PRODUCTION/CULTURAL REFERENCES (written 2/16/25)
-I came up with this idea in the summer of 2023. The Usher song "U Remind Me" inspired the idea, but for some reason, I didn't think it had potential at first. I don't know why I was resistant to it, but I saw it as more of a segment than an episode at first. As time went on, I started to warm myself up to the idea and I thought it would be interesting to see Buster and Diana's relationship in a way I hadn't explored before.
-One thing I regret not doing before I killed Diana off was giving her much of a character. She was brought on to be Buster's girlfriend, but she didn't have a role on the show beyond that. Adriana and Anna only received character development after a number of years, but Diana's only real trait was that she was a One Direction fan. She became a bigger character when she was dead than when she was alive. This episode was my first opportunity to show why Diana meant so much to Buster and what made their relationship work. Through Natalie, Buster gets the chance to be with Diana again without knowing it.
-I took some inspiration from the Frasier episode "Frasier's Imaginary Friend" for the story. I had the idea of Buster realizing that Natalie is Diana and not wanting to be around her, but the comedy came from the idea that the kids believe that Natalie isn't real. Originally, Buster was going to go to extreme lengths to prove that Natalie exists and screw up the relationship in that way. It was supposed to be similar to the Frasier episode. But probably because of a lack of time, I just went with the idea that Buster mistakes what Sparky said and genuinely believes that Diana was reincarnated as Natalie. The episode is really about Buster finally coming to terms with what happened to Diana and moving on. "Savi's Revenge" played into this, but that was more about Diana redeeming herself after what she did. In Buster's own way, he gets to say goodbye in this episode.
-I came up with the subplot a couple months ago when I found out one of my local corner stores (which rebranded as a smoke shop) was shut down by the police for illegal sale of marijuana. I decided to make that an actual story about Jaylynn and RK protesting the shutdown while having no understanding of what it would take to get the store reopened. Between the time I came up with the subplot and the time I finished the episode, the corner store reopened, so I incorporated that into the story.
-I believe this was one of the replacements for season ten, because I had other episodes lined up that I decided to hold off on. I don't think this was always meant to be in season ten and I only decided to go through with it last spring.
-On October 16, 2024, Liam Payne died after falling off the balcony at a hotel in Buenos Aires, Argentina. I thought about making a reference to that on the show since Buster is a One Direction fan, and I stopped dedicating episodes to people after season eight. The opening scene was my way of addressing it and also paying tribute to Liam, along with using "Kiss You" in the episode.
-The picture of Buster and Diana eating beef patties is a callback to "Savi's Revenge," when Diana (having returned as a ghost) finds the same picture in Buster's drawer.
-One thing I came up with before writing the episode was Buster asking RK about Diana, because in the season two episode "Quadruple Date," it was established that Diana dated RK before she met Buster.
-Buster's dream about the pineapple soda was a reference to Corona Extra commercials.
-I didn't have any ideas for what Sparky and Jaylynn could talk about, so I just had them mention a random artist. I was thinking about the Full House episode "Honey, I Broke the House" when D.J. and Kimmy randomly mention New Kids on the Block right before they see the car in the kitchen.
-When Buster describes his ideal girlfriend, Jaylynn references the premise of The Powerpuff Girls.
-Bitch Clock's story is a reference to CM Punk's interview with Ariel Helwani in March 2024. In the interview, Punk talks about the events that led to his firing from AEW in September 2023, specifically the backstage confrontation with Jack "Jungle Boy" Perry at the All In pay-per-view. One thing Punk said was that he didn't kill anybody, he just choked Jungle Boy a little bit.
-Bitch Clock references the Nas song "Last Real N**** Alive," specifically the lines "It made me stronger/Now, I get my paper longer."
-When describing his strategy for meeting girls at the mixer, Buster references the Sopranos episode "Guy Walks Into a Psychiatrist's Office." In the episode, Christopher explains to Matt and Sean the proper way to run the pump and dump stockbroker scam, telling them "Contrarily, you let him do his bidding. Suavely. So, you can bleed him next week, and the week after. At a minimum."
