(part of my ongoing Unexpected Literary References series) Stephen King work makes as many cartoon appearances it seems as Stephen King books do bookshelves. This reference, from the Wizard of Oz spoof segment of the Futurama episode Anthology of Interest II (Season 3, episode 21) occurs when Fry, portraying the Scarecrow, attempts to scare a crow by reading a section from Stephen…
(part of my ongoing Unexpected Literary References series) An old episode, and honestly one of my least favorites. Not sure why, but this one just never did it for me. These two references come from the season two episode titled "A Picture Is Worth 1,000 Bucks" in which Chris becomes a hot-shot New York artist. First, an evil stuffed clown at…
(part of my ongoing Unexpected Literary References series) Yet another Family Guy take on something Stephen King, this time with parodies of three movie adaptations of King works: Stand by Me (based on the novella The Body), Misery (based on the novel of the same name), and The Shawshank Redemption (based on the novella Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption). Peter: Hi, it's…
(part of my ongoing Unexpected Literary References series) In yet another The Simpsons (un)expected literary reference, Stephen King's novel, Under the Dome is called out for its similarities to the 2007 The Simpsons Movie, both stories incorporating a town-sized dome to seal people off from the outside world. The overt commentary may be a further play on the South Park episode, …
(part of my ongoing Unexpected Literary References series) When watching a rerun of the "Britney's New Look" episode of South Park a few nights ago, I caught an allusion to the famous short story, "The Lottery," by Shirley Jackson (minute 16:36 in the clip here). Which makes me wonder, in what other unexpected places do literary references and allusions appear? Staying…
(part of my ongoing Unexpected Literary References series) Though the episode is quite old, I caught this reference to Stephen King and Dean Koontz in the episode called "Brian in Love" from season 2 of Family Guy. On the surface, the gag speaks simply to the poor man's Stephen King perception of Dean Koontz. But, when you consider the real life…
(part of my ongoing Unexpected Literary References series) Season 1, episode 15 ("Star Trek"), of the always entertaining "American Dad" plots the sudden rise of Steve Smith as a children's book author. This premise, of course, is perfect for literary nods. Strange, though, that I only caught two. See the entire episode here: Additional hilarious photo (I paused the embedded video…