The Simpsons 166-170

Simpsoncalifragilisticexpiala(Annoyed Grunt)cious

This episode premiered on February 7th 1997 (a rare Friday airing of the show) It was the lead show for the night and it was followed by King Of The Hill. It ran opposite Family Matters, Dave's World and Unsolved Mysteries.

The title of this episode comes from the song Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious from the Disney movie Mary Poppins. The movie is also the source of the plot material.

The chalkboard gag is "I will not hide the teacher's Prozac" and the couch gag is the living room but nobody runs inside, cut to the family stuck outside while Homer tries to get the door open.

The family is watching TV but they keep asking Marge to get them things, that's when they discover she is losing her hair. Dr. Hibbert diagnosis Marge as being under stress and she needs the help of a nanny. After Homer chases off all the other candidates (thinking they are a guy in disguise) the kids sing a song about the nanny they want. The new nanny shows up, Shary Bobbins (not the copyrighted character of a similar name and look). After fixing up the house Shary leaves but seconds after stepping out the door the whole place falls apart so she comes back. Despite her best efforts the Simpsons like their messed up life so she leaves. As Shary is flying off she's sucked into a jet turbine. A montage of the songs play over the closing credits. 

The family watches The Krusty Komedy Klassic (KKK) at the Apollo Theater in Harlem. (They did a simililar joke with the Krusty Kinda Kristmas! in the episode Marge Be Not Proud) Krusty has Dumb Pet Tricks which he stole from David Letterman's Stupid Pet Tricks. The dog thinks Krusty's nose is a ball and attacks him. He does a Mad About Shoe bit, Mad About You had run opposite The Simpsons for about a year, it's followed up by NYPD Shoe. Gerald Ford does a guest spot to talk about the Boy Scouts (he appeared in the episode Two Bad Neighbors.)

When they do a montage of Marge losing her hair they play Hair (from the musical of the same name) by the Cowsills.

To pay for the nanny Homer gives up the Civil War Recreation society (Homer recreated Civil War battles with monkeys in the episode Homer The Great)

Civil War Recreation Society, Lenny, Sam, Moe, Larry, Carl, Barney and Apu "The South shall come again!"

Nannys: Mrs. Pennyfeather and Mrs. Periwinkle (Homer thinks they are men in disguise like Mrs. Doubtfire), Kearney shows up and Homer wants to hire him. 

When the kids sing a song about the nanny they are looking for Homer imagines barnyard animals dancing to Turkey In The Straw. This is a take on Disney cartoons and their first sound cartoon, Steamboat Willie.

Mary Poppins songs that are spoofed, The Perfect Nanny, A Spoonful Of Sugar, Feed the Birds, A British Bank

Willie does a one man band version of Maniac from Flashdance complete with with the water dump. This is a spoof of Bert the chimney sweep from the Disney movie.

In the park a cockney kid is selling papers featuring the Whitechapple Murder (Jack the Ripper). Skinner is trying to sell Jimbo like a scene from the 1968 movie Oliver!

The Simpsons watch Before They Were Famous, the set is decorated with Portraits of Brook Shields, Bleeding Gums Murphy, Dennis Franz, Krusty, Elisabeth Taylor, Barry White. (All the real celebrities had done guest voices on the show) The show features Rainer Wolfcastle singing the Bratwurst song as a child. This is a take on the classic Oscar Mayer "my bologna has a first name" commercial. Charles Bronson appears on the Andy Griffith Show as a part time sheriff, he shot Otis the town drunk and is planning on shooting Emmitt the repair guy. 

The Itchy And Scratchy Show: Reservoir Cats with special director Quentin Tarantino (a take on the movie Reservoir Dogs) Itchy has Scratchy tied to a chair in the police torture scene from the movie (Stuck In The Middle by Stealers Wheel plays). Tarantino shows up to explain the cartoon and Itchy decapitates him and then the two dance around his head. (they do the dance moves from Pulp Fiction while Misirlou by Dick Dale plays) 

Barney and Shary sing Margaritaville by Jimmy Buffet.

