The Simpsons 181-185

Lisa's Sax

This episode premiered on October 19th 1997. The lead in show was The World's Funniest and it was followed by King Of The Hill. It ran opposite Sabrina The Teen Age Witch, Touched By An Angel and Game 2 of the 1997 World Series (Indians 6-Marlins 2)

The chalkboard gag is "I No Longer Want My MTV" and the couch gag is the family appears as Russian nesting dolls starting off with Homer. Only the top halves go on the couch with the bottom half remaining standing. Maggie is left with the rest of the legs.

The show starts with a take on the opening credits of All In The Family with Marge playing the piano and her and Homer singing a Simpsons version of Those Were The Days. References including The Bee Gees, John Travolta movies, Elvis' weight, Gentle Ben, Sheriff Lobo, the song Disco Duck, Fleetwood Mac, Eight track tapes, Michael Jackson (still was Black) "The Simpsons is filmed in front of a live studio audience" Homer calls Bart "Meathead". Bart is watching Krusty the Klown Story (Booze, Drugs, Guns, Lies, Blackmail and Laughter), with Fyvush Finkel as Krusty (Finkel did his own voice). Homer gets mad at Lisa for practicing her sax so he sends Bart to stop her. They fight over it and Bart throws it out the window, it gets run over by a car, a truck and Nelson stomps on it while shouting Ha Ha! The sax is destroyed so Homer tells the story about why they bought in the first place. They flash back to 1990 when the Artist Formerly Known as Prince was know as Prince. Bart is getting ready for his first day of school, Lisa spells STAR with her blocks, when it's knocked down it spells RATS (this is a reference to Charlie Brown's catchphrase when things go wrong). On his first day Bart gets told he's not college material and is yelled at for walking on the grass. They cut to Marge and Homer singing about Bart's first day of school, a repeat of the All In The Family song. Homer flashes back to when his father gave him beer as a child, he and Barney have a crash with their toy wagon and swear off beer forever (we know how that turned out). Marge takes up the story and starts talking about Bart again, Lisa gets mad. When they take Bart to the school psychologist he says it's not unusual for a child with so many flamboyant Homosexual tendencies to be having trouble, however he's reading from Milhouse's file. Lisa completes a puzzle and the psychologist tests her and finds out she's gifted. The psychologist recommends sending Lisa to an advanced preschool however the tuition is $6000. In the present Homer says that the family was suffering a crisis, Bart was miserable at school and Lisa's gifts were going to waste, the family points out that nothing has changed, Marge adds that the family is driving her crazy. Grandpa shows up and starts telling the story about the year nineteen aught six but falls asleep. In 1990 Springfield is suffering through a heatwave. Marge wants to use the air conditioner money for something to encourage Lisa's gift but Homer won't have anything to do with it, instead he steals Ned's air conditioner. At school when Bart feels he's at his lowest he meets Milhouse and makes a fart sound, he becomes the class clown. Skinner tries to get Bart to quit acting up and gives him the opportunity to straighten out, Bart says "eat my shorts". Homer plans to go get a new air conditioner which just happen to be on sale for $200, however Lisa is standing in front of King Toots looking at the musical instruments. Homer asks for a sign that musical instruments are a way to encourage a gifted child, just then the owner puts that exact sign in the window. Homer says "eh, works for me" The saxophone costs $200 so Homer has to make a decision, encourage Lisa's gift or buy the air conditioner, he goes with the sax. Homer has it inscribed "To Lisa, never forget your daddy loves d'oh", he just dropped it on his foot. In the present  they finally saved up money for an air conditioner but instead they buy a new sax, Homer has it inscribed "Dear Lisa, May your new saxophone bring you years of d'oh!". Lisa plays Baker Street with a montage of her playing in past episodes. The episode ends with a jazz sax version of the theme song. 

The chalkboard gag is the first since May 4th 1997, Homer's Enemy. It is a reference to the 1982 advertising campaign MTV put out to convince cable companies to carry the station. In '97 MTV was changing its lineup with more regular programs, reality shows and less actual music. 

