Starting with this episode, and continuing over the next several episodes, Lassiter has his arm in a sling. The cause of the character's injury is revealed only in a deleted scene for S2E9 "Bounty Hunters!", with Lassiter implying that he slipped in the shower. In real life, the show's production blog states that actor Timothy Omundson broke his collarbone while mountain-biking to work.
The pineapple is towards the end at the newspaper office when Gus and Shawn are tag-teaming facts of the case. Shawn had been talking gibberish the whole episode so Gus could "translate" and take credit. Now part of the babble is Gus saying, "Pineapple."
John Amos and Dulé Hill both worked together on The West Wing.
The critic, Vince Wagner, was originally suspected of being murdered the same way as the Roman emperor Claudias; poisoned by his own wife with mushrooms.
Throughout the episode, Uncle Burton (played by John Amos) makes several references to various police and detective procedural shows including saying "like a real life Rockford Files" - Amos co-starred in the 1997 TV movie "The Rockford Files: Shoot-Out at the Golden Pagoda."