History ShoutOut / TheThrillingAdventureHour

** In "Forward to the Past", when a Nazi is trying to prevent Amelia's parents from becoming a couple, he says it will probably affect her guitar skills, an obvious nod at the first ''Film/BackToTheFuture'' movie.

** Sacco and Vanzetti are voiced as though they were [[Film/TheOddCouple voiced by Jack Lemmon and Walter Matthau.]]

-->'''Sparks Nevada''': "'Verse?"
-->'''Cactoid Jim''': Short for 'universe', [[ActorAllusion just trying it out]].
-->'''Sparks Nevada''': [[TakeThat Well, it's ridiculous.]]
-->'''Cactoid Jim''': [[SelfDeprecation Yeah, I thought so too.]]
-->'''Sparks Nevada''': [[ItWillNeverCatchOn That... that will]] ''[[ItWillNeverCatchOn never]]'' [[ItWillNeverCatchOn catch on]].

** The Algonquin Four are obviously modeled after [[Comic/FantasticFour another famous foursome,]] with Woodrow Wilson as Woody Woodpecker/The Invisible Woman, Alexander Woolcott as The Human Torch/ Oscar Wilde, Harry Houdini as Mr. Fantastic, and Dorothy Parker as The Hulk/ The Thing.

** The episode "Prelude to a Fish" seems to be a parody of ''Disney/TheLittleMermaid'', as it involves a love affair between a mermaid and a surface dweller and is encouraged by a host of talking animals. Except here it's all freshwater creatures and not sealife. Oh, and the surface dweller has been transformed into a lagoon creature. Also, the "Oolee oolee oolee" songs sung by the animals is similar to the ''Little Mermaid'' song [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TrRbB-qUJfY "Kiss the Girl"]].

** The situation and impossible space marshal academy test described in "Space-iversary" is an obvious parody of TheKobayashiMaru test in ''Series/StarTrek'', featuring a similar unwinnable training simulation involving a rescue of a ship in space with an aggressive race of aliens incoming. In the episode, Sparks resolves it the same way he did when he failed it, and the way Kirk describes doing it in ''[[Film/StarTrekIITheWrathOfKhan Wrath of Khan]]'' and the way he does it in [[Film/StarTrek2009 the first film in the rebooted series]], by hacking into the system.

** The situation and impossible space marshal academy test described in "Space-iversary" is an obvious parody of TheKobayashiMaru test in ''Series/StarTrek'', featuring a similar unwinnable training simulation involving a rescue of a ship in space with an aggressive race of aliens incoming. In the episode, Sparks resolves it the same way he did when he failed it, and the way Kirk describes doing it in ''[[Film/StarTrekIITheWrathOfKhan Wrath of Khan]]'' and the way he does it in [[Film/StarTrek the first film in the rebooted series]], by hacking into the system.

** The very premise of this feature (hard-drinking couple in which the husband has a reputation for being a hard-hitter in the field) owes itself to the classic noir novel/films TheThinMan.

*** In the same episode, Nightmares the Clown has apparently traded his Pennywise-esque appearance to resemble the title character of Theatre/{{Pagliacci}}, leading Sadie to laughingly reference the famous joke from ''ComicBook/{{Watchmen}}''.

** Much of Frank's childhood references the works of Creator/StephenKing, including the MonsterClown Nightmares, who is a parody of [[Literature/{{It}} Pennywise]]

** In the Kickstarter episode "Forged in Flame", one of the characters is [[Franchise/ScoobyDoo a man named Norville with a pet Great Dane that he believes can talk.]] The same episode's themes - taking place on a very hot day, revolving around a small family's drama - are a reference to the works of TennesseeWilliams.

** The episode "Chitty Chitty Bang Bang You're Dead" manages to combine Creator/StephenKing's novel ''Literature/Christine'' with the NPR show ''Radio/CarTalk''. The title, of course, references ''Film/ChittyChittyBangBang''.