Cultural References
This episode's title "The Courtship of Stewie's Father", is a take off the title "The Courtship of Eddie's Father".
The 1963 movie starred Glenn Ford, Shirley Jones & Ron Howard.
The 1969-1972 TV series that followed starred Bill Bixby & Brandon Cruz
Stewie: “With Lois out of the way I can finally focus on my life's ambition of taking pictures of Madison County.”
Stewie inserts himself into the basic plot of the book and subsequent 1995 movie “The Bridges of Madison County” starring Clint Eastwood and Meryl Streep w/ Stewie replacing Eastwood's character Robert Kincaid as the disinterested love interest of Streep's character Francesca Johnson
ObiWan: “The Sand People frighten easily but they'll be back and in greater numbers”
This is a direct line that ObiWan said to Luke in “Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope”
Cleveland: “That's how I won friends when I worked for E!”
Cleveland had a job w/ the E! Entertainment cable channel which is known for having lengthy “red carpet” shows before prominent award events, as well as horrible reality shows.
Cleveland: “Seabiscuit! Seabiscuit!”
“Seabiscuit” was a famous racehorse in the 30's & 40's as well as the title of a 2003 movie about said horse starring Jeff Bridges & Tobey Maguire.
However, Cleveland mistakes Penelope Cruz for Seabiscuit and feeds her a carrot.
Stewie: “Well I suppose it's not the first time someone's made a miscalculation”
In a parody of 1989's Back to the Future: Part II, Doc returns to 1985 to tell Marty and Jennifer that their daughter marries a black man. Their nonchalant reaction is one Doc was not expecting.
Peter: “Oh Yes! That means I get to be employee of the month.”
Angela: “No you're not Griffin, I'm giving it to Soundwave.”
Soundwave is a character from the cartoon series & movie series Transformers.
He is a Decepticon & is Megatron's (the leader of the Decepticons) right hand robot.
Tom Tucker: “Coming up next, an exclusive interview with Andrew Shue”
Andrew Shue was one of the stars of Melrose Place from 1992-1998. Since then he's essentially retired from acting so there's really nothing “exclusive” about an interview w/ him.
Brian: “Hey, I'll know what'll cheer you up.”
Brian does “Peanut Butter Jelly Time”, an Internet flash animation featuring “The Dancing Banana” aka “Humba the Banana” that emerged in the early 2000s and became an Internet phenomenon. The song of the same name was recorded by the DJ Chipman of the Buckwheat Boyz.
Peter: “Hey check it out Stewie. Halle Berry's Wild Ride”
The name is a take off on the Disneyland & Disney World's Magic Kingdom attraction “Mr Toad's Wild Ride”. The Disneyland ride still exists but it closed for good in 1998 at the Magic Kingdom.
It also refers to a real life incident involving Halle Berry and her 2000 hit and run accident where she pleaded “no contest”
Kid: “Wow! It looks like Michael Jackson's coming right at me”
The show in question was
“Captain EO”, a 3D film starring
Michael Jackson (1958-2009), directed by
Francis Ford Coppola, produced by
George Lucas & featured actress
Anjelica Huston.
It was an attraction at
Walt Disney World's EPCOT Center from 1986 - 1994.
It was announced in December 2009 that Disney would be revising the
“Captain EO” attraction for a limited time in February 2010.
Crow: “Well, I done seen about everything but I sure enough ain't seen your boy, no how”
When Peter asks the Crows from Disney's Dumbo about Stewie, their answer is a variation of their song lyrics from “When I See An Elephant Fly”
Kid: “You must sing, if you don't, they'll make you do a Christmas movie with Tim Allen”
Tim Allen starred in Disney's The Santa Clause (1994), The Santa Clause 2 (2002) & The Santa Clause 3: The Escape Clause (2006)
Stewie {singing}: “It's a tiny, tiny world. It's a tiny, tiny world.”
Stewie is forced to sing in a ride similar to the Disney World attraction “It's a Small World”
Lois: “Old people have a lot to offer society. Just look at Kim Catrall”
Kim Catrall is an actress who may be best known for her role in the “Sex & The City” series (1998-2004) and 2008 movie.
The (obvious) joke being she is so old she creaks and shatters when she tries to seduce men
Herbert's fantasy musical number is “Somewhere That's Green” from 1986's “The Little Shop of Horrors” with Herbert replacing Ellen Greene's character Audrey Fulquard
Peter: “Why are you dressed like Rerun?”
Rerun aka Fred Stubbs was a character from “What's Happening!!” 1976-1979 & “What's Happening Now!” 1985-1988.
Rerun would wear outrageously colored clothes and the same style of hat as Stewie's costume for “It's A Tiny. Tiny World”
Peter & Stewie escape Disney World via the “Indiana Jones Ride”.
The entire mine cart chase is duplicated from the 1984 movie “Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom”
Peter: Michael Eisner!
Stewie: Cover your heart!
Michael: Kali Ma!
Michael Eisner's “Kali Ma” is also from 1984's “Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom”, spoken by the character Mola Ram during the climax of the film.
Michael's demise is the same thing that happened to Mola Ram in the film.
Michael Eisner was Disney's CEO from 1984 to 2005
Stewie: “Somewhere in this state, Jeb Bush is eating a live puppy”
Jeb Bush is the former governor of Florida. He is the brother of the 43rd president of the U.S., George W. Bush