The producers had contacted Sheryl Crow and asked her to record Kirk's song "Can I Borrow A Feeling" to play over the closing credits. Crow declined, and instead a sax version of the normal credits is played.
The opening scene of the family eating dinner in front of the television with TV trays is used as a test for background artists who want to work on the show.
This is the only episode written entirely by Steve Tompkins, although he had been a member of the writing staff for several years.
The writers wanted to break a typical sitcom convention by having the Van Houtens' divorce, and remained divorced at the end, as opposed to the stereotypical sitcom which often has a "reset button technique" of change being unchanged by the end (which some episodes of The Simpsons have been guilty of doing), or the "happy ending in 30 minutes or less", in which the characters neatly solve all their problems by the end of each show.
The episode's subplot was originally about Bart wanting Homer and Marge to divorce after seeing that children of divorced families (like Milhouse) get extra attention. "Milhouse of Sand and Fog" would reuse the plot line of Bart nearly sabotaging Homer and Marge's marriage for attention purposes due to Milhouse and his parents, the only difference being that Homer and Marge's marriage being on the rocks was an unintentional result rather than deliberate, and Milhouse was the one who came up with the idea as he enjoyed the attention he got from his own parents fighting for it.
As with the "Skinner and the Superintendent" (Steamed Hams) segment from "22 Short Films About Springfield", the scene where Bart hits Homer over the head with a chair has become an online meme.
Cultural References[]
Homer mentions that he pictured his marriage as is but he also thought they would be, "driving around in a van solving mysteries," referencing the Scooby Doo franchise.
Milhouse's toy car is designed to look like a S-class Mercedes.
Bart recognizes Luann's new boyfriend as Pyro, from the syndicated game show American Gladiators.
The Allied Biscuit box logo looks similar to the one for Nabisco.
When Marge, in a desperate attempt to get the party's attention away from the public spat between Kirk and Luann, requests for Lisa to come in to sing a song for everyone, Lisa comes marching in singing You're a Grand Old Flag.
Previous Episode References[]
"The War of the Simpsons": The Simpsons have a dinner party that ends with a marriage in trouble (Marge being angry at Homer's drunken antics and forcing him to go to a marriage retreat with her/Luann and Kirk Van Houten divorcing).
"Bart the Genius": A fight breaks out during a board game (Homer chases Bart after Bart beats him at Scrabble and describes Homer in his definition of "kwyjibo" ["A big, dumb, bald North American ape with no chin..."]/Kirk yells at Luann for not identifying his "Dignity" drawing in Pictionary, then Luann upstages him by drawing her version of "Dignity", which leads to their fighting and Luann declaring that she wants a divorce).
"Duffless", "Treehouse of Horror VI" ("Attack of the 50-Foot Eyesores"), and "Homerpalooza": Otto is high on some kind of drug (goes to Alcoholics Anonymous and admits that he "loves to get blotto"/Otto thinks the giant advertising mascot attacking his bus is an acid flashback/Bart and Lisa identify the marijuana smoke in the air as the smell of Otto's jacket and Otto is so high, he thinks his shoes are talking/Otto angrily leaves Stoner's Pot Palace after realizing it's a kitchenware store).
"Lisa's Date with Density" and "Lisa the Iconoclast": Kearney is implied to be older than he looks (has a car/shaves and is the only Springfield Elementary student who remembers Watergate and the 1976 American bicentennial/went through a divorce and has a kid).
"Marge in Chains", "Lisa's Date with Density" and "Bart on the Road": Nelson's squalid and miserable home life (tries to make fun of Bart for having a mom in jail until Bart points out that Nelson does too/lives alone because his dad went nuts and his mom is barely around/walks out of the house, telling one or both of his parents that he's going away for a week, without one or either of them forbidding him or asking him where he's going/his father left his mom because his mom got hooked on cough drops).
The flashback to Homer and Marge getting married at Shotgun Pete's Wedding Chapel.
Marge worrying that she's pregnant after Homer proposes to her.
