Although the plot is a spoof of The Golden Girls (1985), which was airing the same night as this show at the time, the casting of Bill Macy as Jo's future ex-husband calls back to Bea Arthur's an earlier sitcom, Maude (1972), where he played her husband and where Conrad Bain also co-starred before he played Mr. Drummond on Diff'rent Strokes (1978), and where future Golden Girl Rue McClanahan played his wife.
In the future fantasy sequence, Tootie says that Jeff dies. This foreshadows The Facts of Life Reunion (2001) in which Jeff died off-camera.
Even though this was aired later in the season, it was filmed in July of 1987, about a month after Nancy McKeon had broken her foot. If you look closely, when she storms out of the kitchen after arguing with Harold, you can see she is still in her cast. She is sitting for most of the show ( and the previous one), and anytime she is walking, the director was very careful not to show her feet.