Executive producer Paul Feig had originally planned to do a storyline based on the wrenching real-life process of integration that his high school went through. When NBC nixed this idea, a subplot where Neal and an African-American student compare their histories of suffering was written; the network gave it the okay.
Bill (Martin Starr) says that he always watches Dallas (1978) with his mom (Claudia Christian). One of Christian's first roles was in Some Do... Some Don't (1984).
This episode takes place in October 1980.
Throughout the episode, Nick (Jason Segel) mourns the passing of John Bonham, the drummer for Led Zeppelin. Bonham died on September 25, 1980, exactly 19 years to the day before the first episode of "Freaks and Geeks" aired, on September 25, 1999.