Bart is watching The WB Network. The singing frog, Michigan J. Frog,  presents "another bad show that no one will see". WB was the Warner Brothers attempt to create a Fox style network. It ran from 1995 to 2006 when it merged with UPN to create the CW network.

In the Krusty The Klown movie he's married to Mia Farrow, a spoof on Woody Allen's marriage, without the "ending up with his adopted daughter."

When Lisa's sax gets run over a guy wearing a rain slicker while riding a tricycle runs into it but falls over, this is from the bit Artie Johnson would do on Rowan and Martin's Laugh-In.

Self Aware Joke: When Homer is talking about the year 1990 he mentions the Tracy Ullman show that included crudely drawn filler material. 

While Bart is getting ready for his first day of school Bobby McFerrin's Don't Worry plays. 

On his first day of school Able told Homer he was as dumb as a mule and twice as ugly, if a stranger offers him a ride, take it.

Marge offers to read Bart a book, Curious George and the Ebola Virus. 

Homer is watching Twin Peaks. He has no idea what is going on. I felt the same way and watched something else. 

Dr. Hibbert is dressed like Mr. T complete with a Mohawk and gold chains. 

Dr. J. Loren Pryor is the School Psychologist. He first appeared in the episode Bart The Genius.

Homer imagines Lisa wining the Nobel Prize but adds kick boxing to it so it's more interesting. 

The puzzle Lisa works at the psychologist's office is the Taj Mahal. 

Miss Tillingham's School For Snotty Girls and Mama's Boys. In the background is a child painting Rene Magritte's Son Of Man.

When Marge suggests going to the museum to encouraging Lisa's gift Homer imagines playing Foosball with Michelangelo's David and Edvard Munch's The Scream.

When Homer asks Marge to name one famous person who lived without air conditioning she says Balzac, Homer thinks she's cursing. Honore de Balzac was a famous French author.

Snowball I appears in this episode, it's an actual white cat.

Continuity errors, even though the events are taking place 5 years earlier Rod and Todd are the same age as the present day. Since the episode Lisa's Pony the King Toots music shop has been next door to Moe's bar however in this episode it's across the street. (You could say, "maybe the music shop moved at a later date" however it was next to Moe's in the flashback scenes in the episode Homer's Barber Shop Quartet)

It Blows, The Air Conditioner Store

While thinking about buying an air conditioner Homer imagines Patty and Selma melting outside.

After hearing the story Bart says "wow, so that's how Lisa got her sax". 

Best line of the episode, Homer says "Oh Marge, If "ifs" and "buts" were candy and nuts...how does the rest of that go?"

Timeline problems. In the episode Lisa's First Words Bart was two and Lisa was born in 1983. However in this episode Bart is 5 and Lisa is 3 in 1990.

Treehouse Of Horror VIII

This episode aired on October 26th, 1997. The lead in show was a repeat of The Simpsons Halloween Special VII and was followed by King Of The Hill, It ran opposite The Wonderful World Of Disney (the made for TV movie Tower Of Terror, which was promoting the Florida ride), Touched By An Angel and Game 7 of the World Series (Indians 2 - Marlins 3, the Marlins took the title 4-3).

The episode opens with the Fox Censor crossing out parts of the script in order to keep the show rated G. However a sword wielding hand comes out of the ratings box and starts stabbing the censor, the rating shifts from G to TVPG to TV14, TVMA, TV21 and finally TV666. The censor's blood spells out The Simpsons Halloween Special VIII. The couch gag is the family runs in but find themselves in an electric chair couch and are electrocuted. 

In 1995 the FCC insisted on a self regulated TV rating system and in 1996 the TV Parental Guidelines were put in place for all show, especially on cable channels.

