# Pop culture references that have yet to be lampooned on "the Simpsons" **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [August 3, 2005, 9:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pop-culture-references-that-have-yet-to-be-lampooned-on-the-simpsons/315475 "2005-08-03T21:00:44Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![mobo85](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b19c9b/32.png) [@mobo85](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mobo85)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2005, 3:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pop-culture-references-that-have-yet-to-be-lampooned-on-the-simpsons/315475/41 "2005-08-05T15:24:17Z")
> [@Amethyst](#): > > As an aside Zoom is still on PBS …[http://pbskids.org/zoom/](http://pbskids.org/zoom/) Yeah, I knew that. This is the last year. Shows from the past are coming back, PBS-style. Sesame Workshop has announced a new version of _The Electric Company_. Sorry for going off-topic. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Bird](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/3ec8ea/32.png) [@Little\_Bird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Bird)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2005, 4:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pop-culture-references-that-have-yet-to-be-lampooned-on-the-simpsons/315475/42 "2005-08-05T16:42:18Z")
> [@Ellis Dee](#): > > There are few things less hip and more irrelevant to pop culture today than comic books. The CBG character himself is a clue that the Simpsons finds all things comic book to be lame and for losers. > > [snip] > > I think only X-Men had no tv audience to draw from, but at least it sucked in all the trekkies with Picard. Batman, Spiderman, the Hulk; they are drawing in the Gen-Xers with tv nostalgia, not comic book fans having nerdgasms. 😕😕😕 Whaaa? First off, X-Men has had at least two cartoons on TV, so there has to be some kind of TV audience for them. Second off, [Simpsons](http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0060007974/ref=pd_bxgy_img_2/103-7404008-4691832?v=glance&s=books) and [Futurama](http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0060739096/ref=pd_bxgy_img_2/103-7404008-4691832?v=glance&s=books&n=507846) both have their own comic book titles, so I can’t imagine that they find “_all things comic book to be lame and for losers_.” Third off, egads man! Pop culture is **all over** comic books lately. They are \*not \*just for vile geek sub-creatures to drool over. Have you been living under a rock? ---
**Author:** ![MovieMogul](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f08c70/32.png) [@MovieMogul](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MovieMogul)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2005, 4:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pop-culture-references-that-have-yet-to-be-lampooned-on-the-simpsons/315475/43 "2005-08-05T16:50:17Z")
> [@Tentacle Monster](#): > > I’d go as far to say that the Simpsons has never referenced a Cohen Bros. movie. Who are the Cohen Bros? As for the _Coen_ Bros., _The Simpsons_ also named two episodes “Bart the Fink” and “O Brother, Where Art Thou?” (though in all fairness, the TV show appropriated that title before the Coens did). ---
**Author:** ![F.U.Shakespeare](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/aca169/32.png) [@F.U.Shakespeare](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/F.U.Shakespeare)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2005, 5:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pop-culture-references-that-have-yet-to-be-lampooned-on-the-simpsons/315475/44 "2005-08-05T17:25:56Z")
IIRC, in the episode where Bart gets a ‘Big Brother’ because Homer forgot to pick him up (after soccer practice?), he turns down an invite from Milhous et al – they are excitedly going to see “… an R-rated movie! It’s called _Barton Fink_!” I personally liked BF, but there probably isn’t a movie of _any_ rating that 10-year olds dreaming of smut would be more disappointed in. > [@ArchiveGuy](#): > > Who are the Cohen Bros? > > As for the _Coen_ Bros., _The Simpsons_ also named two episodes “Bart the Fink” and “O Brother, Where Art Thou?” (though in all fairness, the TV show appropriated that title before the Coens did). ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2005, 5:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pop-culture-references-that-have-yet-to-be-lampooned-on-the-simpsons/315475/45 "2005-08-05T17:34:37Z")
> [@F. U. Shakespeare](#): > > I personally liked BF, but there probably isn’t a movie of _any_ rating that 10-year olds dreaming of smut would be more disappointed in. Wanna bet? Nelson [walking out of a theatre with _NAKED LUNCH_ on the marqué]: There are at least two things wrong with that title. ---
**Author:** ![mobo85](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b19c9b/32.png) [@mobo85](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mobo85)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2005, 11:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pop-culture-references-that-have-yet-to-be-lampooned-on-the-simpsons/315475/46 "2005-08-05T23:34:13Z")
> [@ArchiveGuy](#): > > As for the _Coen_ Bros., _The Simpsons_ also named two episodes “Bart the Fink” and “O Brother, Where Art Thou?” (though in all fairness, the TV show appropriated that title before the Coens did). Also, in a dream sequence, Homer met Steve Bucemi and referred to him as “the guy who got fed into the wood chipper in _Fargo_.” ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2005, 2:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pop-culture-references-that-have-yet-to-be-lampooned-on-the-simpsons/315475/47 "2005-08-06T14:40:17Z")
**mobo85** , I’m aware of the preferred [nomenclature](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0118715/quotes). ---
**Author:** ![Evil\_Captor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f17d59/32.png) [@Evil\_Captor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Evil_Captor)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2005, 8:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pop-culture-references-that-have-yet-to-be-lampooned-on-the-simpsons/315475/48 "2005-08-06T20:42:02Z")
I don’t think they’ve done furries. True, Homer Simpson was molested by a panda while wearing a panda suit, but since it was an actual panda, it doesn’t count. Bestiality, a whole 'nother thing, I believe. ---
**Author:** ![EllisDee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ellisdee/32/4531_2.png) [@EllisDee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EllisDee)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2005, 12:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pop-culture-references-that-have-yet-to-be-lampooned-on-the-simpsons/315475/49 "2005-08-07T12:31:09Z")
> [@Little Bird](#): > > 😕😕😕 > Whaaa? > > First off, X-Men has had at least two cartoons on TV, so there has to be some kind of TV audience for them. Well, my point was that the movies based on comic books are popular because of tv shows, not the books themselves. (Just saw Spiderman 2 last night, and laughed when the woman started singing the lyrics I posted. Clearly, the makers of Spiderman were giving the nod to fans of the type I posited.) > [@](#): > > Second off, [Simpsons](http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0060007974/ref=pd_bxgy_img_2/103-7404008-4691832?v=glance&s=books) and [Futurama](http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0060739096/ref=pd_bxgy_img_2/103-7404008-4691832?v=glance&s=books&n=507846) both have their own comic book titles, so I can’t imagine that they find “_all things comic book to be lame and for losers_.” > Third off, egads man! Pop culture is **all over** comic books lately. They are \*not \*just for vile geek sub-creatures to drool over. Have you been living under a rock? Well, I was inferring their sentiment from the depiction of CBG. One could make a similar statement regarding their feelings about bar regulars. I didn’t know they had their own comics, but I certainly don’t see the love for comics on the Simpsons that I do in, say, a Kevin Smith production. (Just as an example.) Pop culture may be deluged with all things comics, but how did The Hulk and The Fantastic Four do at the box office? My hypothesis (driven by tv, not comics) predicts that The Hulk draws much more money than the Fantastic Four based solely on the Bill Bixby show. I am willing to abandon this theory if it turns out that The Hulk did not draw noticeably more money. (Both were fairly widely panned as sucking, so it would seem to be a reasonable test.) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pop-culture-references-that-have-yet-to-be-lampooned-on-the-simpsons/315475.md?page=2)