Wow, really a very basic plot here (the prince and the pauper, with elements of other swap stories like The Parent Trap and South Park's "Fat Camp"), and one that actually has no subplot - well, you could argue that Bart's and Simon's stories are kind of co-plots. To add to that, classic "bad" Bart returns for this installment. It wasn't half bad, and it wasn't a rehash either, so I'm happy about that. (In a way, this whole situation reminds me of something mentioned on a recent Family Guy commentary, that they often put Brian and Stewie into cheesy sitcom staples as a subplot and it works well.) A few annoying things, of course, like Homer's wacky rescue of Bart, the vacuum robots... still, having recently completed Phase I of the season 11 DVDs (watching the episodes themselves) and having half of the episodes fall flat, I'm pleased that the show is doing much better than them again.
DYN: ...the Wizard of Oz couch gag sends the family in reverse, to a B&W world? ...CBG is at Moe's, despite the reception he got in CABF08? ...older Bart lookalike is not only married to a Van Houten type, but he sounds like a young Kirk? ...Simon's horse is named Shadowfax? (Kind of a nerdy reference for that type) ...Milhouse has a family portrait on his wall, with a picture of Kirk taped over another guy (Pyro or Gyro perhaps)? ...Marge puts soapy dishes straight into the drainer? ...the producers used Arial on Lenny's slide show, but Helvetica on the ski slope sign? (I have been learning about how to tell them apart, and now I can't stop! It helps that both have capital Rs and Gs.)
Previous episode references CABF22: Boys will be boys HABF08: Lenny throws a party 3F18: McDonald's is mentioned/seen (Bart seems to know what it is, too) 1F16: Bart living in a mansion, Burns joins the plot a little later too GABF16: Bart already had a... sort of race car bed 3F07 (3F02): Marge's silly good night tuck-ins
Credits: ?? I don't know what's going on, but I think I like it. After a brief resurgence in allowing full credits (mostly for special), without even shuffling video to the side, around season 16, Fox started cutting everything off again, leading to a lot of partial special music-only credits. JABF10 saw full regular credits in all 3 airings, and KABF12 had full regular credits on its premiere. So far this season (3 episodes), there have been no special credits, but they've all been full-length and uninterrupted. I want to know why, but I'm mostly just kind of pleased.