The HΩmega Man

Mayor Quimby insults the French who vow revenge. Marge asks Homer to do something so he shows them the bomb shelter he built, a cardboard box with an umbrella. Homer goes to Herman who shows him the Withstandinator, it's capable of withstanding a 6 megaton bomb. Meanwhile the French launch Le Bomb Neutron. The bomb nearly hits the aliens, Kang calls the home base but they think he's crazy for having seen a UFO. After the bomb goes off  Homer comes out of the shelter, eating a can of stew and drops it in the hand of the skeleton remains of Herman. He pulls up behind a line of cars at a stop light, he gets out and punches Kirk's skeleton. That's when he realizes something is wrong and sees the headline about the bomb. When Homer imagines his family he sees them each coming up and swinging a bat, Bart and Lisa get a hit while Marge strikes out. Homer decides to live on, he goes to the movies and kicks the skeleton in front of him. He sings War by The Temptations in the church, while dancing butt naked. A group of mutant survivors show up and ask to eat his skin. Homer escapes in a hearse while the mutants jump in a hotrod. Homer runs over Johnny and Edgar Winter thinking they are mutants, they are actually albino. Homer gets home to find the rest of the family survived the nuclear blast thanks to the decades of lead paint used on the house. The mutants are touched by the scene of the united family and decide to build a utopian society, Marge and the family opens fire killing the mutants. The family sets off to steal some Ferraris. 

This episode is based on the 1971 movie The Omega Man.

In the bomb shelter Homer flips through a Gary Larson Far Side calendar, with each page he says "I don't get it". The Far Side was a daily comic that ran from 1979 to 1995.

The French nuclear bomb says "Intel Inside" This was an ad slogan for the Intel computer chip during the early years of the home computer and internet.

Springfield Shopper headline: Neutron Bomb Headed For Springfield! Hippo Promoted to Detective (Kent Brockman had reported on the police hiring a hippo earlier)

When Homer is imagining his dead family he calls Maggie, Santa's Little Helper, Snowball II and the TV "and the rest". This is a reference to the first season of Gilligan's Island when the opening song named the characters except for the Professor and Mary Ann who were called "and the rest". 

At the theater Homer watches a Cris Farley/David Spade movie, probably Tommy Boy. Chris Farley would die two months after this episode aired.

First Church Of Springfield sign: Today's Sermon: Homer Rocks!

Mutants: Wiggum, Hibbert, Apu, Moe, Skinner, Burns, Smithers, Sideshow Mel, Ned, Jasper, Willie, Otto, Lenny, Carl

The car the mutants use to chase Homer is based on the Rat Fink hot rod cartoons drawn by Ed "Big Daddy" Roth.

Fly vs Fly

Frink is holding a yard sale. Homer buys a matter transporter for 35¢, talked down from $2.00. He tries to use it to get a beer but grabs cat ear medicine by mistake, he can't tell the difference. He pees from the living room to the upstairs toilet. Bart tests it out on Snowball II but SLH jumps in too and comes out as a cat/dog with a head at each end, and a separate animal with two butts. Bart gets the idea to turn himself into a FlyBoy however he ends up a head on a fly body and there is a mismatched creature with a fly head and Bart's body. The family adopts him. Bart gets caught on a spider's web but he's just pretending to mock the spider. Bart gets jealous of the fly but is almost swatted by Marge, the fly tries to kill him so he goes to Lisa and talks to her through her saxophone. The fly eats Bart so Lisa shoves them into the transporter and Bart comes out hole again. Homer threatens Bart with an axe for messing with his machine. 

The title of the episode is done in the Mad Magazine font for their long running strip Spy vs. Spy.

The episode is a mixture of the original 1958 and 1986 remake of the film The Fly. 

Stuff at Frink's yard sale, A Star Wars escape pod, Evel Knievel's Snake River rocket, Jet Pack, Large bellows camera, original nuclear bomb from the Trinity Site, electric chair. A type of Robbie The Robot who tries to take off by hanging a Sold sign on itself, a brain in a jar (from the 1957 movie The Brain From Planet Arous), the Impossible Trident, aka a bilvet.

