Mr. Plow
Encyclopedia
"Mr. Plow" is the ninth episode of The Simpsons
The Simpsons
The Simpsons is an American animated sitcom created by Matt Groening for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series is a satirical parody of a middle class American lifestyle epitomized by its family of the same name, which consists of Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa and Maggie...

' fourth season
The Simpsons (season 4)
The Simpsons fourth season originally aired on the Fox network between September 24, 1992 and May 13, 1993, beginning with "Kamp Krusty." The show runners for the fourth production season were Al Jean and Mike Reiss. The aired season contained two episodes which were hold-over episodes from season...

, which originally aired on the Fox network
Fox Broadcasting Company
Fox Broadcasting Company, commonly referred to as Fox Network or simply Fox , is an American commercial broadcasting television network owned by Fox Entertainment Group, part of Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation. Launched on October 9, 1986, Fox was the highest-rated broadcast network in the...

 in the United States on November 19, 1992. In the episode, Homer buys a snow plow and starts a business plowing driveways. It is a huge success, and inspired by this, Barney Gumble
Barney Gumble
Barnard "Barney" Gumble is a fictional character on the American animated sitcom The Simpsons. The character is voiced by Dan Castellaneta and first appeared in the series premiere episode "Simpsons Roasting on an Open Fire". He is the town drunk and Homer Simpson's best friend. His capacity for...

 starts a rival company and quickly puts Homer out of business. The episode was written by Jon Vitti
Jon Vitti
Jon Vitti is an American writer best known for his work on the television series The Simpsons. He has also written for the King of the Hill and The Critic series, and has served as a consultant for several animated movies, including Ice Age and Robots...

 and directed by Jim Reardon
Jim Reardon
Jim Reardon is an animation director and storyboard consultant, best known for his work on the animated TV series The Simpsons. He has directed over 30 episodes of the series, and was credited as a supervising director for seasons 9 through 15...

. In 1993, Dan Castellaneta
Dan Castellaneta
Daniel Louis "Dan" Castellaneta is an American actor, voice actor, comedian, singer and screenwriter. Noted for his long-running role as Homer Simpson on the animated television series The Simpsons, he voices many other characters on The Simpsons, including Abraham "Grampa" Simpson, Barney Gumble,...

 won an Emmy Award for "Outstanding Voice-Over Performance
Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Voice-Over Performance
The Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Voice-Over Performance is a creative arts Emmy Award given out by the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences. It is awarded to a performer for an outstanding "continuing or single voice-over performance in a series or a special." Prior to 1992, voice-actors...

" for this episode. The episode was also submitted in the "Outstanding Comedy Series
Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Comedy Series
The Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Comedy Series is an Emmy given to the best television comedy series of the year.-Winners and nominees:...

" category although ultimately it was not nominated.

Plot

It is snow
Snow
Snow is a form of precipitation within the Earth's atmosphere in the form of crystalline water ice, consisting of a multitude of snowflakes that fall from clouds. Since snow is composed of small ice particles, it is a granular material. It has an open and therefore soft structure, unless packed by...

ing heavily in Springfield
Springfield (The Simpsons)
Springfield is the fictional town in which the American animated sitcom The Simpsons is set. A mid-sized town in an undetermined state of the United States, Springfield acts as a complete universe in which characters can explore the issues faced by modern society. The geography of the town and its...

, so Marge
Marge Simpson
Marjorie "Marge" Simpson is a fictional main character in the animated television series The Simpsons and part of the eponymous family. She is voiced by actress Julie Kavner and first appeared on television in The Tracey Ullman Show short "Good Night" on April 19, 1987...

 calls Homer at Moe's Tavern and tells him to come home. Homer drives through a snowstorm, but on the way he crashes into another car, which turns out to be the family's other car, still parked in the driveway. Now without transportation, Homer begins looking for a new car. After several unsuccessful attempts, the family go to a car show. After an unsettling encounter with Adam West
Adam West
William West Anderson , better known by the stage name Adam West, is an American actor best known for his lead role in the Batman TV series and the film of the same name...

, a salesman talks Homer into getting a snowplow
Snowplow
A snowplow is a device intended for mounting on a vehicle, used for removing snow and ice from outdoor surfaces, typically those serving transportation purposes...

