Well, the "want a new baby" story's a staple of TV (and has even been visited somewhat, in 8F10 anyway), but this felt new and interesting enough. I liked it. And Homer was actually competent. The final resolution was pretty good, especially as I was already considering the horror factor of all of Homer's offspring floating around. As for Lisa: I recognized the pangrams for what they were right away but did not anticipate their purpose (learning cursive); I just figured it was some kind of smart club, a la AABF18, and they were an entrance requirement or discussion topic (like the palindromes). Of course, that would have been a little repetitive, but it's a moot point now. Anyway, pretty decent stuff.
DYN: ...Ullman-era Simpsons buried under the house? ...Bart imagines Lisa as Angelica Button?
Previous episode stuff KABF16: Opening very close in spirit (and some execution) to 2008's election one 9F10: Moe mentions the monorail episode (which the car/sinkhole thing already reminded me of) 8F23, 2F10: Homer-shaped sperm Movie, 2F16/20: Sinkhole reminiscent of these, but I can't help but feel like there's another obvious one I should be remembering 3F23: Cursive writing is confusing/not taught at SES, plus special note of capital Q 5F18: Themed love motels reminiscent of this ep (but with a different goal) 9F03: Following the trend of various (mostly animated, many CGI, but not all) movies being rereleased in 3D, The Itchy & Scratchy Movie too (I guess Bart finally gets to see it canonically - it only took 20 years), with the usual snark at paying customers
Meta-reference stuff -Ullman-era Simpsons fossilized underground (also the "between the floorboards" type gag we used to see a lot) -Marge questions Homer on why he pauses 3 seconds before replying to her -Bart tells Lisa that after school (Tues/Thurs) he "write[s] stupid stuff on the chalkboard"; he also files away an idea we probably won't see (because it doesn't really work as a gag: "a gentleman doesn't ask, a lady doesn't tell"), and notes that he needs a special one for MLK Day (following the slightly more recent trend of airdate-relevant gags) -Milhouse notes "this just became a treehouse of horrors" (not that there's an S in episode names, but a lot of fans seem to think there is)
Other stuff
I'm happy to note that credits are back to normal (including the PABF04 repeat), with a fun flourish (har) tonight too... seems PABF17 was just a fluke.
The opening (election bit) was a little unusual (as was the split- second title card flash before act 1) - I wonder if it will stay. The other election bits have stayed, all the way to syndication; on the other hand, it's almost exactly as long as a normal long opening, so...
Whether Don cares or not, the PABF04 repeat in Cleveland was joined in progress because of the Seahawks game. The two-minute-long opening ran 7:13-15, then at 7:19 it was joined as Homer was about to say "zero sheets to the wind".