Referenced By / The Music Man

Film

• The Outlaws IS Coming! has Moe Howard quoting "Ya Got Trouble".

Literature

• In There's More Than One Way Home, Jimmy Gaines jumps on the piano bench like a deranged Harold Hill.

Live-Action TV

• Buffy the Vampire Slayer: In the Musical Episode "Once More with Feeling", Spike tells Buffy, "The day you suss out what you do want, there'll probably be a parade! With Seventy Six bloody Trombones playing!"
• Crazy Ex-Girlfriend: The number "Cold Showers" is a homage to "Ya Got Trouble". In this Patter Song, Rebecca uses the Slippery Slope Fallacy to convince the tenants that not having hot water will lead their kids to drugs the way Harold Hill claims billiards will lead to all sorts of depravity.
• Doom Patrol (2019): The Butts sing "Shipoopi" in the episodes "Butt Patrol" and "Done Patrol".
• During the 2006 Emmy Awards, host Conan O'Brien performed a parody of "Ya Got Trouble" about the then-ongoing Audience-Alienating Era of NBC (which was telecasting that year's show). See it here.
• Gilmore Girls: In the first season episode "That Damn Donna Reed", Taylor is complaining about Luke not sprucing up his diner to make it look presentable. Taylor then adds not doing so will bring the bad element into town, and then "You got trouble", to which Lorelai jokes, "Right here in River City!"
• Several references on Schmigadoon!:
  • The opening song has a line about the Wells Fargo wagon.
  • Genre Savvy Melissa identifies the prim, forward-teaching schoolmarm Emma as an expy of Marian Paroo, and gives Josh advice on how to progress their romance. However, the show goes on to subvert Josh's expectations by revealing that Emma's "little brother" (the Winthrop expy) is actually her illegitimate son.
  • Mildred Layton's "Tribulation" is a homage to "Ya Got Trouble".
• Veronica Mars: The second season episode "Look Who's Stalking" features this memorable exchange:
  Kendall: Oh, well, if it isn't Little Miss Teen Getaway. Your dad and I were just dealing with a little trouble.
  Veronica: Like, trouble with a capital "T", that rhymes with "C", that stands for-
  Keith: Veronica!
  Veronica: I was gonna say "cute".
• The West Wing: On the second season episode "Bad Moon Rising", the Mexican economy has collapsed, and Josh is going to a meeting regarding that fact. When Donna asks him what he's going to do, Josh starts singing, "Oh, the Wells Fargo wagon is a-coming down the street..."

Theatre

• During the title song in Six, Katherine Howard refers to Henry Mannox as "Music Man".
• The song "A Musical" from Something Rotten! features the line "It's a musical, what do you talk, what do you talk," in reference to the opening number, "Rock Island".

Web Comics

• The Inexplicable Adventures of Bob! has Dr. Jean Poule, of the River City Poules.

Western Animation

• Ed, Edd n Eddy: In "Your Ed Here", after Eddy tells everyone Edd's middle name, Marion, Jonny calls him "Marion the Librarian".
• Family Guy: In "Patriot Games", Peter celebrates a touchdown by leading the entire stadium in a rendition of "Shipoopi", complete with choreography from the film.
• My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic: Recurring villains Flim and Flam are modeled after Harold Hill, particularly in their debut episode "The Super Speedy Cider Squeezy 6000".
• The Simpsons: The episode "Marge vs. the Monorail" is a partial parody of this film, with Lyle Lanley being based on Harold Hill, and his song "Monorail" being a spoof of "You Got Trouble".