. Homer agrees on the basis that he can make the payments by plowing people’s driveways. Homer starts his snow plow business, titled "Mr. Plow", but he has trouble finding any customers. His advertising campaigns are unsuccessful until Lisa suggests an advertisement on public television. The resulting commercial
Television advertisement
A television advertisement or television commercial, often just commercial, advert, ad, or ad-film – is a span of television programming produced and paid for by an organization that conveys a message, typically one intended to market a product...

 and jingle
Jingle
A jingle is a short tune used in advertising and for other commercial uses. The jingle contains one or more hooks and lyrics that explicitly promote the product being advertised, usually through the use of one or more advertising slogans. Ad buyers use jingles in radio and television...

 attracts lots of customers and the business is a booming success. Homer is given the key to the city in recognition of his service to the community. Barney Gumble
Barney Gumble
Barnard "Barney" Gumble is a fictional character on the American animated sitcom The Simpsons. The character is voiced by Dan Castellaneta and first appeared in the series premiere episode "Simpsons Roasting on an Open Fire". He is the town drunk and Homer Simpson's best friend. His capacity for...

, envious of Homer’s achievements, asks how he can be a success as well. Homer advises him go out and be the best Barney he can be. The next day it is revealed that Barney has purchased an even bigger plow, and has started a rival company under the title of "Plow King". Barney creates his own commercial, which defames and slanders Homer (Barney hires Linda Ronstadt
Linda Ronstadt
Linda Ronstadt is an American popular music recording artist. She has earned eleven Grammy Awards, two Academy of Country Music awards, an Emmy Award, an ALMA Award, numerous United States and internationally certified gold, platinum and multiplatinum albums, in addition to Tony Award and Golden...

 to sing the lyrics). Homer loses all of his customers and Mayor Quimby revokes the key to the city from Homer and gives it to Barney.

To get revenge
Revenge
Revenge is a harmful action against a person or group in response to a grievance, be it real or perceived. It is also called payback, retribution, retaliation or vengeance; it may be characterized, justly or unjustly, as a form of justice.-Function in society:Some societies believe that the...

 and regain his customers, Homer tricks Barney into plowing a driveway on Widow’s Peak, a large treacherous mountain outside of town. Homer begins to plow driveways again, but sees a news report showing that Barney has been trapped in an avalanche after he burps. Homer immediately drives to the mountain and rescues Barney. The friends resolve their differences and agree to work together in the plow business, claiming that "When two best friends work together not even God himself can stop them!". Angered, God sarcastically says "Oh, no?" and promptly retaliates by causing a heat wave that melts all the snow in Springfield, effectively putting them both out of business. Since Homer can no longer make the snow plow payments his plow is soon repossessed
Repossession
Repossession is generally used to refer to a financial institution taking back an object that was either used as collateral or rented or leased in a transaction. Repossession is a "self-help" type of action in which the party having right of ownership of the property in question takes the property...

, and things return to normal.

Production

When the episode was being written, many writers' contract
Contract
A contract is an agreement entered into by two parties or more with the intention of creating a legal obligation, which may have elements in writing. Contracts can be made orally. The remedy for breach of contract can be "damages" or compensation of money. In equity, the remedy can be specific...

s had just expired, so there was a small number of writers at the annual story retreat. Al Jean
Al Jean
Al Jean is an award-winning American screenwriter and producer, best known for his work on The Simpsons. He was born and raised in Detroit, Michigan and graduated from Harvard University in 1981. Jean began his writing career in the 1980s with fellow Harvard alum Mike Reiss...

 was very nervous about how they could write a whole new season with such a small crew. In addition, there were several scenes added after the animatic, making the schedule even tighter. However, Jon Vitti was very committed to this episode and pitched almost the entire plot by himself. Vitti's inspiration for the episode was when he noticed that very few TV shows portray snow outside of Thanksgiving
Thanksgiving
Thanksgiving Day is a holiday celebrated primarily in the United States and Canada. Thanksgiving is celebrated each year on the second Monday of October in Canada and on the fourth Thursday of November in the United States. In Canada, Thanksgiving falls on the same day as Columbus Day in the...

 or Christmas
Christmas
Christmas or Christmas Day is an annual holiday generally celebrated on December 25 by billions of people around the world. It is a Christian feast that commemorates the birth of Jesus Christ, liturgically closing the Advent season and initiating the season of Christmastide, which lasts twelve days...

