Original air date: 3/2/2003 (produced in 2002)
Production code: EABF-08
Flanders dates a movie star, and fears her libertine Hollywood lifestyle clashes with his conservative, Christian values.
Tropes:
- Against My Religion: Ned only decides to have sex with Sara if they get married. Sara doesn't want to marry Ned, however, and breaks up with him.
- Alliterative Name: Sara Sloane.
- Ambiguously Bi:
- Sara's demand to have no nudity in a film gets through the director if she's okay with kissing a girl. She agrees without a second thought.
- Also, the Sea Captain. When he believes Flanders is hitting on him, he says he doesn't "do that... on land."
- Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking: The "nights made for lovers, not widowers, lovers" that Homer mentions include such events as the Tongue Kissing Festival, Cinco de Ocho, and the Hobo Oscars®.
- Biting-the-Hand Humor:
- Bart says Fox Network has a new President once every year.
- James L. Brooks appears in Ned’s fantasy of Horrible Hollywood.
- Brick Joke: In Ned's fantasy, James L. Brooks insists that Ned call him "James L. Brooks" instead of "Jim". In the end credits he's credited as "Jim Brooks".
- Celebrity Paradox:
- Rainier Wolfcastle beat up Jon Lovitz, who has voiced several characters on the show, including Artie Ziff, Llewelyn Sinclair and Jay Sherman from The Critic.
- James L. Brooks, one of the Simpsons co-creators, appears as himself.
- Commitment Issues: Sara is reluctant to marry Ned because she doesn't want to be "tied down".
- Cutting Corners: Mrs. K suggests to Skinner they have the band performing play their wedding, but Skinner wanted to use an audio cassette. To compromise, Skinner agrees to the band, but no on the cake.
- Disproportionate Retribution: Rainier Wolfcastle once beat up Jon Lovitz for giving Sara an award, because he thought their handshake was too intimate.
- Distracted by the Sexy: When Sara Sloane's wearing her red dress with a Navel-Deep Neckline, Homer drolls a little over her and drops his nachos when he trips over. He swaps between whining over his nachos and drooling over Sara's breasts.
- Expy: The animators based Sara Sloane on actress Sharon Stone.
- Interrupted Intimacy: Ned and Sara's [[outdoor post-coital cuddling in the wild gets interrupted by a random Lupus Fun Run marathon.
- Lady in Red: For the Springfield Bowl concert, Sara wears a fancy red dress that is backless, has a Navel-Deep Neckline
- Lets Wait Awhile: Downplayed. Ned sleeps with Sara once, but insist they can't again unless they marry. As he says:Ned: I'm like Baskin-Robbins. You get one free taste, then you gotta buy the scoop.
- Love Cannot Overcome: While Sara likes Ned, she doesn't want to get married to him as quickly as he does, and the two end up breaking up due to it.
- Making Love in All the Wrong Places: Ned and Sara have sex outdoors after the concert.
- Manly Tears: Rainier Wolfcastle references this trope when he asks Sara to take him back, saying that if he could cry, he would cry like a baby that just got hit by a hammer.
- Ms. Fanservice: Hollywood star Sara Sloane is a sexpot and a Head-Turning Beauty and the episode milks her sex appeal with several fanservice scenes.
- Mundane Made Awesome: The theme to Itchy and Scratchy is performed live in concert by John Williams.
- Naked Freak-Out: Ned and Sara are pretty embarrassed at being caught naked save for a Modesty Bedsheet by the marathon runners, and cower under it.
- Navel-Deep Neckline: Sara's outfit for the Springfield Bowl concert she and Ned later attend is a red dress with a neckline that reaches her navel, which leaves Ned scandalized. She begrudgingly agrees to wear Ned's jacket... by tying it around her waist, which pushes her bosom out even more.
- The Pirates Who Don't Do Anything: the book club Sara gets invited to spent time coming up with excuses not to read Bridget Jones' Diary instead of simply reading it. And Sara actually bought Helen Fielding along to discuss it as well.
- Sex God: Sara is very happy to find out Ned is pretty amazing in bed (but is less enthused to find out she won't get any more sex unless they marry).Sara: [breathless post-sex] Whoa. Wow. That made me completely forget about Bob Balaban.
Ned: [chuckling] That's what Maude used to say.
Sara: A girl could get used to that... - Shout-Out: When the cast begins to undress, Ned complains that the film is "turning into Spongebob No-Pants".
- Single Woman Seeks Good Man: Sara Sloane is attracted to Ned's down-to-earth nature, and almost marries him.
- Something Else Also Rises: Implied when Rod stares slack-jawed at Sara in her revealing evening gown.Rod: Daddy, where do babies come from?
- Song Parody: After he arranges a date with Sara Sloane, Ned sings his own version of America's "A Horse With No Name", "A Date With No Name" since Sara gave him the alias "Zelda Fitzgerald". However, while he's singing, he sees a movie poster with her on it and he learns who she is.
- Special Guest: Marisa Tomei as Sara Sloane and James L. Brooks and Helen Fielding as themselves.
- Tabloid Melodrama: As soon as word gets out that Ned is dating Sara, tabloids show up at his home and make his life hell.
- Take That!:
- To the tabloids, one of them even saying "come on, let's concoct more lies!" when they break into Ned's house.
- To British Humour and the idea that it's inherently more sophisticated than American humor. To this end, Helen Fielding's movements are scored by the theme song from The Benny Hill Show.
- Toplessness from the Back: When Sara starts taking off her shirt for her nude scene, the audience only sees her back. (and Flanders stops the scene before it can go any further).
- Unable to Cry: Rainier Wolfcastle admits this to Sara when he asks her to take him back, saying that "if tears could break through [his] muscular ducts, [he] would cry like a baby that just got hit by a hammer".
- Vice City: Ned has a Imagine Spot where he imagines Hollywood as one of these when Sara asks Ned to move there with her.
- Whole-Plot Reference: To Notting Hill, the story of a Hollywood star (Sara) dating The Everyman (Ned).
