The episode had problems with the censors, who did not want the characters to say "family jewels" on prime time television. The producers ignored the notes and "family jewels" remained in the episode. This act of attempted censorship was reflected in the part where Grampa Simpson writes a letter complaining of how sexualized television has become and gives a list of words he never wants to hear on TV again, one of which is "family jewels".
Bart confronts a "soldier" who says he's lost his nerves to which Bart responds by slapping him and saying "I won't have cowards in my army." Grandpa then slaps Bart and says "You can push them out of a plane. You can march them off a cliff. You can send them off to die on some God-forsaken rock. But for some reason you can't slap them. Now apologize to that boy right now." This is a reference to General George S. Patton slapping a soldier who was in the infirmary dealing with PTSD during WWII. Patton was subsequently required to publicly apologize and was removed from the front lines as a result. The same historical events were dramatized in Patton (1970).
This is the first episode that John Swartzwelder wrote. He has written more episodes than anyone in The Simpsons (1989) history.
The opening title sequence was edited down to a bare minimum due to the episode running long; only the title and the first aerial shot of Springfield are shown. Most of the usual opening credits are missing, including the creator, developers, producers and writer.
First appearance of Nelson Muntz and Janey Powell.