, so he wanted to do an episode with snow involved. From this idea he developed the "friends in competition with each other" plot, which led to Homer getting the plow from a car show. From this came Vitti's plan; have Adam West be at the car show, so then they could hire him for the voice acting and Vitti could finally meet Adam West. The other writers agreed because they were all big fans of Batman when they were children and wanted to meet Adam West. Matt Groening
Matt Groening
Matthew Abram "Matt" Groening is an American cartoonist, screenwriter, and producer. He is the creator of the comic strip Life in Hell as well as two successful television series, The Simpsons and Futurama....

 said that West was one of the most popular people to ever come to the studio. Linda Ronstadt
Linda Ronstadt
Linda Ronstadt is an American popular music recording artist. She has earned eleven Grammy Awards, two Academy of Country Music awards, an Emmy Award, an ALMA Award, numerous United States and internationally certified gold, platinum and multiplatinum albums, in addition to Tony Award and Golden...

 was recorded in San Francisco. Jon Vitti was tasked with recording Linda and he enjoyed it immensely. He still thinks that the most beautiful thing he has ever heard is Linda Ronstadt singing the Spanish Plow King jingle.

Two more script changes that put extra pressure on the episode were a post-animatic rewrite and a complete character change. In the original script for the episode Lenny was going to be Homer’s rival as the Plow King. The idea was quickly dropped because it did not seem to fit in. The post-animatic rewrite was to include the joke in which Homer uses the radio dial to tip the precariously balanced plow back onto the road. This joke was created by Conan O'Brien
Conan O'Brien
Conan Christopher O'Brien is an American television host, comedian, writer, producer and performer. Since November 2010 he has hosted Conan, a late-night talk show that airs on the American cable television station TBS....

, and the writers liked it so much that they included it in the episode.

The Simpsons team encountered trouble with the network censors
Censorship
thumb|[[Book burning]] following the [[1973 Chilean coup d'état|1973 coup]] that installed the [[Military government of Chile |Pinochet regime]] in Chile...

 in the scene where Homer answers the phone and pretends to be Tony Dow
Tony Dow
Tony Lee Dow is an American film producer, director, sculptor, and a television child actor of the 1950s and 1960s.Dow is best known for his role in the television sitcom Leave It to Beaver, which ran in primetime from 1957 to 1963...

 from Leave it to Beaver
Leave It to Beaver
Leave It to Beaver is an American television situation comedy about an inquisitive but often naïve boy named Theodore "The Beaver" Cleaver and his adventures at home, in school, and around his suburban neighborhood...

. After a brief pause Homer replies to an inquiry by the person on the phone with "Yeah, they were gay." The censors refused to allow the line to be aired fearing legal recourse
Legal recourse
A legal recourse is an action that can be taken by an individual or a corporation to attempt to remedy a legal difficulty.* A lawsuit if the issue is a matter of civil law* Many contracts require mediation or arbitration before a dispute can go to court...

 for libel. The Simpsons crew protested, arguing that no one in particular was being implied, and that the "they" could be anybody. After numerous phone calls and arguments, the censors allowed the joke to air.

Cultural references

This episode contains several references that Al Jean referred to as "very obscure". Examples of this include the scene where Homer drives through the treacherous mountain roads, a parody of a scene in Sorcerer
Sorcerer (film)
Sorcerer is a 1977 thriller adventure film, produced and directed by William Friedkin, starring Roy Scheider, Bruno Cremer, Francisco Rabal and Amidou. It is the second remake of the 1953 French film Le Salaire de la Peur ....

, and the scene where Kent Brockman
Kent Brockman
Kent Brockman is a fictional character in the animated television series The Simpsons. He is voiced by Harry Shearer and first appeared in the episode "Krusty Gets Busted"...

 (wearing glasses) reads the off-screen report and looks up in shock, which is a parody of Walter Cronkite
Walter Cronkite
Walter Leland Cronkite, Jr. was an American broadcast journalist, best known as anchorman for the CBS Evening News for 19 years . During the heyday of CBS News in the 1960s and 1970s, he was often cited as "the most trusted man in America" after being so named in an opinion poll...

 hearing about Kennedy’s assassination
John F. Kennedy assassination
John Fitzgerald Kennedy, the thirty-fifth President of the United States, was assassinated at 12:30 p.m. Central Standard Time on Friday, November 22, 1963, in Dealey Plaza, Dallas, Texas...

.

The revamped "Mr. Plow commercial" is a parody of a similar perfume commercial that aired at the time of the episode's production. The fast moving clouds were taken from Koyaanisqatsi
Koyaanisqatsi
Koyaanisqatsi also known as Koyaanisqatsi: Life Out of Balance, is a 1982 film directed by Godfrey Reggio with music composed by Philip Glass and cinematography by Ron Fricke....