When the family performs Do A Half Assed Job Bart sings "That's the American way." In the episode 'Round Springfield Homer says "Do a half assed job, it's the American way". 

This episode made a lot of jokes about the copyrighted material owned by Disney. In 2019, 22 years later, Disney would acquire Fox Entertainment and become the owner of The Simpsons.

This was the first fully musical episode of The Simpsons in which a variety of songs are part of the overall storyline instead of part of a play within the play or just one quick song.

The Itchy And Scratchy And Poochie Show

This episode premiered on February 9th 1997. The lead in show was RSVP: Funniest Party Disasters and it was followed by King Of The Hill. It ran opposite I Survived A Disaster (special), Touched By An Angel and The NBA All Star Game (East 132-West 120)

There is no chalkboard gag and the couch gag is a repeat of the Sgt. Peppers album cover.

The ratings for Itchy and Scratchy are down and Krusty demands that Roger Meyer jr do something. While waiting for Marge at the mall Bart and Lisa go off with a strange man, he's holding a focus group for Itchy And Scratchy. The kids are told to use knobs to indicate if they like or don't like something, they like most of what they see. When asked if they want to the show to reflect real problems they all agree, when asked if they want the show to be the opposite with robots and magic powers they all agree. Meyers gets mad and turns on the light on the other side of the two way mirror to yell at them, Ralph turns his knob to the "don't like" side. Lisa explains that the show has become stale so Meyers decides to add a new character and the obvious solution is a dog. Meyers tells the animators to think up a proactive name like "Poochie", so they name him Poochie. The animator draws a standard dog but the executives don't like it and want various changes, the animator draws a dog wearing a backwards baseball cap, sunglasses, flannel shirt with nunchucks. Homer tries out for Poochie but Meyers tells him he doesn't have attitude so he gets mad and tells Rogers off, and is hired. Homer meets June Bellamy who does the voices of Itchy and Scratchy and the Roadrunner's Beep. Homer invites everyone over for the premier but they hate the new character and take off quickly. Fans of Itchy And Scratchy also hate the new character from Comic Book Guy, who spreads his opinion on the internet, to Kent Brockman, who has been waiting years to declare the show dead (This is based on critics of The Simpsons). Homer overhears the executives planning on killing off Poochie so at the recording he stands up to the producers and gives a heart felt speech as Poochie, everyone likes it but they still get rid of the dog. A written note appears on the screen "Note: Poochie died on the way back to his home planet" Roy (the new character living with the family) comes into the living room to announce he's moving into an apartment with two sexy ladies. 

The Itchy And Scratchy Show: Why Do Fools Fall In Lava. Scratchy pays Itchy $5 for a Volcano Bungee Jump. Itchy cuts out his intestines and ties them to the platform and then pushes him off the side. Scratchy stops before he hits the bottom but Itchy fill up his guts with gas and he bursts into flames / (during the focus group) Itchy and Scratchy are playing pool, Itchy knocks out Scratchy's eyes, he replaces them with the 6 and 9 ball. (hidden dirty joke) A muscle bound guy comes on the screen, Nelson turns Milhouse's knob to show he likes it / Post Poochie Itchy And Scratchy, Itchy shoots an apple on Scratchy's head, he actually hits the apple but Scratchy is standing in front of a tank of carbolic acid and it spews out all over him leaving a screaming skeleton. 

The Itchy And Scratchy And Poochie Show. The Beagle Has Landed. (Based on Neil Armstrong's message to NASA after landing on the Moon, "the Eagle has landed) Itchy and Scratchy are on their way to the fireworks factory when they run into Poochie. Poochie raps, plays the guitar, skateboards, dunks and then steals the car. They never get to the fireworks factory.

A note on Krusty The Clown's door: Cleaning Crew: The Liquor Is Not For You. 

