exists during Homer boyhood flashback, but in "The Way We Was" teenaged Homer's high school guidance counselor told him the nuclear power plant was going to be opening soon. It could have been shut down when Homer was a young boy, but reopened when Homer was a teenager. Considering that Smithers' father died and the plant most likely failed yet another inspection, it's not too unbelievable.
Call-Backs[]
When Homer explains how he almost made it across Springfield Gorge, Lisa informs him that everyone is tired at the memory, a reference to its repeated showings in other episodes before.
