History Recap / TheSimpsonsS4E19TheFront

-->'''Marge''': Third notice... final notice... some ''guys'' are coming... an invitation to our high school reunion!

* CallBack: After Homer "wins" all the prizes, former principal Dondelinger announces that the prizes are invalid because Homer never graduted from high school. In [[Recap/TheSimpsonsS2E12TheWayWeWas "The Way We Was"]] it was already established that Homer wasn't very academically oriented to begin with, and when he shows up at the prom, Dondelinger's surprised to see him there, even saying: "Simpson? I thought you dropped out."

''(Homer walks into the living room with a plunger on his head)''\\

-->'''Homer''': Alright, brain. You don't like me, and I don't like you, but let's just do this and I can get back to killing you with beer. \\
'''Homer's Brain''': It's a deal!

--->'''Bart''': ''(points submachine gun at Santa)'' Lie in the snow and count to sixty! ''(jumps in sleigh and takes off)'' [[EvilLaugh Mwahahahaha!]] Merry Christmas, suckers!

-->'''Meyers Jr.''': You call this writing?! If I puked in a fountain pen and mailed it to the monkey house, I'd get better scripts!\\
'''Graduate''': But sir, at Harvard they-\\
'''Meyers Jr.''': Oh, at Harvard they taught ya? Hit the road, egghead. You should've majored in not getting fired.

--->'''Meyers Jr.''': ''(after crumpling Bart and Lisa's script into a ball)'' Hey, egghead! ''(Graduate sticks his head in the office)'' Sing 'Fair Harvard'!\\
'''Graduate''': ''(singing)'' Faaa-ir Harvard, I- ''(is interrupted by Meyers Jr. tossing the crumpled-up script into his open mouth. The graduate removes the paper ball, incensed)'' You, sir, have the boorish manners of a Yalie!\\
'''Meyers Jr.''': Here's a witty rejoinder for ya! ''(tosses his nameplate at the graduate's head, causing him to leave the office, moaning in pain)''

--->'''Graduate''': Sir! You locked my office and I wanted to get my Harvard mug!\\
'''Meyers Jr.''': Shut up! ''(once again tosses his nameplate at the grad's head, causing him to leave in pain once more)''

--> "Well, here we are. The star of ''[[Film/TheBlueLagoon1980 The Blue Lagoon]]'' and me: The blue-''haired'' goon!" (''Krusty realizes what he just said.'') "What the...? That's ''terrible''!" [...] "First of all, my hair is green, not blue! I've got nothing to work with here! Nothing!" (''Krusty walks off stage'')

--> "Well, here we are. The star of ''[[Film/TheBlueLagoon1980 The Blue Lagoon]]'' and me: The blue-''haired'' goon!" (''Krusty realizes what he just said.'') "What the...? That's ''terrible''!" [...] "First of all, my hair is green, not blue! I've got nothing to work with here! Nothing!"

After watching a mediocre episode of ''The Itchy and Scratchy Show'', Bart and Lisa decide that they know enough about the show and what's funny to pen their own episodes, but after getting rejected by Roger Meyers, Jr. because of their age, the duo use Grampa Simpson as a front. Meanwhile, Homer and Marge go to their high school reunion, where Homer is revealed to have never graduated because he failed remedial science and goes to night school to make up the lost credit.

* AcquaintanceDenial: The episode opens with Bart and Lisa watching Krusty's show and remarking on how he's trying to distance himself from his Jewish heritage. Then Homer runs in with a plunger stuck to his head and Bart and Lisa discuss what names they're going to take to distance themselves from him.

* AreYouPonderingWhatImPondering: After Bart suggests that he and Lisa could write a better episode of Itchy and Scratchy, Lisa poses this question to Bart, to which Bart casually responds "Probably not" before showing his ImagineSpot listed below.

* BarbershopEpisode: ShowWithinAShow example; the episode of ''Itchy and Scratchy'' that Bart and Lisa write upon seeing Homer accidentally cut off Marge's hair while trimming the hedges is "Little Barbershop of Horrors", where Itchy gives Scratchy a very painful haircut.

