The Thin White Line/References

• The name of the episode combines “The Thin Blue Line,” a colloquial term for the police, and “white lines,” a slang term for cocaine.
• The music, dialog and action sequences from this episode parody police procedural dramas. Specifically, when Brian and Joe race through the airport, the theme from CHiPs plays.
• Big League Chew is referenced when Peter says to Chris, “You know what I haven’t had in a while? Big League Chew.”
• A flashback shows Brian watching an episode of the VH1 program Behind the Music with Leif Garrett. The show is known for documenting the post-success breakdowns of once-popular recording artists and Garrett’s episode is one of the best-known.
• Another Brian flashback has him auditioning for a TV commercial with a toucan. It parodies Toucan Sam of Froot Loops (“Follow your nose!”).
• As a seeing eye dog, Brian narrates The Blair Witch Project for a blind guy. He continually says, “Nothing’s happening...” followed by “...something about a map...” followed by “...it’s over. A lot of people look pissed,” a common reaction to the wildly-publicized 1999 independent film.
• The way in which Mr. Weed hunts his employees is reminiscent of the famous 1924 short story “The Most Dangerous Game” by Richard Connell.
• Mr. Weed says he has enough tranquilizer darts “to take-out Robert Downey Jr.,” a reference to the actor’s drug problems. A rare self-chastising meta reference has Weed’s audience reacting with umbrage to the remark.
• After Brian makes Quagmire realize he has made love to a man, he screams and runs away, possibly a reference to the 1994 film "Ace Ventura: Pet Detective" scene in which Ace realizes Lt Einhorn is actually Ray Finkel, whom Ace had kissed.
• The next scene in which Brian and Joe catch a perp with cocaine is a reference to the 1977 TV series CHiPs. The CHiPs opening theme is also heard.
• A fantasy sequence shows Stewie and a group of sailors singing a parody of “My Gallant Crew” from the Gilbert and Sullivan operetta HMS Pinafore.
• At the school assembly Brian is called “McGriffin, the Drug Dog,” a reference to the anti-crime mascot McGruff the Crime Dog.
• After seeing some cocaine on his nose, Brian exclaims “Got Milk?”, a reference to the popular ad campaign. “Got Milk?” is also referenced near the beginning of the episode “Holy Crap.”
• While time traveling, Chris finds himself in “the Bible days” and encounters an angry lion, a reference to the early persecution of Christians.
• Rocky The Flying Squirrel shows up and says, “And now, here’s something we hope you’ll really like,” a frequent segué in The Rocky and Bullwinkle Show.
• Uncharacteristically, Peter reads The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway.
• Brian refers to Lois as a “Stepford wife,” a phrase used to describe a “perfect” suburban housewife after the satirical novel The Stepford Wives by Ira Levin and its film versions.
• A cutaway to when Brian used to be Peter’s “sidekick” shows Peter as The Late Show with David Letterman host David Letterman and Brian as his musical director Paul Shaffer.
• Brian’s cousin (Jasper in an early, unnamed appearance), a Club Med employee, performs the 1987 Buster Poindexter hit “Hot Hot Hot.”
• Peter trying to make up his name in the rehab clinic by referencing random objects he sees (but failing miserably, due to the sudden appearance of a griffin) references the plot of The Usual Suspects.
• A flashback shows Peter as a security guard for former Beatle George Harrison, watching Charles in Charge while an intruder invades the home. Harrison was attacked in his home on December 30, 1999.
• The picture hanging on the wall of the rehab doctor’s office is the same as the one behind the Simpsons family couch.
• Seth MacFarlane said that Brian’s coke laugh is based on Mozart’s laugh from the movie Amadeus.

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