As I mentioned in my stats post for Season 4 of The Prancing Pony Podcast, the bar charts for band/performer references and movie references are big. Really big. So big that my attempts to reproduce them here resulted in illegible graphs. So I’m going to post the actual data tables instead of charts, on the off chance someone actually wants to see all the references.
Reminder: I only collect reference data on chapter analysis episodes, but anything in those episodes (including The North Wing segments) is fair game.
Alan and Shawn referred to a total of 72 different movies during the podcast.
Movie | Season 3 | Season 4 | S. 3 &4 |
A Christmas Story | 1 | 1 | |
Aladdin | 2 | 3 | 5 |
Alice in Wonderland | 1 | 1 | |
Alien | 1 | 1 | |
Apocalypse Now | 1 | 1 | 2 |
Austin Powers | 1 | 1 | 2 |
Back to the Future | 1 | 1 | |
Beauty and the Beast | 1 | 1 | |
Beetlejuice | 1 | 1 | |
Beowulf | 1 | 1 | |
Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure | 3 | 3 | |
Breakfast at Tiffany’s | 1 | 1 | |
Despicable Me | 1 | 1 | |
Dune | 2 | 4 | 6 |
Far and Away | 1 | 1 | |
Ferris Bueller’s Day Off | 2 | 3 | 5 |
Fifty Shades of Grey | 1 | 1 | |
Fight Club | 3 | 3 | |
Frozen | 1 | 1 | 2 |
Galaxyquest | 6 | 9 | 15 |
Ghostbusters | 1 | 1 | 2 |
Highlander | 3 | 2 | 5 |
Hope and Crosby Road movies | 1 | 1 | |
Indiana Jones | 4 | 4 | |
Ireland | 1 | 1 | |
IT | 1 | 1 | |
James Bond | 1 | 1 | |
Jaws | 1 | 1 | 2 |
Jurassic Park | 3 | 3 | |
Lethal Weapon | 3 | 3 | |
Lion King | 1 | 1 | |
Mary Poppins | 1 | 1 | |
Moana | 4 | 4 | |
Monsters, Inc. | 2 | 2 | |
Narnia | 1 | 1 | |
Peter Jackson’s Hobbit | 1 | 5 | 6 |
Peter Jackson’s LOTR | 21 | 53 | 74 |
Peter Pan | 1 | 1 | |
Pinnochio | 1 | 1 | |
Pirates of the Caribbean | 5 | 2 | 7 |
Pocahontas | 2 | 2 | |
Poltergeist | 1 | 1 | |
Princess Bride | 7 | 20 | 27 |
Silence of the Lambs | 1 | 1 | |
Snow White | 1 | 1 | |
Spiderman | 1 | 1 | |
Spinal Tap | 5 | 3 | 8 |
Tangled | 1 | 1 | |
Taxi Driver | 1 | 1 | |
Teen Wolf | 1 | 1 | |
The Avengers | 1 | 1 | |
The Blues Brothers | 1 | 1 | |
The Bodyguard | 1 | 1 | |
The Breakfast Club | 1 | 1 | |
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button | 1 | 1 | |
The Fly | 1 | 1 | |
The Ghost and Mrs. Muir | 1 | 1 | |
The Incredibles | 2 | 2 | |
The Little Mermaid | 1 | 1 | |
The Matrix | 1 | 1 | |
The Shadow | 1 | 1 | |
The Sound of Music | 1 | 1 | |
The Wizard of Oz | 2 | 2 | |
Thor: Ragnarok | 1 | 1 | |
Top Gun | 1 | 1 | |
Toy Story | 1 | 1 | |
Untouchables | 1 | 1 | |
When Harry Met Sally | 1 | 1 | |
White Christmas | 1 | 1 | |
Winnie the Pooh | 2 | 2 | 4 |
Young Frankenstein | 1 | 1 | |
Zootopia | 1 | 1 | 2 |
Total Result | 90 | 157 | 247 |
They definitely referred to more than 116 bands, performers, or songs. Since I record the performer, folk songs like “She’ll Be Coming Round the Mountain” don’t make it onto my list. And occasionally, I do not get the reference, and even with the power of Google am unable to figure out the performer or song.