, a documentary film. The music that was used in the commercial was from "Casta Diva" from Vincenzo Bellini
Vincenzo Bellini
Vincenzo Salvatore Carmelo Francesco Bellini was an Italian opera composer. His greatest works are I Capuleti ed i Montecchi , La sonnambula , Norma , Beatrice di Tenda , and I puritani...

's Norma
Norma (opera)
Norma is a tragedia lirica or opera in two acts by Vincenzo Bellini with libretto by Felice Romani after Norma, ossia L'infanticidio by Alexandre Soumet. First produced at La Scala on December 26, 1831, it is generally regarded as an example of the supreme height of the bel canto tradition...

 because the Simpsons crew would not have to pay for it. At the time the episode was made, Russia did not abide by American copyright
Copyright
Copyright is a legal concept, enacted by most governments, giving the creator of an original work exclusive rights to it, usually for a limited time...

 laws. In return, America did not respect Russia’s copyright laws. Homer's original jingle, "Call Mr. Plow, that's my name, that name again is Mr. Plow!", is based on a radio jingle for the Roto-Rooter, which had a similar tune, "Call Roto-Rooter, that's the name, and away go troubles down the drain."

Other references include the Carnival of the Stars television show seen at the start of the episode. This is a parody of Circus of the Stars
Circus of the Stars
Circus of the Stars was an annual television special, broadcast by the CBS network in the United States, in which celebrities performed circus-type acts. There were 19 shows in total, the first being broadcast in 1977 and the last in 1994. Over the years the series featured many leading movie and...

, the annual specials that aired on CBS
CBS
CBS Broadcasting Inc. is a major US commercial broadcasting television network, which started as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System. The network is sometimes referred to as the "Eye Network" in reference to the shape of...

 from 1976–1994, featuring celebrities performing circus acts. The scene where Barney gradually degrades into a drunk is a parody of the transformation sequence in Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde
Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1941 film)
Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde is a 1941 horror film starring Spencer Tracy, Ingrid Bergman and Lana Turner. Rather than being a new film version of the novel, it is a direct remake of the 1931 film of the same name, which differs greatly from the novel. The movie was based on Robert Louis Stevenson's...

. The scene where Bart is pelted with snowballs is a reference to the Sonny Corleone tollbooth shooting scene in the film The Godfather
The Godfather
The Godfather is a 1972 American epic crime film directed by Francis Ford Coppola, based on the 1969 novel by Mario Puzo. With a screenplay by Puzo, Coppola and an uncredited Robert Towne, the film stars Marlon Brando, Al Pacino, James Caan, Robert Duvall, Sterling Hayden, John Marley, Richard...

. The snowmen melting during the heatwave is a reference to the melting Nazi soldiers in Raiders of the Lost Ark
Raiders of the Lost Ark
Raiders of the Lost Ark is a 1981 American action-adventure film directed by Steven Spielberg, produced by George Lucas, and starring Harrison Ford. It is the first film in the Indiana Jones franchise...

.

Reception

In its original broadcast, "Mr. Plow" finished 23rd in ratings for the week of November 16-22, 1992, with a Nielsen rating
Nielsen Ratings
Nielsen ratings are the audience measurement systems developed by Nielsen Media Research, in an effort to determine the audience size and composition of television programming in the United States...

 of 14.6, equivalent to approximately 13.6 million viewing households. It was the highest-rated show on the Fox network that week, beating Married... with Children
Married... with Children
Married... with Children is an American surrealistic sitcom that aired for 11 seasons that featured a dysfunctional family living in Chicago, Illinois. The show, notable for being the first prime time television series to air on Fox, ran from April 5, 1987, to June 9, 1997. The series was created...

.

In 2003, the episode was placed sixth on Entertainment Weekly
Entertainment Weekly
Entertainment Weekly is an American magazine, published by the Time division of Time Warner, that covers film, television, music, broadway theatre, books and popular culture...

s top 25 The Simpsons episode list. In 2010, Michael Moran of The Times
The Times
The Times is a British daily national newspaper, first published in London in 1785 under the title The Daily Universal Register . The Times and its sister paper The Sunday Times are published by Times Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary since 1981 of News International...

 ranked the episode as the second best in the show's history. Warren Martyn and Adrian Wood, the authors of the book I Can't Believe It's a Bigger and Better Updated Unofficial Simpsons Guide, enjoyed the episode. They said that it is "A good one. The highlights; the TV show Carnival of Stars, featuring Angela Lansbury walking on hot coals ('Excitement, she wrote!
Murder, She Wrote
Murder, She Wrote is an American television mystery series starring Angela Lansbury as mystery writer and amateur detective Jessica Fletcher. The series aired for 12 seasons from 1984 to 1996 on the CBS network, with 264 episodes transmitted. It was followed by four TV films and a spin-off series,...