Anchor store at the Springfield Mall, Hailstones.

Mall Conference Room: 5:00 Focus Group, 7:00 Night School Graduation. 

Itchy and Scratchy focus group: Ralph, random girl, Nelson, Milhouse, Bart and Lisa.

Springfield Shopper Headline: Funny Dog To Make Life Worthwhile. 

Self aware joke: Lisa says adding a new character is a desperate attempt to raise ratings, just then Roy walks in, he's dressed like Poochie. Marge blames the lousy writers for the failures of Poochie, she says they make her madder than a...Yak in heat. The animators cheep out and simply pull a cel of Poochie upwards when he leaves the planet, you can even see the cel numbers on the screen, 4f12, sc-237 (4F12 was the production code for this episode). Krusty presents a sworn affidavit to prove Poochie won't be coming back because cartoon characters come back to life all the time. Lisa says they should be proud that Itchy And Scratchy are still putting on a show of this caliber after all these years. (At this point the Simpsons were mostly in the win column for their shows and this was a bit of a dig at The Flintstones *see below*)

Regular characters at Poochie auditions: Sarah Wiggum, Lionel Hutz, Troy McClure (Both characters were voiced by Phil Hartman and are standing next to each other), Kearney, Jimbo, Miss Hoover, Moleman, Ruth Powers, Otto

Troy McClure, you may remember me from such cartoons as Christmas Ape and Christmas Ape Goes To Summer Camp.

Toon Beat Magazine $4.95, Homer Simpson And Poochie! The Voice Of Cool (a spoof on Teen Beat Magazine)

When Homer and June are doing a fan meet at the Comic Book Shop Homer replies to one of the fans by asking him why a man with "Genius at work" on his shirt is doing watching a kids cartoon. This is a spin on the Saturday Night Live episode where William Shatner tells the Trekkies to get a life. 

Barney (in the background of the Poochie premier party) "Poochie is based on me"

Guests at the Simpson's premier party, Homer, Marge, Selma and Patty, Moe, Jasper, Roy, Ned, Barney, Larry (from Moe's), Lenny and Carl, Grandpa, Bart, Lisa, Milhouse and Nelson

TV events Krusty compares to the premier of Poochie, The first Moon landing and the first golf ball driven on the Moon in 1971. The Poochie episode is named after Armstrong's first message back to Earth after the first Moon landing.

Labeled boxes at the Itchy And Scratchy offices: Poochie Hate Mail, Poochie Hate Mail (Foreign), Poochie Death Threats.

This show marked the point where The Simpsons passed The Flintstones in number of episodes, the original Flintstones ran for 166 episodes and the Simpsons had reached 167.

The Poochie returning to his home planet storyline is a spoof on The Flintstones where The Great Gazoo finally does something selfless for Fred and returns to his home world. The Great Gazoo was not loved by The Flintstone fans and was seen as an attempt to boost the ratings of the show after its long run. 

The character of Roy is based on The Fonz on Happy Days where he moves into the apartment over the Cunnigham's garage and becomes a full-time member of the cast instead of just one of the supporting characters. When Roy leaves he says he's moving in with two beautiful ladies, the plot of Three's Company.

In the episode The Day The Violence Died they mention that Itchy and Scratchy once featured the character of Dinner Dog.

This show was created in response to the executive at Fox who were claiming the Simpsons has become stale and needed a new permanent character to join the family. The creators resisted and made both the character of Poochie and Roy as a protest. The executives stopped pushing them, and the show, well you know where it eventually is going. 

Homer's Phobia

This episode premiered on February 16th, 1997. The lead in show was World's Greatest Animal Outtakes and it was followed by King Of The Hill. It ran opposite Turning Point: Broadway's New Annie, Touched By An Angel and The NBA post game show.

There isn't a chalkboard gag and the couch gag is The family is being downloaded via dial up but takes too long.

