Question: When Frank Grimes is shown on the news, where is he receiving his degree? He appears to be outside of a house, but he says later that he lives between two bowling alleys.
Answer: There's no telling. Possibly his parents' house. Possibly a house he sold when he moved to Springfield and he had to downgrade when his promised high-paying job went to a dog.
His parents abandoned him.
Good point. Then his own house, wherever he lived before Springfield.
Question: Surly Duff tells a kid to "Take a picture, it'll last longer" - just what does this expression mean?
Answer: It's just a sarcastic response people say when they catch someone staring at them. As if the person staring is trying to burn an image in their mind of what that person looks like and a picture will last longer than the memory.
Answer: Along with the other answer, it's a sarcastic thing that people say to someone who they don't want to be friends with or date. ie. a group of "cool" kids not letting a "loser" type into their group, or a woman rejecting a guy who wants to date her. They are basically saying "I want to get away from you as fast as possible, so you might as well take a picture - it'll last longer than our friendship/relationship would."
Question: When Lisa guesses that Mr. Bergstrom is either Jewish or Italian, why does he quickly say that he is Jewish? As if he certainly doesn't want to be mistaken for Italian?
Answer: When I was a child, my classmate said I could be Jewish, Italian, or Middle Eastern, but I couldn't be what I truly was, Mexican.
Question: I, like Marge, don't know much about football. Why is Homer disappointed to own the Denver Broncos team? I know his first choice was owning the Dallas Cowboys, but he seems to especially dislike the Broncos.
Answer: I don't think the writers had anything particular in mind when choosing the Denver Broncos to be the butt of the joke. But I wonder if it's meant to be a clue where Springfield is. But, while this episode did air late 1996 when the Broncos had a winning season, given the amount of time needed to produce the episode, it was written when the Broncos were a mediocre team at best. From '92-'95 they had a 32-32 record and never finished higher than 3rd in their division. And the Cowboys and Broncos are in separate conferences, so they're not particularly rivals. But as Phaneron points out, the Broncos ended up winning back-to-back Super Bowls in the following 2 season after this episode aired, so Homer is a very lucky guy.
Probably also worth mentioning that by the time this episode had aired, the Broncos had an 0-4 record in the Super Bowl, and to this day I believe they hold the record for most Super Bowl losses.
The Buffalo Bills also had an 0-4 record at the time of airing having lost 4 straight years.
The Vikings are also 0-4 in the Super Bowl. The Patriots have 5 losses (although only had 1 at the time this episode aired).
True, and they would have been a funnier pick for Homer to end up owning, given that two consecutive of those four Super Bowl losses were to the Cowboys. Although Homer fantasizing about being John Elway in the episode Cape Feare makes his disdain for the Broncos rather funny.
Warrin' Priests Part 2 - S31-E20
Question: Is there a reason Bart was so conspicuously absent from these two episodes? Homer even asks where he's been.
Answer: He was probably irrelevant to the plot so he was not included.
It's called lampshade hanging. By drawing our attention to it the producers are letting us know they are aware it is an issue.
Yes, but even when the family is having dinner together, he's not there.
Question: I remember a scene in one episode when Maggie is outside the house at night looking for Marge. She thinks she sees Marge's hair sticking up from behind a fence, but when she looks behind the fence, it turns out it's just a tree. Which episode was that?
Answer: "Homer Alone" from season three.
Question: Looking for the episode where a parody of the Incredible Hulk is standing before a judge and requests a change of venue, arguing it "cannot get a fair trial in Springfield."
Answer: S20e01, "Sex, Pies, and Idiot Scrapes." It was St. Patrick's Day and the Nationalist Irish (dressed in green) and the Unionist North Irish (dressed in orange) people got into a fight. There's a scene where a parody of Hulk fights a parody of The Thing. Later, all the people involved in the fight are lined up to see the judge and Mulk says he can't get a fair trial in downtown Springfield.
Question: I know that Bart the Mother was Phil Hartman's last episode before his death as Troy McClure but what was his last episode as Lionel Hutz?
Answer: His final speaking role was in "Realty Bites," but his actual final appearance was in "A Tale of Two Springfields," where he can briefly be seen trying to climb over the wall of garbage.
Answer: The news crew might have wanted to film him outside, on a nearby street, instead of going to his apartment. It looks more cheerful.