A line I think may be a spoof is Jay's line in a Thankstaking Story, where he says, "You've got some 'splaining to do."
Blondie, my sibs and I have never seen a single episode of that show, but we just laugh and laugh every time we hear that part. Kinda sums up that episode, actually.
As has been pointed out in another thread, Arthur Dent is the name of the main character in
Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy.
I don't know if there's any deliberate spoofing going with this... but there's a far less well known, newer kid's Christian radio drama show called
Paws and Tales my sibs and I are a bit fond of, though we never listen to it lately. It's about bears... kid bears, to be precise, who live in a rustic little town and are given advice by and like to hang around a wise old grandpa figure! Plus, sometimes the similarities between the shows are just uncanny... here's a plot from one of them, see if it's a bit familiar:
A grouchy kid is mad at the others, and hatches a plot, spewing, "you will rue the day." The other characters go on little mission to stop the villain, but a lot of people get scared silly. In the end, the young villain is taken down and turns out to never have been such a threat after all.
It's probably all a coincidence... but if so, it's one bizarre world we live in.
