By the time this episode aired, Billy Crystal had hosted The Oscars for three years in a row (1990–1993). He went on to host it in 1997, 1998, 2000, 2004, and 2012.
There is a picture of Abraham and Mona's wedding hung above Abe's bed in the retirement home.
The "Everyone Loves Ned Flanders" segment was added in order to fill in the time of the episode, as nothing else worked, not even putting in the chorus line/circus extravaganza couch gag (which, at the time, was the longest couch gag and was often used in case an episode ran short).
The book Lisa reads, "How To Get Rich Writing Cartoons", is written by John Swartzwelder. Coincidentally, John Swartzwelder has published some books after his long stint as a Simpsons writer, but the books he writes are comedic mysteries, not guide books on how to write for animation.
Artie Ziff was voiced by Dan Castellaneta in this episode instead of his regular voice actor, Jon Lovitz. Lovitz wouldn't voice Artie Ziff again until season 13's "Half-Decent Proposal", though "Another Simpsons Clip Show" from season 6 did have archive audio of Lovitz as Artie Ziff in the flashback of how Homer and Marge met in high school.
The Itchy & Scratchy writers are all caricatures of the Simpsons writers hired at the time. Notable appearances include: Jon Vitti as the Harvard graduate who got fired, Al Jean as the one who mentioned penning this thesis on life experience (then telling the Mike Reiss caricature that he's quitting writing cartoons so he can do a sitcom about a sassy robot), Rich Moore smoking a cigar in the break room, John Swartzwelder eating a doughnut in the break room, and George Meyer at one of the computers.
Bart and Lisa complain about the quality of an Itchy & Scratchy episode.
A member of The Simpson family (Marge/Grampa, Bart, and Lisa) is/are hired to change the show's quality.
The I&S writers are caricatures of The Simpsons writers.
The Itchy & Scratchy credits music is sung in the same style and uses the same background music as the theme for the non-violent retool of Itchy & Scratchy.
"Bart the General": Grampa types out a complaint letter on his typewriter.
"I Married Marge": The Simpsons get late bills in the mail, including a couple with threats ("We break thumbs"/"Some guys are coming").
"Brother From the Same Planet": Joke about Ren and Stimpy (Bart and Tom watch an episode where Ren thinks Stimpy's hairballs in stomach acid is meatball soup/Ren and Stimpy is nominated for an animation award, but, due to production delays, there's no clip available)
"Itchy & Scratchy: The Movie": reference to The Itchy & Scratchy Show's older cartoons that contained politically incorrect content (the WWII cartoon where Itchy & Scratchy beat up Hitler, then Itchy decapitates Scratchy and Franklin Delano Roosevelt kicks both Hitler's and Itchy's butts/Lisa mentions that there once was a series called Itchy & Sambo and it was just as bad as the episode "Dazed and Contused").
Cultural References[]
The title references The Front, the Woody Allen movie of the same name.
According to DVD commentary, the episode was inspired by the Tiny Toons Adventures episode "Buster and Babs Go Hawaiian", which was written by three eighth-grade girls who sent the script to TTA creator, Steven Spielberg. The script was so well-received, Spielberg invited them to California during the creation process of their episode.
The episode "Dazed and Contused" of Itchy and Scratchy is a jab to cartoons and live-action TV shows that do "very special episodes" about social issues (usually, the dangers of drug abuse), often sacrificing humor for moral messages.
Lisa's line about the "Itchy and Sambo" cartoons of the 1930s being tasteless is a reference to the classic cartoons from Disney, Warner Bros., Fleischer Studios, and MGM that are often banned and censored for having outdated racial and ethnic stereotypes, particularly of African-Americans (the "sambo"), though caricatures of Native Americans, East Asians (particularly the Japanese during World War II), Jews, Mexicans, Germans (specifically the Nazis and Adolf Hitler), and even unflattering stereotypes of homosexuals have also been subject to censorship.
Strongdar: Master of Akom, is a parody of He-Man and the 1980s He-Man and the Masters of the Universe cartoon and toyline and AKOM, the animation company that produces The Simpsons.
The Cartoon Awards Show not having a clip of Ren and Stimpy is a reference to the show's horrible production schedule in which some episodes weren't delivered on time, which led to John Kricfalusi getting fired from his own show.
Besides copying the Simpsons credits, the Itchy & Scratchy credits also parody the sequence seen at the end of the credits of many TV shows produced by the late Stephen J. Cannell, where Cannell sits at the typewriter in his office and throws a sheet of paper into the air, with it forming of part of his production company's logo. In the episode, Itchy and Scratchy are seen at a desk; Scratchy pulls a sheet from his typewriter and throws it into the air, where it forms an "I & S Productions" logo. In addition, Scratchy is wearing a white and gray-striped flannel shirt (similar to what Cannell wears in the 1985 version of the company's logo) and its logo sequence resembles the 1985 version of the company's logo.
Deleted Scenes[]
According to the deleted scenes reel on the season four DVD set, two scenes were edited for censorship:
Roger Meyers, Jr. writing a scathing letter back to Bart and Lisa about their submission and Lisa reading the letter and saying, "I know what this word means, but what's 'shinola'?"
The tour of Itchy and Scratchy Studios was originally supposed to have a scene where Roger Meyers shows the kids where they get inspiration for the brutal violence on the show: a bunch of writers stick fireworks in a cat's mouth and the cat explodes off-screen.
Production Notes[]
The final draft for this episode was published on September 3, 1992.[1]
Goofs[]
When the children are cheering in anticipation for "Screams from a Mall," the child towards the right of the screen with a light purple shirt repeatedly has his shirt disappear, meaning his collar and head float above nothing.
