A Milhouse Divided Marge because the writers felt that tertiary characters could not carry an audience's interest for an entire episode. Bill Oakley has said that he felt the episode would have failed had they stuck with the Van Houtens for the third act and most of the other writers also felt that it was the right move. The idea for the dinner party came from Oakley, who had wanted to have a party similar to the one in "The War of the Simpsons". For the second half of the episode, Luann was redesigned to look more youthful and was given a new
Living in a House Divided the "Cash Box" chart. "Living in a House Divided" was a Top 20 hit in Canada. The song did, however, fail to reach the success of "Gypsies, Tramps and Thieves", despite the fact that this was also the first single to be lifted from a Cher album. "Living in a House Divided" closely parallels "I've Lost You", a Top 40 hit describing the break-up of yet another supercouple, Elvis and Priscilla Presley. The couples were contemporary, both together approximately 10 years, with Sonny and Elvis each being more than 10 years older than their wives. The songs were released less