Cartman's Mom is Still a Dirty Slut/Trivia

Trivia

 * There is an alien "visitor" among the father candidates at the end of the episode.
 * After Mephisto gets shot, Kenny gets to deliver the "Oh my god! They killed Mephisto!" line. This is the first time he gets to say this, considering that most of the "Oh my god! They killed..." lines are referring to him.
 * A voice-over announcer asks questions throughout the episode, giving three possible answers to each question. The first two are logical questions, being "Who is Eric Cartman's father?" and "Who shot Mephisto?" This sets up a running gag throughout the episode of seemingly random questions that have nothing to do with the plotline, up until the end, when Mrs. Cartman is revealed to be Cartman's father instead of Cartman's mother, and the voiceover asks, "Who is Eric Cartman's mother?" This question is never answered. The voice-over easily gets on Cartman's nerves and at the end finally prompts him to yell at everybody to just forget it.
 * On the compass for the back up generator S and the E on the map are reversed.
 * The Map to the back up generator is the same as the USO Show base map on South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut
 * The receptionist at the abortion clinic Liane goes to has similar features to Eric Cartman.
 * If Sheila Broflovski were revealed to be the mother, it would make Cartman ethnically Jewish by birth. This is ironic because Cartman constantly rips on Jews, like Kyle, who, if Sheila was Cartman's mother, then Kyle would be Cartman's half-brother.
 * The issue of Cartman's parentage is brought up again during the episodes 200 and 201, where it is finally solved (and it is revealed that the entire hermaphrodite story was a farce - Cartman's father is one of the Broncos).

Pop Culture References

 * The lights going out and Mephesto getting shot in the dark is a common cliche of detective and murder mysteries where just as someone is about to tell an important bit of information they are shot by a mystery attacker. Climax building "Who is" is another cliche that is used as a running gag throughout the episode.
 * Present in this episode are the 1991 Denver Broncos.
 * Chef doesn't want Mehpesto to bleed on his Meredith Baxter-Birney memorial towel. Meredith Baxter is an actress best known for her roles on the shows Family and Family Ties. When this episode aired, she was still alive and kicking. Chef refers to her has Meredith Baxter-Birney, even thought she divorced her first husband, actor David Birney in 1989.
 * In this episode Cartman admits that once he hears the song Come Sail Away by the band Styx he has to sing the rest of it. The band known as Styx were formed in 1970, their song Come Sail Away was on their 1977 album The Grand Illusion, and debuted at #8 on the pop charts upon it's release.
 * South Park is visited by Sid Greenfield, the director of the television series America's Most Wanted. America's Most Wanted is a television program hosted by criminal investigator John Walsh alerting the public of fugitives at large and showing reenactments of crimes that were committed and ask the public to help assist in the capture of the criminals featured on the program. In real life, the program was never produced by an individual named Sid Greenfield.
 * The receptionist at the abortion clinic states that aborting a child after the second trimester of pregnancy is illegal. This is a federal law in the United States. The issue of abortion in this episode was topical around the time of its airing as in the years surrounding this episodes release the Republican Party attempted to pass a Bill to make Partial birth abortions illegal. Both attempts were vetoed by President Bill Clinton.
 * Dr. Doctor is a parody of actor George Clooney who at the time played the role of Dr. Douglas Ross on the medical drama ER.
 * The doctor has a patient injected with sodium pentathol which is a general anesthetic commonly used in medical procedures.
 * Mrs. Cartman sleeps with a Congressman named O'Reilly. However during the time this episode aired, none of the district congressmen of Colorado had the last name O'Reilly.
 * One of the actors picked for a role of the Dr. Mephesto shooting reenactment on America's Most Wanted is actor Eric Roberts brother of actress Julia Roberts. Eric was best known for his supporting role in the 1985 film Runaway Train. During the time of this episode aired he had only been getting bit parts on television series and made-for-tv movies.
 * When Eric Roberts begins making up his own lines, he is in reality reciting a line from the 1559 play The Pleasant Comedie of Old Fortunatus written by Thomas Dekker.
 * When they cut America's Most Wanted it's replaced with the film Who Framed Roger Rabbit a 1988 film produced by Steven Spielberg.
 * Mrs. Cartman sleeps with the Governor of Colorado. At the time this episode aired, in real life that would have been Roy Romer who was governor of Colorado from 1987-1999.
 * Chef states that he got his medical experience from the television series Quincy, M.E. which ran from 1976-1983.
 * When the residents of South Park cannibalize the crew of America's Most Wanted because they are trapped inside during the blizzard. This is a common cliche regarding people being snowed in together. This is likely a reference to two of the most well known cases of cannibalism in American history: The Donner Party and the case of Alferd Packer. Trey Parker and Matt Stone's first film Cannibal! The Musical told the story of Alferd Packer. The could also have been lampooning the 1993 film Alive.
 * The quest for Kenny to reactivate the hospitals generator, the map of the hospital and the possible danger of velociraptors are all a parody of the film version of Jurassic Park released in 1993.
 * When it's suggested that nobody knows who built the Pyramids the suspense building narration asks if it was the Babylonians, Officer Barbrady or the Samaritans. The Pyramids were built in the 23rd Century BC, while the Babylonians came into existence over 1200 years later in the year 1696 BC, they also existed in what is modern day Iraq. It's not the Samaritans either, who first appeared in 722 BC and were from Israel.
 * Mrs. Cartman manages to hook up with Bill Clinton. At the time this episode aired, Clinton was President of the United States. Also at this time he was involved in allegedly having an affair with intern Monica Lewinsky, allegations that almost led to his impeachment as President.
 * When the South Park residents pull themselves out of the community center following the blizzard the entire scene, is a parody of the 1993 film Alive. They say the similar dialog as is recited at the end of the film. The song Ava Maria by Austrian composer Franz Schubert (1797-1828) is playing over this scene much like in the film Alive.

Goofs

 * In the episode, the 1989 Denver Broncos are potential fathers of Cartman. However, the narrator keeps referring to them as the 1991 Denver Broncos.

Kenny's Death
Kenny has to restore power to the hospital to save the life of Mephisto, so in an act of bravery, he grabs both electrical connections, which results in his own death, but the restoration of power. After being left out, dead, in the cold for so long, Eric describes him as a "Freezy Pop", given the fact that he has completely frozen solid. Additionally Stan, Kyle, and Eric (after giving their brief respects) decide to hit him with a snow shovel to see if he will shatter.

Hidden Visitor(s)
When Dr. Mephesto is about to announce the father, a visitor is seen between Ned and Chief Running Water.