A Picture's Worth a Thousand Bucks/References

• The Griffins pass a New York bus saying, “CBS: Why watch what everyone else is watching?”
• While riding in the taxi, the Griffins listen to a recording of David Leisure, who tries to remind people of his old roles, but is frustrated that nobody remembers him.
• Peter expresses his excitement about going to Bob’s Funland and Putt-Putt Golf by parodying a Kellogg's Frosted Mini-Wheats commercial. The commercial was parodied again in "Prick Up Your Ears," using Michael Jackson.
• Stewie sees an evil looking clown at a game stand and comments that “it looks like something out of Stephen King.” It is in fact meant to be Pennywise the Dancing Clown, the evil clown from King’s novel and telefilm It, which incidentally featured cast member Seth Green.
• At the carnival shooting gallery, Stewie sings “This is my rifle, this is my gun. This is for fighting, this is for fun” – a classic modern military slogan made famous by the movie Full Metal Jacket.
• In a cutaway, Walt Disney is seen drawing a picture of Minnie Mouse, ordering her to strip, much to her distress.
• The play at which Peter embarrasses Brian is Anton Chekhov's Uncle Vanya.
• The Griffins point out two of the main tourist attractions of New York: Central Park and the Empire State Building. They may not be accurately identifying them, however, as the two are not all that close to one another.
• The scene where Peter throws a penny from the roof and it splits the policeman in half, revealing a seemingly embarrassed naked midget inside, is very much reminiscent of Terry Gilliam's animation shorts from Monty Python's Flying Circus. The idea itself (of a person revealed to be a midget or two midgets in a "big people suit") is a recurring gag in several episodes.
• Peter compares Chris to New York City’s mayor, Rudy Giuliani, as “the best thing to happen to New York since Giuliani had all the homeless people secretly killed.” This is a reference to the mayor’s major crackdown on crime.
• At the hotel, Peter asks the receptionist if they have rat bellhops like in The Muppets, a reference to "The Great Muppet Caper".
• At the museum of Modern Art, Brian finds some art by Robert Mapplethorpe that’s not photography. A worker claims that early on, Mapplethorpe did caricatures. It then cuts to a scene of him drawing a kid named Tim's picture with Reggie Jackson defecating upon the child, then asking him what his player number is. This is a recurring reference to the Cleveland steamer, the other two being in Mr. Saturday Knight and Long John Peter.
• Peter mentions actress Gina Gershon. He says “You mean like Gina Gershon beautiful or beautiful beautiful?”
• Peter rejects the idea of Chris having to go to an art school, saying there’s not enough time. He then pulls out a knife and says, “Chris, give me your ear.” This is a reference to van Gogh, one of the world’s most well-known painters, cutting off his ear.
• In another cutaway, former Murphy Brown stars Candice Bergen (as Murphy), Faith Ford (as Corky Sherwood), Joe Regalbuto (as Frank Fontana), and Charles Kimbrough (as Jim Dial) inject dated “buzzwords” into a nondescript conversation, poking fun at the show’s topical humor. Bergen had previously appeared in I am Peter, Hear Me Roar as Gloria Ironbachs.
• When Stewie takes a look at secret papers in a Chinese briefcase at the UN, he comments “Ancient Chinese secret, huh?” a catchphrase from a Calgon water softener advertisement.
• Peter’s song “I’m Gonna Make You Famous” is a parody of “Everything’s Coming Up Roses” from Gypsy: A Musical Fable.
• Peter and Meg walk through New York to music from The Flintstones. The background changes into Bedrock until they back out of it. The background change could also be a reference to the Warner Bros.' cartoon Duck Amuck, where Daffy Duck is seen wandering from one scenery to another, due to the fact that Bugs is the artist drawing Daffy into different scenes, in particular a sequence in which he is skiing in a snowfield and suddenly wanders into a different, Hawaiian-themed scene.
• In the scene where Peter and Meg are standing at Central Park with a hat doing the bird calls, you can briefly see Art Garfunkel, playing his guitar and singing. This is probably a reference to Garfunkel’s poor career development after Simon and Garfunkel.
• Meg is able to annoy Pigeons and Big Bird from Sesame Street with her bird calls.
• Neptune’s line “...and you know nothing of my work” is a reference to Marshall McLuhan’s cameo in Annie Hall.
• When Peter says that he’d sell his soul to be famous, the scene cuts to the Devil being pleased at these words, only to find that Peter has already sold his soul. Twice in fact; once for Bee Gees tickets, and again several years later for half a mallomar.
• The scenes around New York as the Griffins arrive in a taxi simulate the "loose-camera" style pioneered by NYPD Blue.
• The scene where a bull is shown examining china in a china shop is a reference to the idiomatic expression, "act like a bull in a china shop."
• The scene introducing Chris's art show, with smoke and a laser-light show, appears to be an allusion to the unveiling of the "Chromolume #7" in Sunday in the Park with George as evidenced by the mentioning of Seurat's "A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte."
• The scene where Chris' reveals his diligently worked on painting featuring multiple pictures of Peter with different shades of colors is an allusion to Andy Warhol and his similar prints of Marilyn Monroe.
• Peter mentions in his song that he will make Meg "known far and wide, like that princess who died", a reference to the tragic death of Princess Diana.

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