Bart is holding a lottery using the basement drier but a shoe gets stuck and he can't reach the off button. The drier starts banging around, breaking free from the gas line and starts a fire, all the kids rush out. The Simpsons get stuck with a $900 repair bill, Homer sends them his retirement fund, a water bottle full of pennies, however he drops it and it crashes through a sinkhole. Marge decides it's time to sell off Grandma's antique Civil War figurine. At the mall Lisa mentions the midget that operated the robot from Clank Clank You're Dead, just then the door swings open revealing a skeleton still inside. Marge offers her figurine but the store owner John tells her it's a J & R whiskey bottle from the Johnny Reb collection, originally worth two books of Green Stamps. Homer invites John over but then forgets, however he has a great time. The next day Marge has to tell Homer that John is Gay and he freaks out. Homer claims that John lied to them because he's not a "flamer". While out to lunch with the family John runs into Smithers, he's mad because John said he was going to visit his sick mother. (wink wink) John gives Bart a toy ray gun and Homer starts to worry that he's Gay. Bart comes in wearing a Hawaiian shirt and Homer freaks out, then he choses a Snowball instead of a cupcake. Marge tells Homer that he needs to spend more time with Bart. The next day Bart is dancing around in a wig and Homer decides he needs to Man Up the boy. John is visiting Marge but Homer tells him off. Homer makes Bart stare at a Laramie Slims billboard with two women having a pillow fight, when he comes back Bart says he wants a cigarette. Homer's happy but then asks him his brand and he says "anything slim". They go to the Ajax Steel Mill but it turns out to be a Gay steel mill. All the workers start dancing to Gonna Make You Sweat (Everybody Dance Now) by C+C Music Factory. Homer goes to Moe's where they suggest going on a deer hunt. After hours of sitting around in the woods drinking they decide to go home. On the way back they stop at Santa's Village to shoot some reindeer. The deer start rutting and Homer finds himself trapped in the middle with Bart. Homer gets hit my multiple deer until John shows up with a wind up Santa that scares the deer off. Lisa finally tell Bart that Homer thinks he's Gay. The show ends with "Dedicated to the Steelworkers Of America. Keep Reaching For That Rainbow!"

John Waters does the guest voice as John.

The download couch gag is a dated reference. Its based on the AOL dialup service. The name of the service is America OnLink, there is a button that says Download Family and Exit. A pop up box says Adding Artwork. Please wait... Receiving item 1 of 5 while a timer bar slowly creeps across the screen. The cursor then moves to the Exit button which is hit repeatedly. 

A quick note, Todd Flanders is one of the kids involved in Bart's dryer lottery. The Olmec head is still in the basement. 

The mall store: Cockamamie's We buy Antiques and Collectibles.

Campaign Buttons: That's My Johnson, Carter (peanut shape on the button), Harrison Whig Convention Dec. 8 1839, I Still Like Ike, I Fell For Dole (A spoof on when Dole fell over a loose railing during the 1996 campaign), Click With Dick, Imbeciles for Ford, Quayle Can't Fayle (a spoof on his misspelling of Potato) I like Ike, McGovern.

Movie Poster: A Mechanical Man-With The Heart of a MONSTER! Clank, Clank, You're Dead.

Jackie Onassis' TV guide: Laverne And Shirley, Too Darling For TV? Her address is 1515 Park Avenue Apartment 3A. She thought Mindy lived with Mark. This is a reference to the show Mork and Mindy.

The toy ray gun is a Rex Mar's Atomic Discombobulator. 

John is wearing Homer's Pin Pals bowling shirt that Marge had donated to Goodwill (Burns gave it to him in the episode Team Homer)

Homer's records, The New Christy Minstrels, Ballads of the Green Berets by SSgt. Barry Sadler, Loony Luau, The Wedding Of Lynda Bird Johnson.