6 months after this episode aired Nickelodeon began running the series CatDog with a character similar to the two headed Snowball/SLH pet.

Easy-Bake Coven

It's 1649 A.D. and the town is hold a witch trial. Ned points out that they killed 75 witches, Lovejoy claims there is still a witch. The town accuses everyone so Marge stands up and tells them to come to their senses so they decide to burn her as a witch. In order to test her they shove her over a cliff with a broom, if she dies she's innocent but if she flies they want her to report back for punishment. However Marge flies over the crowd, she now has a green face. She confesses to causing all the problems and then turns Wiggum into a gopher, Eddie into a snowman and Lou into a fairy princess. She then releases a swarm of bats from her hair. She returns to the mountain where Patty and Selma are also witches. The town is afraid of them and think they are going to eat the children. The Witches see this in their cauldron and decide to do just that. When they show up at Ned's house he pulls a cross on them but they laugh it off. Maude offers them gingerbread cookie children instead. The witches then go around town and the people give them treats instead of their children. The Sea Captain then narrates how this was the birth of Halloween. Homer is throwing eggs at a house, when Lisa points out that it's their house he accuses her of being a witch and the entire town chases her. 

The title of this episode comes from the Easy Bake Oven toy.

The town is Sprynge-Fielde "First You Toil, Then The Grave.

Edna Krabappal is wearing a scarlet A, from the novel The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne.

Marge appears as a green faced witch like the Wicked Witch Of The West from the 1939 movie The Wizard Of Oz

When Marge flies back to the mountain Patty says "so you finally left Durwood". This is a Bewitched joke where Endora is always calling her son in law Darren by the wrong name.

When trick-or-treating Homer wears a costume similar to Barbara Eden's from I Dream Of Jeannie. (the rival program of Bewitched)

The episode ends with a Theremin version of the theme song.

On a side note, in 1997 The Tower of Terror was a ride only at the Disney/MGM Studios park in Disney World.

The Cartridge Family

This episode premiered on November 2nd, 1997. The lead in show was The World's Funniest and it was followed by King Of The Hill. It ran opposite The Wonderful World Of Disney (Rogers and Hammerstein's Cinderella), Touched By An Angel and Men Behaving Badly.

The title of the episode is a take on the tv show The Partridge Family

The chalkboard gag is "Everyone is tired of that Richard Gere story" and the couch gag is the family runs in, their pants are on fire and the couch is full of water. They all give a relief "ahhh" when they sit down.

The family sees a commercial for the Continental Soccer Association coming to Springfield, Mexico vs Portugal, it makes the sport look very exciting. At the live game the audience gets bored with the lack of action. A fight breaks out as people try to leave, it turns into a riot that spreads throughout town. A con man tries to sell the Simpsons a security system but Homer doesn't want to pay $500, instead he goes to buy a gun. Homer has to wait 5 days for a background check. After 5 days Homer rushes into the gun shop, because he has to pee. The background check labels Homer as "Potentially dangerous" which mean he can only buy three guns or less. Marge is upset about the gun so Homer talks her into going to an NRA meeting where he joins the organization. At the range Homer shoots a row of cans however they turn out to be on the snack bar, the pimple faced kid says "My fault". Homer goes into the Kwik-E-Mart with his gun, Apu thinks he's there to rob the place, Homer imagines what it would be like and pictures himself in a big fancy house. However when he finally decides to rob the store he finds himself driving away with a hot dog. When he goes home Lisa asks him to get her ball off the roof so he shoots it. He then shoots up all of Marge's dishes. Homer brings his gun to the table, he tells Marge he'll put the safety on and shoots her photo, he tries again and shoots it again, he sets the gun on the table, shoots a knife and it lands in her photo. Marge tells him she fears for the family's safety and begs him to get rid of the gun, he promises to do it. Later when Bart is digging for ice cream he finds Homer's gun hidden in the crisper tray. Bart is about to shoot an apple out of Milhouse's mouth, Marge catches them and tells Homer off then takes the kids and moves out. She goes to Patty and Selma's but they are about to kidnap the TV repairman, for date night, so they suggest the Sleep-Eazy motel. Homer hosts an NRA meeting at the house, he shoots open his beer can and turns on the TV, the other NRA members tell him off for being so reckless, they kick him out. Bart and Lisa want to try out the pool at the motel but the guy is trying to fish out a dead body. Homer goes around the house shooting out the lights. Mayor Quimby comes in the motel room by mistake. Homer shows up at the motel looking for the family, he begs them to come back and promises that he got rid of the gun. As they are checking out Snake busts in and robs the place at knifepoint. Homer pulls his gun and Marge gets mad at him for lying again, as they are fighting Snake takes the gun. The NRA members show up but Snake gets away. Homer begs Marge to get rid of the gun for him, instead of throwing it away she puts it in her purse.

