While Samantha's age is left ambiguous throughout the series, it is heavily implied in several episodes that she is hundreds of years old. It is also established in the show that witches age very, very slowly. At this point in the series she makes reference to knowing two figures personally (William Shakespeare and Henry VIII) that establish the most accurate time frame for her age to this point in the series. As Henry VIII died in 1549 (and it is doubtful that Samantha would have known him as a young baby), then Samantha is at the very least 430 years old.
The title is based upon the often used quote from William Shakespeare's play Hamlet, "To be or not to be".
This episode begins with a teaser in which Samantha uses her magic to get dressed in a hurry. This is one of a surprisingly high number of episodes that began in a similar fashion, with Samantha giving in to temptation and using her witchcraft to do mundane chores around the house.
Mr. Sharpe once went fishing at Lake Athabasca. The Lake's name comes from the Aboriginal Cree language word meaning "[where] there are plants one after another").