Cultural References
The title of the episode parodies the title of the 1988 cult film, Hell Comes to Frogtown. In the opening scene of the episode, Peter, Joe, Quagmire and Cleveland are shown playing ping pong at the local bar. Once Joe accidentally hits their final ping pong ball out a window, Peter responds by forcing the puppet character Mr. Moose, from the children's television series Captain Kangaroo, to tell a knock-knock joke. This causes hundreds of ping pong balls to cascade from the ceiling above them. Going on to exclaim the amount of fun he is having, Peter recounts his performance in a Broadway musical version of the 1984 film Red Dawn.
After being reminded to pick up Meg at the local roller rink, Peter and his friends decide to go skating After returning home without Meg, the Griffin family are shown watching a Pepperidge Farm commercial on their television. Immediately afterwards, Meg enters her home, and begs her parents to get buy her a new vehicle. Reluctant to do so, Peter informs Meg that plenty of people are able to get around without a car, including the fictional Marvel Comics superhero Iceman. Finally deciding to give in and purchase a vehicle for Meg, the Griffin family head to the local car dealership. While there, Brian notices a large amount of Hummers, and questions who would ever want to drive one. A cutaway then shows a loud, obnoxious man driving a yellow Hummer, who goes on to brag about being able to watch the 2005 film Madagascar while driving, and proceeds to destroy two vehicles in the process while yelling the name of former United States Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld.
Returning home with the tank, Peter decides to surprise his wife, Lois, with his new purchase. Once Lois opens her eyes, she exclaims the phrase "Bocce balls!", which was originally from the 1984 comedy film Splash. Coming to accept the tank, Lois and Peter decide to take it to a drive-in theater, where they are shown watching a film entitled The Even Couple, by screenwriter Neil Simon, and starring actors Jeff Daniels and Bill Pullman. The next day, after the tank is impounded by Joe, the family is shown watching the CBS television drama Ghost Whisperer, with Jennifer Love Hewitt then appearing on screen. Meg then interrupts, and expresses her anger at her father for allowing the tank to be impounded. Her father then responds by stating that it is "not the worst thing" he has ever done, with a cutaway of Peter murdering Yogi Bear then being shown.
Frustrated by her father, Meg decides to get a job at Superstore USA. As she is being instructed about her job by her new boss, he tells her to feed the deformed man Sloth from the 1985 film The Goonies. As Superstore USA begins to take over the town, it is announced that rolling blackouts will be performed in order to meet the store's need for electricity. A commercial during Quahog's local news is then played, parodying the theme to the 1971 children's television series The Electric Company. While Stewie and Brian attack the store, the manager of Superstore USA runs to hide in the bathroom before being crushed by the billboard in front of him. This is a reference to the Jurassic Park scene where a visitor also hides in a bathroom before being eaten by the T-Rex.
Read more about this topic: Hell Comes To Quahog
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—For the State of Illinois, U.S. public relief program (1935-1943)