The chalkboard gag is a reference to the rumor about Richard Gere. It was alluded to in the episode A Fish Called Selma.

Springfield Stadium sign: Tonight: Soccer / Tomorrow: Monsters Of Poetry.

Pele makes an appearance to promote Crestfield Wax Paper. Pele was the soccer superstar from Brazil from the 50's through the 70's. He passed away in 2022.

The soccer announcer's excited play by play is a reference to Andres Cantor and his famous "GOAL!" shout. 

Ex-Con Home Security "From the big house...to your house"

Bloodbath And Beyond Gun Shop.

As Homer is waiting for the 5 day period Tom Petty's Waiting Is The Hardest Part plays. Homer sees a list of potential targets: A Target store truck, ducks in a line, a line of rabbits, Patty and Selma on a tandem bike, Ned on his mower. 

Signs at the gun shop: Automatics, Bazooka, Grenades "buy 2 get one free"

Homer's background check: Been in a mental hospital (Stark Raving Dad), alcohol problems, beat up President Bush, Homer comments "former President Bush" (Two Bad Neighbors). 

Self aware joke, Marge doesn't want guns in the house and reminds Homer about when Maggie shot Burns, Homer says he though Smithers did it and Lisa says "That would have made a lot more sense"

NRA Meeting Today "Come in and shoot your mouth off.

In order to get in the NRA meeting Kearny has to carry a loaner gun, this is just the opposite of reality where ironically guns are banned from NRA meetings.

NRA members, Kearny, Wolfcastle, Krusty Moe, Carl, Sideshow Mel, Barney, Cletus, Agnus, Ruth Powers, Skinner, Otto, Lenny, Mafia Louie

Selma and Patty live at the Spinster City Apartments. 

Homer's sign outside his house: Gun Warming Tonight Nachos Rifles Alcohol

The sign at the Sleep-Eazy Motel is burned out and only Sleazy is illuminated. Hourly Rates, Adult Movies.

At the NRA meeting Cletus asks if Homer is some kind of a moron. This is a take on the scene in Animal House when the character of Stork says "Well what the hell are we suppose to do ya moron"

Signs in the motel lobby: Under New Management / Vote Quimby.

Best line of the episode: Security Salesman: "but surely you can't put a price on your family's lives" Homer "I wouldn't have thought so either but here we are."

In the episode The Secrets Of A Successful Marriage the chalkboard gag is 5 Days Is Not Too Long To Wait For A Gun.

Bart Star

This episode premiered on November 9th 1997. The lead in show was World's Funniest and it was followed by King Of The Hill. It ran opposite The Wonderful World Of Disney (Angels In The Endzone), Touched By An Angel and Dateline NBC.

The title of the episode is based on Bart Starr, Super Bowl Champion quarterback for the Green Bay Packers.

The chalkboard gag is "I did not invent Irish dancing" and the couch gag is The family sits on the couch but they are crushed into a cube.

