 "Crippled Summer" served as a parody of Intervention, the A & E Network documentary series about people struggling with various addictions. Throughout the episode, information about Towelie's drug addiction is presented on completely black screens with white letters. This device is used frequently in Intervention. The interviews with Towelie's friends and footage of their pleas to get help are also characteristic of the reality series. During one of Towelie's interviews, he quotes "feels like I'm walking on sunshine" after huffing air duster cans. Both the quote and his actions are from Season 5, episode 9 of the TV reality series Intervention where they interview "Allison". Many of the campers at Lake Tardicaca are parodies of characters from the cartoon series Looney Tunes. Nathan and Mimsy, in particular, are strongly influenced by Rocky and Mugsy, with Nathan taking on the role of the diminutive mastermind (like Rocky) who is constantly thwarted by his large but dim-witted accomplice (like Mugsy). Other characters from the summer camp in the episode resemble cartoon characters such as Elmer Fudd, Pete Puma, Droopy, Porky Pig, Taz, Foghorn Leghorn, and Beaky Buzzard.