-I wasn't planning on having Trevor in the episode, but I thought it would be funny if he interacted with RK and Jaylynn since he's the biggest weed smoker on the show.
-RK being afraid that the corner store will turn into a shopping mall like a crappy 80s movie is a reference to the 1984 film Breakin' 2: Electric Boogaloo, where that plot actually happened.
-Buster makes multiple references to Mike Tyson's career: His November 2024 boxing match with Jake Paul, his Adult Swim series Mike Tyson Mysteries, and his June 1997 match with Evander Holyfield where he bit off a part of Holyfield's ear.
-Buster references the Wizards of Waverly Place episode "Curb Your Dragon" when he tries to get the bottle open. He uses the phrase "Huminoza Espinoza," which was a spell used in the Wizards episode to change humans who were turned into animals back into humans.
-Natalie mistakenly believes that all four members of the Beatles died years ago. At the time I'm writing this, Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr are still alive.
-I came up with the line "I'm taking Nattie to the natty" weeks before I started writing the episode.
-Jaylynn makes a callback to the season four episode "KG the Carnegie," where Buster had an imaginary friend named Rick.
-Like most episodes where they appear, I didn't plan on having Officer Shanahan and Officer Park show up.
-In an attempt to see if Sparky is having a stroke, Buster uses Chris Jericho's catchphrase "Do you understand what I am saying to you right now?"
-Sparky and Wade reference a storyline from the fourth season of Empire where Andre falls in love with a woman that turns out to be a hallucination brought on by drugs a therapist gave him. This is also a callback to the season nine episode "An Interview with the Gelatin Community" where Sparky and Wade become obsessed with the show.
-Another thing I came up with ahead of time was Buster not having been this happy since the return of Oreo Cakesters.
-In the first draft, I wrote the Let's Talk About It scene without any set-up, so during the rewrite, I extended the scene at Sparky's house to add dialogue explaining RK, Jaylynn, and Trevor's appearance on the show.
-I plan to use Let's Talk About It more in the future, so I wanted it to have an official theme song. "Hip Hop" sounded like a theme song from the first time I heard it, so it was an easy choice.
-Jaylynn makes her own callback to "An Interview with the Gelatin Community" during the appearance on Let's Talk About It.
-RK references the Doug E. Fresh and Slick Rick song "The Show," specifically the line "Six minutes, Doug E. Fresh, you're on."
-Trevor's mention of hot dogs is a reference to the Hannah Montana episode "I Will Always Loathe You." In that episode, Rico is filming a commercial for his surf shop, but he gets nervous on camera and says his lines awkwardly. "Do you like hot dogs? We've got hot dogs" has lived in my head rent-free for almost twenty years.
-Jaylynn references the "Wheel of Musical Impressions" segment from The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon. The segment features celebrities singing random songs in a random style as determined by the wheel (Ariana Grande singing "HUMBLE" by Kendrick Lamar in the style of Evanescence).
-Trevor references the Who's the Boss? episode "Your Grandmother's a Bimbo." In that episode, Mona poses for a magazine cover that causes Jonathan to get made fun of and assaulted at school. When he comes home, he tells Mona what the kids said to him, which is exactly what Trevor says in the episode.
-Bitch Clock references the old joke in television shows where characters make up a girlfriend that lives in Canada. He then references the Brady Bunch episode "The Not-So-Ugly Duckling" where Jan creates a fake boyfriend named George Glass.
-RK's ideas for the protest are references to the music video for "Funkin' Lesson" by X-Clan. In the introduction for the video, Professor X the Overseer declares that the mission is black nationalism, X-Clan are the messengers, the movement is Blackwatch, and the oath is freedom or death.
-RK misquotes a line from "Man in the Mirror" by Michael Jackson, with the actual line being "Take a look at yourself and make a change." Despite what RK says, no unreleased version of "Man in the Mirror" exists.
-I had been trying to use Big Time Rush's new music since I revived the series. The original season nine premiere with KG's birthday was going to have "Call It Like I See It" before I scrapped it. There were a few times afterwards where I was considering it, but this was the first episode I settled on and stuck to it. Interestingly enough, Big Time Rush's most recent album came out the same year season nine premiered.