The family goes to a health fare, Homer's cholesterol level is high but his gravy level is even higher, he says doctors told him to drink 8 glasses of gravy a day. Marge is running the first aid booth, Lisa pretends to have stepped in a bear trap. All the kids are too fat, there is a video on the news of Bart splitting his pants. Homer signs up Bart for Pee-Wee football. Lisa shows up to join the team as a protest until she finds out the team has four girls, she then protests the pig skin for the football, until she finds out they use synthetic leather and the company donates a dollar to Amnesty International for everyone they sell, she is forced to run off. Nelson is the perfect player. He uses Bart as a shield to batter his way through the other team, even going out of his way to hit other players. Homer is jealous of Flanders and keeps mocking him from the stands. When Homer hits Ned with a beer can he quits and makes Homer the coach. Homer flashes back to when he was in gymnastics and his father screwed up his floor routine by shouting at him. He decides to support Bart and tries to make him the star of the team. Bart is a lousy quarterback and wants to quit. As he is trying to be a better quarterback Joe Namath shows up, just as he's about to tell Bart the one thing he needs to know his car starts and he takes off. Bart shows up in bandages and tells Homer he has to sit out the game, so Homer plans to forfeit. Bart gets mad and tells Homer off then quits the team. To show Bart up Homer calls Burns and quits his job, he winks at the phone. At the next game Nelson leads the team to a win, Homer is sad because Bart isn't there. Homer makes up with Bart and he comes back on the team. In the final game they have time for one last play but the cops show up to arrest Nelson, Bart offers to fill in and tells the cops he's Nelson. The team wins the game. It turns out Nelson was wanted for burglary and arson. Joe Namath shows up at the end to talk about vapor lock. Homer says the names on the closing credits and tells them they are cut from the team.

Joe Namath and Roy Firestone do their voices in this episode. 

Free Health Fair, Welcome Cheapskates!

Health fair booths: Lung Capacity (Selma is running it while smoking) Blood Pressure (Mayor Quimby is getting checked out by a sexy nurse. Are You Crazy? (The booth is run by Dr. Joyce Brothers. Sideshow Mel is on the couch. Kirk Van Houten, Troy McClure and Willie are standing in line) What's Your Sex (Dr. Nick Rivera's booth) Check Your Cholesterol (Homer is being examined by Dr. Hibbert) Hearing Test (Maude Flanders is running the test, Grandpa, Jasper and Charlie are being tested and can't hear anything) Fat or Fit (It's run by Wolfcastle and Uter is trying to do sit-ups on an inclined plane)

Marge buys Bart's football gear at the Sportacus sports store. 

Coach Flanders tells the team to go the Whole Nine Yards. The joke of course is that you have to go 10 yards for a first down.

Sports Spew! With Roy Firestone. His guest is Sandy Koufax, Homer calls to ask if Sandy thinks Ned is the worst coach ever. 

Homer wears his Tom Landry hat from the episode You Only Move Twice

When Marge defends Bart quitting the team Homer tells her that she quit every job she ever had, Cop (The Springfield Connection), Pretzel Vendor (The Twisted World Of Marge Simpson), Church Counselor (In Marge We Trust), Professional Gambler ($pringfield). At this point in the overall series Homer had 38 jobs.

Hank Hill and his family show up at the game, they complain that they drove 2000 miles for this. Mike Judge does the voice of Hank. The show King Of The Hill followed The Simpsons on the Sunday night lineup since its premier. They are the only pink characters on the show.

At the Kwik-E-Mart Bart plays he video game Cat Fight. Two women on a street fighting and calling each other names. 

Homer asks for Skittlebrau. When Apu tells him no such beer exists he buys a 6-pack of Duff and a bag of Skittles.

One of those funny little details, Martin, as the kicker, is doing the barefoot thing but when he gets to the ball he kicks it with his foot wearing the shoe.

Homer tries to figure out the final play of the game on an electronic football game. Not the video type but the one with the little plastic figures and a vibrating field.

The Two Mrs. Nahasapeemapetilons

This episode premiered on November 16th 1997. The show ran in its usual time slot. It ran opposite the Disney movie Oliver Twist (1997 made for TV version), Touched By An Angel and Jenny. 

