...tonight's double feature was billed as a single hour-long episode on many (if not all) TV programming guides? ...Ned sends Rod and Todd to bed at 5:45 PM? ...Bart now has a computer in his bedroom? ...the SexySlumberParty.com web-video loads instantly? ...the accented co-ed's book is labeled "BOOK"? ...Flanders is already waiting at his door as Marge and Homer arrive to tell him about the webcam? ...Ned says "P-A," not "Pennsylvania"? ...Homer is trying to watch _golf_ of all things when Lisa is blocking the TV? ...the note to Flanders on Homer's cookies has "Stupid" crossed out? ...Homer calls Clay "neighborino"? ...the Flanders family arrives in Humbleton without any of their belongings? ...the Humbleton boy pulling a pickle from the pickle barrel? ...the Humbleton baby in the carriage also waves at Flanders? ...no one minds Ned's "hippie lip" before he arrives to work at the factory?
- Bart's room doesn't face the Flanders' house - The "Made In Humbleton, PA" stamp disappears from the bottom of the Humble Figurine - The fence between the Simpson's and Coach Clay's house is shorter than usual when Coach Clay is cutting down trees - Where did those trees on Coach Clay's front lawn come from? - How did Homer know where Flanders had moved?
8F23, 8F24, 9F03, 9F08, DABF14, FABF15, GABF06: Characters chanting "U.S.A.! U.S.A.!" 1F14, FABF02: Ned helping the poor 3F01: Maggie stays with Flanders 4F11, AABF15, AABF22, BABF07: Bart explores his sexuality EABF19, GABF05: Wal-Mart spoof shown 2F16: An alcoholic feels important/has an inflated sense of self-esteem without drinking FABF02: Flanders rents out his house GABF02: Bully uses the license stolen from someone near them GABF07: Ask Jeeves mentioned 7F13: Bart watches sexual material EABF05, EABF10: Webcams featured DABF14: Moe buying porn CABF22: Homer promotes peeing in a bottle 5F06: The Flanders move CABF05: Bart fights with dogs in the backyard BABF10: Animals putting their feces in a bag 4F08: Marge's "They've jumped on the one franchise I might possibly have considered thinking about becoming interested in" is similar to Ned's "I couldn't dream about thinking about considering..." GABF10: Homer hits someone with a chair 1F14: Homer grows to appreciate Flanders, and then is irritated with him by the end of the episode
+ NPR (National Public Radio) - Lisa listens to Nationwide Public Radio, which is just as informative and sometimes as boring as NPR
+ "Ebert and Roeper" (TV show, TV critics) - Homer said he felt like "Roger Ebert or his kiss-ass new partner," Richard Roeper, who replaced Gene Siskel as Ebert's film rating critic after Siskel unexpectedly died of brain cancer in 1999.
+ Discovery Channel's "Shark Week" (TV channel's themed week of programs) + The "Scream" series (movies) - Homer tries to get the TV to baby-sit Maggie with both of these programs; first with a frightening shark and then with a ghoul-masked killer wielding a knife (the villain of the "Scream" movies)
+ Wal-Mart (controversial all-in-one big business low-price retail chain) - Left-Mart encroaches on Ned's small business
+ Snoopy ("Peanuts" comic character) + Snoop Dogg (rapper) - The accented co-ed comments that Ned rhymes "like Snoopy Dogg"
+ Jimmy Fallon (ex-SNL star, comedian) - Homer wouldn't believe Bart if he said he was laughing at him
+ Kama Sutra (ancient Indian text on sexual technique) - Apu says, "Dot-Kama-Sutra"
+ "Fight For Your Right (To Party)" (song) - Coach Clay blasts this song by the Beastie Boys
+ "The Seven Year Itch" (movie) - Flanders imitates the iconic scene from this movie wherein Marilyn Monroe stands over a vent, her dress blowing in the air
+ "Heil Führer" (German for "Hail to the Absolute Leader") - "Hair Führer" is a play on words of the Hitler salute in Nazi Germany
This episode took a funny and novel idea and ran with it: what if Homer became Flanders and Flanders became Homer? It was fun to see this role reversal as Homer plays the submissive role to alpha-male Coach Clay (surely comeuppance for Homer's years of taking advantage of Ned). And we finally see a place were people are lamer than the Flanders family and Ned becomes something of a rebel. The end was a little rushed, but I did like seeing Homer appreciating Flanders as a neighbor. And I loved Bart's pot-shot at grad students. The webcam bit was fun while it lasted, and the overall tone of the episode was not classic, but not completely forgettable. Grade: B
Lisa moans that the producers added subtitles to "Kosovo Autumn" to make it commercial. Her standards are pretty high for the artistic integrity of the movie (I know that was the joke); usually, when there is a scene with a group of foreigners speaking to each other, the producers often choose to have these characters - who one would *expect* to be speaking in their native tongue - speak heavily-accented English to each other so that Joe-six-tooth won't have to read in the movie theater.
In one fell swoop, Ned's statement "My moustache has the right to life. It's my body and my choice!" combines both anti- ("right to life") and pro- ("my body and my choice") abortion stances.