'), Homer's flashback to all he's done for Barney, and best of all, the McMahon & Tate ad agency's arty commercial for Mr. Plow." When asked to pick his favorite season out of The Simpsons seasons one
The Simpsons (season 1)
The Simpsons first season originally aired between December 17, 1989 and May 13, 1990, beginning with the Christmas special "Simpsons Roasting on an Open Fire". The show runners for the first production season were Matt Groening, James L...

 through twenty, Paul Lane of the Niagara Gazette
Niagara Gazette
The Niagara Gazette is a morning daily newspaper published in Niagara Falls, New York, USA, which covers several towns and villages of Niagara County, including Niagara, and the City of Niagara Falls. It was bought by Community Newspaper Holdings Inc., along with other area newspapers such as the...

 picked season four and highlighted "Brother from the Same Planet
Brother from the Same Planet
"Brother from the Same Planet" is the fourteenth episode of The Simpsons fourth season. After Homer is late to pick up Bart from soccer practice, Bart turns to the program The Bigger Brothers, and is assigned a man named Tom. Homer gets himself a little brother named Pepe. Homer and Tom fight, and...

" and "Mr. Plow" which he called "excellent", along with "the sweetly funny" "Lisa's First Word
Lisa's First Word
"Lisa's First Word" is the tenth episode of The Simpsons fourth season. It was first broadcast on Fox in the United States on December 3, 1992. In the episode, as the Simpson family gathers around Maggie and tries to encourage her to say her first word, Marge reminisces and tells the story of...

", and "Homer the Heretic
Homer the Heretic
"Homer the Heretic" is the third episode of The Simpsons fourth season, which originally aired on FOX in the United States on October 8, 1992. In the episode, Homer decides to forgo going to church and has an excellent time staying home. His behavior quickly attracts the wrath of God, who visits...

". The episode's reference to The Godfather was named the 37th greatest film reference in the history of the show by Total Film
Total Film
Total Film is a British film magazine published 13 times a year by Future Publishing. The magazine was launched in 1997 and offers film, DVD and Blu-ray news, reviews and features...

's Nathan Ditum. Ditum also ranked West's performance as the seventh best guest appearance in the show's history.

Awards

In 1993, Dan Castellaneta won an Emmy Award for "Outstanding Voice-Over Performance
Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Voice-Over Performance
The Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Voice-Over Performance is a creative arts Emmy Award given out by the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences. It is awarded to a performer for an outstanding "continuing or single voice-over performance in a series or a special." Prior to 1992, voice-actors...

" for his performance as Homer in this episode. It was his second Emmy, as he had also won in the same category the previous year. In 1993, "Mr. Plow" and "A Streetcar Named Marge
A Streetcar Named Marge
"A Streetcar Named Marge" is the second episode of The Simpsons fourth season. It first aired on the Fox network in the United States on October 1, 1992. In the episode, Marge wins the role of Blanche DuBois in a musical version of Tennessee Williams' A Streetcar Named Desire...

" were submitted for the Primetime Emmy Award
Primetime Emmy Award
The Primetime Emmy Awards are awards presented by the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences in recognition of excellence in American primetime television programming...

 for "Outstanding Comedy Series
Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Comedy Series
The Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Comedy Series is an Emmy given to the best television comedy series of the year.-Winners and nominees:...

". The Simpsons' staff had previously submitted episodes for "Outstanding Animated Program
Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Animated Program (For Programming less than One Hour)
The Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Animated Program is a Creative Arts Emmy Award which is given annually to an animated series which is judged to have been the best...

", winning twice, but that season they took a chance with the main comedy category. However, the Emmy voters were hesitant to pit cartoons against live action programs, and The Simpsons did not receive a nomination. The Simpsons' crew submitted episodes for Outstanding Comedy Series the next season, but again these were not nominated. Since then, the show has submitted episodes in the animation category and has won eight times.

External links

  • "Mr. Plow" at The Simpsons.com
  • "Mr. Plow" at TV.com
    TV.com
    TV.com is a website owned by CBS Interactive. The site covers television and focuses on English-language shows made or broadcast in the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Ireland and Japan...

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
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