They also re-aired "Turkeys Away" very early on with an odd intro where Gary Sandy, out of character, introduced the episode by discussing how much mail they'd received on the episode. Now it make sense as a hiatus delay tactic.

"Mow the lawn or no num-nums tonight."

Well, it was the considerable charms of Mary Frann that lured Johnny to the dark side. When he's still dubious about disco, he thumbs through the records on set:

Good point. To this day, when I hear the song, I think of that scene and this exchange:

"People are going to think we're sisters….well, siblings."

It was a small role, but he provided some Chicago authenticity in "Only the Lonely." He does quiet discomfort very well, in that movie as John Candy's brother who made it and got the wife and family out in the suburbs while Candy tended to the irascible Maureen O'Hara as their mother.

It's not a movie! Don't know why, but I always loved that Letterman bit.

Troy McClure also starred in the spinoff "AfterMannix."

That was also the genesis of "Saturday Night Live." Johnny Carson felt that the low ratings of the Tonight Show repeats that NBC stuck in Saturdays at 11:30 were damaging what we'd now call the Tonight Show "brand."

Several years ago, I read an interview with Tom Wolfe, and after talk of literature and Wolfe's influences, the interviewer asked him if, like regular Joes, he had any TV series that he watched on a weekly basis.

On Shakedown Street, the Grateful Dead recorded "Stagger Lee," which was a sequel to the original song of the same name, most famously recorded by Lloyd Price.

I smell Jukebox Musical!!

That is my all-time favorite Simpsons bait-and-switch joke.

That's actually Mark Twain performing his one-man theatrical tribute to Hal Holbrook.

"They say a comedian says funny things, but a comic says things funny. That would make me….a juggler."

I actually remember the WPIX ad campaign when they got the HSB syndication rights (they originally tried it in a more heavily watched hour). The ad centered on the theme that regular folks couldn't pronounce "Furillo" but enjoyed the show.

I remember reading a story about shooting Flanders' last scene and Bruce Paltrow shouting to the cast and crew something like, "Ladies and gentlemen, Ed Flanders, the best actor in America!"

While the remark was crude, I think it was more a sardonic reflection of the housekeeper's concern for Chance's well-being after they were forced out of the house. She knew (or thought she did) that he didn't have the wits to provide for himself and was joking that he wasn't suitably equipped to land a woman based on…

And they would keep looping it depending on how long they needed to fill between scenes.

Is it possible that Randall was under orders from NBC not to say that explicitly? From what I remember and a cursory Google search, they never said on the show that Sidney was gay.