When Homer pulls his VHS collection out, there are two references to earlier Simpsons history The first one comes in the form of one of the titles of the cassettes: "Wedding Video/Alaska Speech". This is a reference to The Simpsons Movie (2007) in which Marge tapes her talking about her and the kids returning to Springfield over their wedding video. The second reference is when Marge pulls out a VHS which has the Tracy Ullman show and Homer speaks in his old voice, the one used on the early Simpsons, which premiered on the Tracy Ullman show.
The episode is in loving memory to Tom Wolfe who died aged 88 six days before the episode aired