Band/Performer | Season 3 | Season 4 | S. 3&4 |
AC/DC | 1 | 1 | |
Adam Ant | 1 | 1 | |
Arcadia | 1 | 1 | |
Avenged Sevenfold | 1 | 1 | |
Bad Company | 1 | 1 | 2 |
Barry White | 2 | 2 | 4 |
Billy Joel | 1 | 1 | |
Blue Őyster Cult | 1 | 1 | |
Bob Seger | 2 | 2 | |
Bonnie Tyler | 1 | 1 | |
Boston | 2 | 2 | 4 |
Bruce Springsteen | 1 | 1 | |
Cher | 1 | 1 | |
Chris de Burgh | 1 | 1 | |
Creedence Clearwater Revival | 1 | 1 | 2 |
Culture Club | 1 | 1 | |
David Bowie | 2 | 2 | |
Deep Purple | 1 | 1 | |
Def Leppard | 2 | 2 | |
Depeche Mode | 3 | 3 | |
Devo | 1 | 1 | 2 |
Disney’s Haunted Mansion | 2 | 2 | |
Don McLean | 1 | 1 | |
Eagles | 3 | 3 | |
Eddie Rabbitt | 1 | 1 | |
ELO | 1 | 1 | |
Elvis | 2 | 2 | 4 |
Emerson, Lake & Palmer | 1 | 1 | |
Enya | 2 | 2 | |
Falco | 1 | 1 | |
Five Man Electrical Band | 1 | 1 | |
Fleetwood Mac | 1 | 1 | |
Foreigner | 1 | 1 | |
Frank Sinatra | 1 | 1 | |
Frank Zappa | 1 | 1 | |
Fred Astaire | 1 | 1 | |
Frozen | 1 | 1 | |
Garth Brooks | 1 | 1 | |
Genesis | 1 | 1 | 2 |
Gerardo | 1 | 1 | |
Green Day | 1 | 1 | |
Grover Washington, Jr. | 1 | 1 | |
Hall & Oates | 2 | 2 | |
Huey Lewis & The News | 1 | 1 | |
Iron Maiden | 1 | 1 | |
James Taylor | 1 | 1 | |
Jim Croce | 1 | 1 | |
Johnny Cash | 1 | 1 | 2 |
Journey | 11 | 11 | |
Juice Newton | 1 | 1 | |
Kansas | 1 | 1 | |
Kenny Loggins | 1 | 1 | |
Led Zeppelin | 2 | 1 | 3 |
Lionel Ritchie | 2 | 2 | |
Looking Glass | 1 | 1 | |
Madness | 1 | 1 | |
Madonna | 1 | 1 | |
Mannfred Mann’s Earth Band | 2 | 2 | |
Men At Work | 3 | 3 | |
Milo | 2 | 2 | |
Moana | 2 | 2 | |
Modern English | 1 | 1 | |
Moody Blues | 3 | 3 | |
Morrissey | 1 | 1 | |
Mötley Crüe | 1 | 1 | |
Motorhead | 1 | 1 | |
Nirvana | 1 | 1 | |
Oingo Boingo | 2 | 2 | |
Pat Benatar | 1 | 1 | 2 |
Paul McCartney | 1 | 1 | |
Percy Sledge | 1 | 1 | |
Peter Gabriel | 2 | 2 | |
Pilot | 1 | 1 | |
Pink | 1 | 1 | |
Pink Floyd | 1 | 3 | 4 |
Prince | 1 | 1 | |
Purple Rain | 1 | 1 | |
R.E.M. | 1 | 1 | |
Ray Charles | 1 | 1 | |
Rolling Stones | 1 | 1 | |
Rupert Holmes | 1 | 1 | |
Rush | 4 | 5 | 9 |
Sam Cooke | 1 | 1 | |
School House Rock | 2 | 2 | |
Sex Pistols | 1 | 1 | |
Sonny & Cher | 1 | 1 | |
Stealers Wheel | 2 | 2 | |
Steve Miller Band | 1 | 1 | |
Stevie Wonder | 1 | 1 | |
Sting | 2 | 12 | 14 |
Styx | 4 | 4 | |
Supertramp | 1 | 2 | 3 |
Talking Heads | 1 | 1 | |
Tesla | 1 | 1 | |
The Beach Boys | 1 | 1 | |
The Beatles | 1 | 4 | 5 |
The Captain and Tennille | 1 | 1 | |
The Cars | 1 | 1 | |
The Clash | 2 | 2 | |
The Commodores | 1 | 1 | |
The Cure | 3 | 3 | |
The Five Satins | 1 | 1 | |
The Judds | 1 | 1 | |
The Moody Blues | 1 | 2 | 3 |
The Mothers of Invention | 1 | 1 | |
The Police | 5 | 5 | |
The Righteous Brothers | 1 | 1 | |
The Romantics | 1 | 1 | |
The Smiths | 1 | 1 | |
The Sound of Music | 2 | 1 | 3 |
The Style Council | 1 | 1 | |
The Who | 2 | 2 | |
They Might Be Giants | 3 | 1 | 4 |
U2 | 1 | 1 | |
West Side Story | 1 | 1 | |
Willy Nelson | 2 | 2 | |
ZZ Top | 1 | 1 | |
Total Result | 70 | 143 | 215 |
So there you have it. All the references. In case you were curious (or had a bet with someone).