Homer and John dance to I Love The Nightlife by Alicia Bridges

Homer says the resale value of the house will drop because they can't say only straight people had been there. If only he knew the truth about Patty. Not to mention the number of times Mr. Smithers has visited.

John takes the family on a tour of Springfield and points out the gossip sites, Kent Brockman got caught cheating in the marathon, the plumbing shop where Lupe Velez bought the toilet she drowned in (google that story, it's a whopper). They go to lunch at the Sha-Boom Ka-Boom cafe, the place is shaped like an atomic mushroom cloud and the sign advertises Little Boy-$3.95, Fat Man-$12.99 (Those were the names of the bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki) Behind the booth is a photo of the Enola Gay flight and ground crew. This is a subtle pun on the word Gay.

Best line of the episode: Bart walks into the living room wearing a Hawaiian shirt, Homer asks where he got it and Bart replies "I don't know, came out of the closet". Later Homer tells Marge that only Big Fat Party Animals and Gays wear Hawaiian shirts. 

Bart dances around in a wig to The Shoop Shoop Song (It's In His Kiss) by Betty Everett.

Moe blames diet soda and MTV for having a "swishifying" effect on the modern world. He then blames Christopher Warren for the lack of modern wars. Warren was Secretary of State during the Clinton Administration. In 1997 the United States wasn't involved in any ongoing wars and MTV still showed  music videos.

For the deer hunt John offers Homer the hat Yale Summer wore on the TV series Daktari

Dated reference, John mentions Green Stamps. For all the Century Kids, that was a rewards program stores would offer, you got a certain number of stamps with every purchase (based on the dollar amount spent). Once you filled books you would take them to a redemption center and cash them in for things like appliances or sporting goods. When stores realized they could offer their own incentives directly to the customers the Green Stamps program died out. 

You seriously have to wonder how this episode would be received in the modern world. Woke would be pissed at all the stereotypes of Gay people, conservatives would claim the series is trying to "groom their children". It's a good thing it came out (pun intended) in 1997 when the world made a little more sense.

Brother From Another Series

This episode premiered on February 23rd, 1997. The lead in show was World's Funniest Outtakes and it was followed by King Of The Hill. It ran opposite World's Deadliest Volcanoes, Touched By An Angel and The NBC Sunday Night Movie, Shindler's List (talk about a contrasting night of TV)

The title of this episode comes from the 1984 movie Brother From Another Planet.

There is no chalkboard gag in this episode and the couch gag is a repeat of the upside down room.

The family is watching the Krusty special from the Springfield prison. Krusty talks to Sideshow Bob who does a plot exposition of his past crimes. Bart freaks out and runs upstairs to hide out. Homer doesn't help out by telling Bart all the things that Bob wants to do to him and how easily he could get out. Bob has found Jesus so Lovejoy recommends him for the work release program, and his brother Cecil has made arrangements for him to come work for him at the dam construction site. When Cecil takes Bob home the Frasier theme song runs. It turns out Cecil wanted to be Krusty's sidekick but at the audition Krusty preferred Bob and hired him instead. Bob takes Edna Krabappal to the Pimento Grove for dinner but Bart shows up to warn her about him. Bob catches Bart digging through his trash and takes them home. He tells Homer and Marge that if Bart doesn't leave him alone he won't be responsible for his actions. Bart and Lisa heads to the dam to see what Bob is up to and find a suitcase full of money. Bob catches the kids and chases them into the dam, they pull out the money and he says he doesn't know about it. When Bob goes to prove he's actually building a dam he hits the wall and it crumbles. That's when Cecil reveals his plan to destroy the dam, steal the money and frame Bob. Bob complains that the kids stopped his schemes on numerous times but now they can't do anything, he jams one of the turbines and they escape by sliding out the drain pipe. While Bart is fighting with Cecil, Bob tries to disarm the dynamite. The briefcase breaks open and the money goes flying into the river. Cecil manages to throw Bart off the dam but Bob swings in with the dynamite wire, Cecil gets to the plunger and plans to kill them but Bob cuts the wire. They plunge off the dam but Bob hits a pipe and is saved. The cops show up and arrest Cecil, even though he confesses they still arrest Bob and take him back to jail. The dam collapses and floods Springfield. Bob and Cecil are locked in the same cell and fight over the top bunk.   

