Cultural influence of Gilbert and Sullivan a 1966 episode. In the UK series "Lilies", in the 2007 episode "The Tallyman" both "When I Was a Lad" and "The Sun Whose Rays" are heard. An episode of "Car 54, Where Are You?" has parodies of several G&S songs. In 1988, episodes of Australian soap opera "Home and Away" featured a school production of "The Mikado". A second-season (1998) episode of the TV show "Millennium" titled "The Mikado" is based on the Zodiac case. Gilbert and Sullivan references often appear in "The West Wing". Some incidents include an episode-long argument over whether "He is an Englishman" is from
Gilbert and Sullivan a composer of comic opera—that a musical knight should not stoop below oratorio or grand opera. Sullivan, despite the financial security of writing for the Savoy, increasingly viewed his work with Gilbert as unimportant, beneath his skills, and repetitious. Furthermore, he was unhappy that he had to simplify his music to ensure that Gilbert's words could be heard. But paradoxically, in February 1883, just after "Iolanthe" opened, Sullivan had signed a five-year agreement with Gilbert and Carte requiring him to produce a new comic opera on six months' notice. "Princess Ida" (1884) spoofed women's education and male chauvinism and continued