- There are lots of references to James Bond, including the beginning, quotes, etc.. One of Tearjerker's henchmen is called Gums, which is a parody of Jaws.
- As the title suggests, the movie Oscar Gold is a pastiche of many of the clichés about Oscar-nominated movies and features every element that supposedly guarantees a nomination, including:
- Nazis/Fascists/Holocaust (Schindler's List, Life is Beautiful, The Counterfeiters, The Pianist, Jakob the Liar, Pan's Labyrinth)
- World War II (Saving Private Ryan, The Thin Red Line, The English Patient, Atonement, Letters from Iwo Jima)
- Handicapped protagonist (Babel, The Piano, Rain Man, Forrest Gump, Ray)
- Struggling with illness or addiction (A Beautiful Mind, As Good as it Gets, Shine, Million Dollar Baby, Half Nelson, Ray)
- Child protagonist (The Piano, Pan's Labyrinth, Atonement, Babel, Whale Rider, Fly Away Home, Spirited Away)
- Cruel humans (No Country for Old Men, There Will Be Blood, Sweeney Todd, Syriana, Pan's Labyrinth, The Counterfeiters, The Piano, Amistad)
- Death of a loved one and attendant epiphany (Pan's Labyrinth, The Lion King, Atonement)
- Tearjerker's appalling and weepy opus about a retarded Jewish boy living in an attic during WWII not only recalls The Diary of Anne Frank, but also an oblique reference to the infamous never-released surreal weeper The Day the Clown Cried, starring Jerry Lewis as a clown who entertains Jewish children in a Nazi death camp.
- Greg and Terry's outfits are an homage to The Beatles in Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band.
- Roger attempts an escape in a tear-shaped escape pod and the mountain face is shaped like Roger, just like Dr. Evil in the Austin Powers series.
- When Johnny Depp is being taken off to the spa by Mani and Pedi, Pedi makes a remark that he's going to "try and touch Gilbert's Grapes" a reference to the Depp film What's Eating Gilbert Grape?.
- When Mani and Pedi run after Stan and shock against a post because they were holding hands, it possibly refers to the The Adventures of Tintin's comic book The Black Island, when Thomson and Thompson shock against a post because they were handcuffed to each other.
- When Stan meets Matthew McConaughey, the actor is playing bongo drums. This is a nod to McConaughey's 1999 arrest for disturbing the peace by playing bongo drums. After the robot McConaughey falls to his death in the pit, he is surrounded by cats, a reference to a similar scene in Raiders of the Lost Ark, when Indiana Jones falls in a tomb full of snakes.
- The DVD commentary for this episode reveals the ending scene, Tearjerker's burned hand is an homage to the 1980 movie, Flash Gordon.
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<< Season 2 | American Dad Season 3 | Season 4 >> | ||||||
#01 | The Vacation Goo | #07 | Surro-Gate | #13 | Red October Sky | |||
#02 | Meter Made | #08 | The Most Adequate Christmas Ever | #14 | Office Spaceman | |||
#03 | Dope & Faith | #09 | Frannie 911 | #15 | Stanny Slickers 2: The Legend of Ollie's Gold | |||
#04 | Big Trouble in Little Langley | #10 | Tearjerker | #16 | Spring Break-Up | |||
#05 | Haylias | #11 | Oedipal Panties | |||||
#06 | 42-Year-Old Virgin | #12 | Widowmaker |