Kelsey Grammar and David Hyde Pierce do the voices of Bob and Cecil. They were currently playing brothers on Frasier.

This was the first appearance of Cecil Terwilliger.

The reference to Brother From Another Planet had been used in the episode Brother From The Same Planet.

Krusty sings a version of Johnny Cash's Folsom Prison Blues while doing a take on the 1968 live album Johnny Cash At Folsom Prison. 

Sign on the prison visitors center wall "Please Visit Only YOUR Convict"

Bob mentions an unpleasant falling out he and Cecil had, Cecil mentions Arthur Fiedler's wake. He was the conductor of the Boston Pops orchestra and passed away in 1979.

Springfield Shopper headline: Maniac To Live At Brother's Apartment

Signs protesting Bob's release: Keep Bob Locked Up, You're Making A Mistake, Ban the Bob, Crime Yes! Criminals No!

Animation Error, after Bob explains his release there is a sign that says I (heart) Bob going up and down, however there is no hand holding it. 

Billboard: Welcome To Springfield Proud Home Of Sideshow Bob.

A card between scenes: "Frasier" Is A Hit Show On The NBC Television Network. This was a joke about the opening of Frasier where they would have a title card that referred to the plot of the episode. Frasier was still on the air when this episode ran.

Bob claims Cecil went to "clown college", Cecil says he wishes Bob would quit putting down Princeton. 

Bob mentions Erma Bombeck's latest book. She wrote a column and a series of books about suburban life in the modern world. She had passed away in 1996.

When getting ready to blow up the dam Cecil sings Top Of The World by The Carpenters.

The briefcase breaking open and the money blowing away is a take on the scene from It's A Mad Mad Mad Mad World.

Bart jumps on Cecil and says "guess who?" He answers "Maris?" Maris was Niles' unseen wife on Frasier.

My Sister, My Sitter

This episode premiered on March 2nd 1997. The lead in show was TV's All Time #1's (a special about hit TV shows) and it was followed by King Of The Hill. The program ran opposite America's Funniest Home Videos, Touched By An Angel and Third Rock From The Sun. 

There is no chalkboard gag and the couch gag is the couch is on a ship caught in a storm. The family, wearing rain slickers, hop on the couch but a wave washed them overboard. All that bobs to the surface is the TV. 

Homer and Marge see that the new Second Street Squidport Promenade is having a grand opening gala and they start making plans. Lisa is reading the Babysitter Twins, she decides to go into the babysitting business. Maude and her mother are held prisoner by terrorists so Ned has to go to Capitol City to fill out official forms, Lisa offers to babysit the boys. Rod and Todd freak out when a moth is in the house, she points out that they'll be eaten alive in Middle School. Ned recommends Lisa to everyone so she sits for Ralph Wiggum. Bart gets jealous of the amount of money Lisa is making, he is really unhappy when he finds out that she is babysitting him. Homer drives into the middle of the walkway, he parks on top of a painting of Children's Message Of Peace. Bart starts acting like a brat to harass Lisa and even upsets Maggie, he gives her coffee ice cream to calm her down and it has the opposite effect. Bart orders the 25 foot Italian sub swimming in vinegar and offers to host an AA meeting. The sub is $225, then Krusty shows up thinking it's a bachelor party. An ambulance shows up for an emergency sisterectomy. The Air Force shows up for a UFO report, they plan to sedate Lisa until she says she didn't see a UFO. Then a limo driver looking for the ambassador to Ghana shows up. Lisa chases them off and Bart "goes to bread". Bart starts jumping on the bed but when Lisa chases him he falls down the stairs, the ambulance won't come because of all of Bart's prank calls. At the Seaport Homer winds up in the fountain but can't figure out how to escape, everyone laughs at him. Bart decides to make his head lump bigger by banging it on the wall but then he passes out. Lisa considers calling Dr. Hibbert but she imagines being accused her bad babysitting. Instead she goes to Dr. Nick "As good as Dr. Hibbert". Lisa loads Bart into a wheelbarrow and Maggie into the cat carrier. There is a crowd at Dr. Nick's so Lisa heads to the hospital, Wiggum pulls her over to tell her she needs to walk with traffic. When he checks the wheelbarrow it's empty, Bart rolled down the hill. They turn up at the Squidport. People think she's killed Bart and came to hide the body. Dr. Hibbert diagnoses Bart as having a nasty fall, caused by bad babysitting. Bart apologizes for ruining Lisa's babysitting business (too little). Dr. Hibbert and Ned call for her services since she only tried to kill Bart. 

