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"The Itchy & Scratchy & Poochie Show"
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Cultural references
- The episode is a commentary on "jumping the shark" — doing outlandish things to a show, like adding a new character, in order to boost ratings and save the show from cancellation.
- June Bellamy, voiced by Simpsons regular Tress MacNeille, is a reference to veteran voice actress June Foray.
- The scene where Homer hides in a closet and hears that Poochie will be killed-off is a reference to Jay Leno supposedly hiding in a closet and hearing that he would replace Johnny Carson on The Tonight Show.
- Roy is largely based on Fonzie from Happy Days, calling Homer and Marge Mr. and Mrs. S, similar to how Fonzie refers to Mr. and Mrs. Cunningham.
- Krusty's preamble before the new cartoon introducing Poochie explained how it was going to be the biggest televised event since man walked on the Moon in 1969 and again in 1971. NASA has had six successful Moon landing missions (Apollo 11, 12, 14, 15, 16 and 17) with the last mission in 1972. Apollo 14 and 15 were both in 1971. The first picture behind Krusty is Buzz Aldrin, second man to walk on the Moon, taken in 1969 by Neil Armstrong. In the episode the photograph has an American flag while the real photograph does not. The next photograph is based on a real one from Apollo 14 of Jim Irwin except the animation had him holding a golf club while in the real photograph he is scooping up soil. It was Alan Shepard on Apollo 15 who used a 6-iron golf club to hit a golf ball on the Moon.
- Roy's announcement that he will move in with "two sexy ladies" is a reference to the sitcom Three's Company.
- The affidavit that Krusty shows the audience (declaring that Poochie will never return) resembles a Torah scroll.
Trivia
- Many of the Itchy and Scratchy staff members are caricatures of the actual Simpsons staff.
- The episode features the first appearance of Comic Book Guy's catchphrase "Worst. Episode. Ever".
- June, the voice of Itchy and Scratchy, claims she did the voice of the Road Runner. Instead of doing "Meep-meep", she did one "meep" and the studio then doubled it, so that they wouldn't have to pay her for the second "meep".
- This episode features the first appearance of Lindsey Naegle.
- The animation cel seen when Poochie rises up to his home planet has the code 4F12, which is the real-life production code for this episode.
Itchy & Scratchy cartoons
Several Itchy & Scratchy cartoons are shown during the episode:
Continuity
Goofs
- On the Krusty cereal box towards the beginning of the episode, Krusty is missing the hair on the top of his head.
- On the Krusty cereal box the side Lisa is looking at Krusty is missing one of the side pieces of his hair.
- For a frame in the final Itchy & Scratchy cartoon of the episode, Scratchy's skeleton is missing its spine.
- In Krusty's office the poster with Mr. Teeny his fur is pink instead of the usual brown.