* CallBack: After Homer "wins" all the prizes, former principal Dondelinger announces that the prizes are invalid because Homer never graduted from high school. In [[Recap/TheSimpsonsS2E12TheWayWeWas "The Way We Was"]] it was already established that Homer wasn't very academically oriented to begin with, and when he shows up at the prom, Dondelinger's surprised to see him there, even saying: "Simpson? I thought you dropped out."
** The ending theme to ''Itchy & Scratchy'' is in the same tone as the opening to the violence-free {{retool}} of the show in "[[Recap/TheSimpsonsS2E9ItchyAndScratchyAndMarge Itchy & Scratchy & Marge]]".

* ComicalOverreacting: Homer screaming and mourning at the teacher burning a donut for a science experiment.
-->'''Homer:''' This is ''not'' happening. This is ''not'' happening!!

* CuttingCorners: Went meta when Bart and Lisa visit the animation studio that produces Itchy and Scratchy. Roger Myers Jr. tells them animation is expensive, and they cut corners where they can, such as looping backgrounds. They pass the same cleaning lady and door several times as this is said.
* DeliberateValuesDissonance: It's noted that ''Itchy and Scratchy'' ran cartoons entitled ''Itchy and Sambo'' back in the 1930s ("sambo" being a term, usually a slur, for a person of mixed African-First Nations heritage), a nod to the many old cartoons that utilized racist humor and caricatures and are now rather hard to find on the airwaves.

* IsThisThingStillOn: After the lame ''Itchy and Scratchy'', the show cuts back to Krusty: "Ehh, I could pull a better cartoon out of my a-- ''(Notices he's on, then chuckles)'' Hey! Whoa! Wasn't that great, kids?"

** Lisa once watched a series of cartoons called ''Itchy and Sambo''[[note]]implied to be a series that has fallen out of favor due to ValuesDissonance, as "sambo" is one of many racial slurs against black people[[/note]] and thinks they're worse than the mediocre episode of ''Itchy and Scratchy'' she and Bart just watched.

* StylisticSuck: The ''Itchy and Scratchy'' episode that kickstarts the plot is a deliberately terrible one where Itchy just whacks Scratchy with a hammer before both turn to the camera just to give a poorly implemented "DrugsAreBad" message.

** The ''Itchy and Scratchy'' short ''Dazed And Contused'' mocks {{very special episode}}s of cartoon shows in the late 1980s and early 1990s which shoehorned in unsubtle anti-drug and anti-violence messages.

* WhatCouldHaveBeen: In-universe example. When Bart and Lisa were writing their first Itchy and Scratchy story, Lisa suggested Itchy could cut down Scratchy's head but Bart deemed it too obvious and came up with the idea they used instead of it.

** Krusty mentions this in regard to the Itchy and Scratchy episode "Dazed and Contused", which basically had Itchy tapping Scratchy's head with a mallet repeatedly, then saying "Kids, say no to drugs!"
--->'''Krusty''': (Back on the air, smoking a cigarette) Ehh... I could pull a better cartoon out of my a... (turns to the camera and notices he's back on the air and immediately stops himself and tosses away the cigarette) ...ahhehehahahaha! (runs to them) Hey, whoa! Wasn't that great, kids?!

--> '''Roger Meyers Jr.''': Sometimes, to save money, our animators will re-use the same backgrounds over and over and over again.

'''Marge''': That still doesn't explain why you ate all the soaps. Wait, maybe it ''does''...

* BerserkButton: Calling Krusty's hair blue. He walks out on hosting an awards show over a pun on ''Film/TheBlueLagoon''.

--> "Well, here we are. The star of ''Film/TheBlueLagoon'' and me: The blue-''haired'' goon!" (''Krusty realizes what he just said.'') "What the...? That's ''terrible''!" [...] "First of all, my hair is green, not blue! I've got nothing to work with here! Nothing!" (''Krusty walks off stage'')

* TakeThat

--> "Well, here we are. The star of ''Film/TheBlueLagoon'' and me: The blue-''haired'' goon!" (''Krusty realizes what he just said.'') "What the...? That's ''terrible''!" [...] "First of all, my hair is green, not blue! I've got nothing to work with here! Nothing!"