This was the third time the couch gag took place outside of the Simpson's living room. 

Eye On Springfield, The worlds first two story outhouse, the guy on the first floor starts yelling "Oh God! Stop!", A comedy nurse, she asks how many patients are there for shoulder surgery and when they raise their hands, in pain, she says "Gotcha!". Springfield is copying Baltimore and turning their waterfront into a shopping district. Sign at the new Squidport Promenade: Tentacle Cannery Place. Balloons: You break it you bought it, Shoplifters will be prosecuted, no refunds. 

The South Street Squidport. A spoof on the South Street Seaport in NYC.

Lisa reads The Babysitter Twins, this is a combination of The Babysitter Club and The Bobsy Twins. 

First Church Of Springfield sign: No Synagogue Parking.

Testament is performing in the church basement. They were a thrash metal band, not a Christian one. 

Chief Wiggum thinks he going to see Bob Seagar but it turns out to be Bob Saget. At the time Saget was hosting AFV which ran opposite The Simpsons.

Squidport shops: Turban Outfitters / Just Rainsticks / Coffee Kart / It's A Wonderful Knife / My First Tattoo "Children's Tattoos"/ Much Ado About Muffins "To Eat Or Not To Eat?"/ The Crypot Barn "A Place For codes" Loads Of Codes" "Secret Code Clearance Combinations" "The Right Passwords"/ The Itchy And Scratchy Store "Poochie Close Out"(Poochie had both made his first appearance and been killed off in the episode Itchy And Scratchy And Poochie) / Malaria Zone "Tse Tse Fly Shirt Sale" / Planet Hype (Rainer Woflcastle is talking to the press, Moleman drove his car into the building and people think it's part of the theming) / Moe's Brewing Co. (it's actually a long tunnel leading to Moe's Tavern. "You're a long way from home Yuppie Boy, I'll start a tab") 

Dr Nick Rivera "We Stitch And Don't Snitch".

Dr Nick's Patient Diagnosis sheet: Unusual Sex Practice / Looter's Hernia / Mexican Stand-Off / Prison Tunnel Syndrome / Armed Homeowner / Allergic Reaction: Mace, Pepper Spray, Bullets / Liquor Store Robbery / John Gotti's Disease. 

Best line of the night Dr. Nick "Hey don't worry, you don't have to make up stories here. Save that for court".

Cast regulars at the clinic: Snake, Louie (mob guy), Mr Smithers (who can't sit down for some reason "wink wink"), Jasper. Wheelbarrow Line: Moe with Barney, Monkey with Professor Frink, Pimple Face Guy with Comic Book Guy. 

In this episode Skinner and Mrs. Krabappal are seen in the background at the Squidport Promenade. Is this foreshadowing for a future episode?

I searched for where the title of the episode came from but anything that came up was well after 1997.

I've reached episode 170. So close to being 1/4 done, unless they keep making new ones. (note, those bustards!)