"Homie the Clown" and "A Star is Burns": A jab about Woody Allen (Dick Cavett tells the CableACE Award audience that he knows Woody Allen, only to not get a response/Rainier Wolfcastle's bad impression of him on McBain: Let's Get Silly: "I'm a neurotic nerd who likes to sleep with little girls"/Flanders says he loves his movies, except for the nervous guy who always in him).
"Sideshow Bob's Last Gleaming": Milhouse has aggression issues (pretends he's shooting down his parents and therapist while in a fighter jet/races around the house in a toy car, destroying everything and Luann doesn't punish him).
"Blood Feud": Bart and butterscotch (Marge says that Bart is allergic to butterscotch and imitation butterscotch/Marge wants to make butterscotch chicken for Bart to celebrate only getting three cavities. See "Goofs and Continuity Errors" below).
"Bart the Daredevil": Bart imitates a stunt (jumping over things on his skateboard/hits Homer over the head with a chair) after seeing it done by a professional (Lance Murdock/Pyro from American Gladiators).
"The Front": Homer cuts Marge's hair and ends up taking off too much.
"Itchy & Scratchy & Marge": A Simpson kid voiced by Nancy Cartwright (Maggie/Bart) injures Homer after seeing an act done somewhere where it's shown as harmless (Maggie hitting Homer with a mallet after seeing it on The Itchy & Scratchy Show/Bart hitting Homer over the head with a chair after demonstrating it on Pyro).
"Homer vs. Patty and Selma": A government clerk smokes in a building (Patty and Selma at the DMV/the county clerk who gives Homer his divorce for eight dollars).
Goofs and Continuity Errors[]
Kirk's yellow eyebrows
In this episode, Kearney is riding the bus, but in "Lisa's Date with Density" (which came before this episode in production code order rather than broadcast order), Kearney has a car. It could be possible that the car has broken down, been stolen, or perhaps Kearney has lost his license (or never had one), or maybe, since he's actually a good father despite bullying kids his son's age, he rode the bus with his son for safety reasons (and to go to school) .
In this episode, Marge wants to cook Bart butterscotch chicken as a reward for getting three cavities at the dentist, but in "Blood Feud," Marge reveals that Bart is allergic to butterscotch, imitation butterscotch, and glow-in-the-dark monster makeup.
In the flashback to the quickie wedding at Shotgun Pete's and the inexpensive cake, Marge laments that there are no guests, especially not her friends to see this. In The Simpsons Movie, when Homer realizes his family left Alaska and Marge figures the only way for him to get the message was tape over their VHS footage of their wedding; at the very end there is a remnant of the original footage of the wedding, which shows Marge and Homer doing a solo dance while multiple wedding guests watch.
When he gives Starla the keys, Kirk's eyebrows briefly turn yellow.
Homer could not easily get a divorce from Marge as in a ton of cases it takes a while to process one and Marge would have had to sign the divorce papers as well.
It could be possible that Homer signed Marge as he's able to do such thing. In "The Trouble with Trillions", he mentioned that Marge was also signed on the tax (he probably signed her there) and in "Trash of the Titans" Marge mentions that Homer had signed for her many times. Also in "HOMЯ" Homer signs Marge without her knowing about it so there's no doubt he did it in this episode offscreen. Or maybe, this was the subtle clue that Homer was going to reset their marriage and give Marge the wedding she always wanted.
After Marge shortens a candle to be level with an adjacent candle, what was previously the bigger one very briefly returns to its original height when she moves them back into their proper positions.
Homer and Marge's outfits in the wedding flashback change slightly when it switches from archive footage from "I Married Marge" to new footage.
It would be unnecessary for Kirk to be fired from the Cracker Factory all because he became single. In fact, if Springfield is in a state that allowed it, Kirk could sue the company for discrimination over his marital status.
Why would Kirk be proud about sleeping in a single bed when "Grampa vs. Sexual Inadequacy" revealed that he and Luanne sleep in twin beds and plan on pushing them together to have sex after buying Grampa's love tonic?
Kirk says his new girlfriend, Starla, is an intern at KZOG Radio 530 and will help him launch his singing career. 530 radio stations are reserved for traffic reports. Though this could be interpreted as a clue that Starla tricked him and really wanted to steal his car.