There isn't a chalkboard gag and the couch gag is Bart painting a graffiti family on the couch. He even signs it El Barto

The Springfield Fire Department is holding a charity bachelor auction to raise funds to buy a fire truck. Kent Brockman opens the show and then introduces the celebrity auctioneer Krusty, The Clown, who comes in from the back in a bathrobe. The first bachelor is Barney, he comes out to the tune of My Girl, nobody bids. They send him under a banner that reads The Rejects. The next is The Sea Captain, he is rejected too. When Moe comes out he walks across the stage while the band keeps playing, they don't even bother with the bidding. After all the bachelors are rejected and they cut to all the single muscular firemen who weren't part of the auction. Marge convinces Apu to go on stage, he has a PhD, runs his own business, doesn't like to talk but loves to listen, can cook and likes to build furniture and then discuss where to put it in a room, the bidding goes crazy. Luanne, Selma, Ms Hoover, Ruth Powers and another woman pool their money and "buy" Apu for $926 dollars. Just as Apu is starting to enjoy being single his mother sends him a lotos flower, it's time for his arranged marriage. When Apu was 8 his family made a deal to marry him off in exchange for a textile factory. Homer convinces Apu to lie to his mother. When he's trying to come up with a reason Homer writes a quick note but it's asking where the sticky buns are. Apu starts enjoying his bachelorhood. He is asleep at work so Homer is looking through the lottery tickets, he finds a $500 dollar winner but he doesn't have enough for that and a Yodel, so he buys the Yodel. Just then Apu's mother shows up, he begs Homer for help but he's slowing eating his candy. Homer offers to let Apu claim Marge is his wife. When they arrive at the house Homer forgot to tell Marge and has to beg her to pretend to be Apu's wife. Homer says goodbye and reminds Apu he needs to fix the upstairs toilet. Homer planned to hang out at Moe's but he's taking a vacation to Easter Island so he moves into the nursing home, they think he's Cornelius Talmadge, first he tests out a wheel chair and loves having supper at 4 PM. Homer gets an electric chair to race Jasper to dinner. He then discovers liquid Lays potato chips. The real Talmadge shows up and Homer has to flee. He sneaks back into the house but just as Apu's mother is about to leave she catches Homer and Marge in bed together. Apu tells his mother the truth, but she still insists he gets married. To enjoy his last hours of bachelorhood Homer takes Apu to the retirement home. Bart burns hymns to make the religious fire sacred. Apu says only the gods could stop this wedding so Homer shows up as Ganesh, one of the wedding party chases him up a tree. Manjula shows up, Apu is shocked by how pretty she is and they decide to get married. The singers do an Indian version of Close To You. 

Andrea Martin does the voice of Apu's mother and Jan Hooks does the voice of Manjula. 

Springfield Civic Center sign: Tonight: Charity Bachelor Auction / Tomorrow: I retire, ya Bastards! (the guy falls off his ladder)

The Bachelor Auction rejects: Barney, Comic Book Guy, Kirk, Moleman, Disco Stu, Moe, Frink, Sea Captain and Otto. 

After Apu lies to his mother he jumps up on the counter and starts dancing to Hot Blooded by Foreigner.

Apu goes to Hairy Shearers for a new haircut. The name is a reference to Harry Shearer who does several voices on the series including Mr. Burns, Smithers, Ned Flanders and so forth.

Air India, We Treat You Like Cattle.

Gunter and Ernst the magicians are at the airport waiting for their Bengal tiger. They first appeared in the episode $pringfield

Manjula first appeared in the episode Much Apu About Nothing. 

When the elephant appears at the wedding Bart wishes he had one. Lisa reminds him of Stampy, the elephant from the episode Bart Gets An Elephant.

Krusty walking in through the back of the auditorium with a drink in his hand is based on a story Jack Benny would tell about appearing at the Empire Room in Chicago. 

We've come to episode 185. It's hard to believe I'm still doing this. I'll probably say the same thing when I hit episode 300.