Mr. Plow
"Mr. Plow" | |
---|---|
The Simpsons episode | |
Episode no. | Season 4 Episode 9 |
Directed by | Jim Reardon |
Written by | Jon Vitti |
Production code | 9F07 |
Original air date | November 19, 1992 |
Guest appearances | |
| |
Episode features | |
Couch gag | The family runs in and sits on a small wooden chair.[1] |
Commentary | Matt Groening Al Jean Jon Vitti Jim Reardon |
"Mr. Plow" is the ninth episode of the fourth season of the American animated television series The Simpsons. It originally aired on the Fox network in the United States on November 19, 1992. In the episode, Homer buys a snowplow and starts a business plowing driveways. It is a huge success, and inspired by this, Barney Gumble starts a rival company and quickly puts Homer out of business.[3]
The episode was written by Jon Vitti and directed by Jim Reardon. The episode was well received, with some critics calling it one of the best in the show's history.
Dan Castellaneta won his second consecutive Emmy Award for "Outstanding Voice-Over Performance" for this episode (Castellaneta performs the voice of both Homer and Barney in the series). The episode was also submitted in the "Outstanding Comedy Series" category although ultimately it was not nominated.
Plot
After crashing into
Barney, jealous of Homer's success, starts a rival business called Plow King. Barney advertises his business with a commercial featuring a jingle sung by Linda Ronstadt. (When Moe asks Barney how Ronstadt agreed to appear in the commercial, Barney says, "We'd been looking for a project to do together for a while.") Homer pays an agency to make him a new commercial, but the new commercial is perplexing and does not sufficiently advertise Homer's business. As a result, Barney becomes much more successful than Homer. Mayor Quimby revokes Homer's key to the city and gives it to Barney.
To get revenge on Barney and revitalize his own business, Homer tricks Barney into plowing a non-existent driveway on Widow's Peak, a large, treacherous mountain outside of town. After a day of successfully plowing Springfield citizens' driveways, Homer sees a news report that says Barney is trapped in an avalanche on Widow's Peak. Feeling guilty and fearful for Barney's life, Homer drives to the mountain and rescues Barney. Barney and Homer reconcile and agree to become business partners. However, after Homer says, "When two best friends work together, not even
Production
When the episode was being written, many writers' contracts had expired, so some writers weren't at the annual story retreat. Al Jean 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.[4] However, Jon Vitti was very committed to this episode and pitched almost the entire plot by himself.[5]
It was Vitti's idea to have Adam West at the car show, as he wanted to finally meet him.[6] The other writers agreed because they were all big fans of Batman as children and also wanted to meet West. Matt Groening said that West was one of the most popular people to ever come to the studio.[7] Linda Ronstadt was recorded in San Francisco. Vitti was tasked with recording Ronstadt, and enjoyed it immensely. He said the most beautiful thing he has ever heard is 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,
The Simpsons team encountered trouble with the network
Cultural references
The Carnival of the Stars show seen at the start of the episode is a parody of
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 the documentary Koyaanisqatsi.[5] The music in the commercial was a Russian recording of "Casta Diva" from Vincenzo Bellini's Norma. At the time the episode was made, Russia did not abide by American copyright laws and America did not respect Russia's copyright laws, so they would not have to pay to use the recording.[6] The shattered snowglobe is an allusion to Citizen Kane (1941). 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."[6]
Reception
In its original broadcast, "Mr. Plow" finished 23rd in ratings for the week of November 16–22, 1992, with a
In 1993, Dan Castellaneta won an
In 2003, the episode was placed sixth on Entertainment Weekly's top 25 The Simpsons episode list.[13] In June 2009, Robert Canning of IGN gave the episode a score of 9.8 out of 10 and said it was "a fantastic episode that told an engaging story and was laugh-out-loud funny from start to finish. [...] There was a fun, engaging story, great guest stars poking fun at themselves, flashbacks, songs, cutaways and opportunities to highlight characters outside the series' namesake family."[14]
In January 2010, Michael Moran of The Times ranked the episode as the second best in the show's history.[15] 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!'), 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."[1] In June 2012, Nathan Rabin of The A.V. Club stated that the episode "isn't just spectacularly funny and filled with classic bits: it also foretells the future. Not bad for an animated cartoon from the 1990s."[16]
When asked to pick his favourite season out of The Simpsons seasons one through twenty, Paul Lane of the Niagara Gazette picked season four and highlighted "Brother from the Same Planet" and "Mr. Plow" which he called "excellent", along with "the sweetly funny" "Lisa's First Word", and "Homer the Heretic".[17] The episode's reference to The Godfather was named the 37th greatest film reference in the history of the show by Total Film's Nathan Ditum.[18] Ditum also ranked West's performance as the seventh-best guest appearance in the show's history.[19]
When The Simpsons began streaming on Disney+ in 2019, former Simpsons writer and executive producer Bill Oakley named this one of the best classic Simpsons episodes to watch on the service.[20]
Legacy
On December 17, 2015, Google and YouTube modernized the episode and its "Mr. Plow" jingle for use in a commercial in which Lisa uses the website on her computer to place Homer's advertisement onto its YouTube campaign.[21][22]
References
- ^ a b c d e Martyn, Warren; Wood, Adrian (2000). "Mr. Plow". BBC. Archived from the original on April 28, 2004. Retrieved October 19, 2007.
- OL 433519M..
- ^ Groening, Matt; Vitti, Jon; Reardon, Jim (2004). The Simpsons Season 4 DVD commentary for the episode "Mr. Plow" (DVD). 20th Century Fox.
- ^ a b c Reardon, Jim (2004). The Simpsons Season 4 DVD commentary for the episode "Mr. Plow" (DVD). 20th Century Fox.
- ^ a b c d e f g Jean, Al (2004). The Simpsons Season 4 DVD commentary for the episode "Mr. Plow" (DVD). 20th Century Fox.
- ^ a b c Vitti, Jon (2004). The Simpsons Season 4 DVD commentary for the episode "Mr. Plow" (DVD). 20th Century Fox.
- ^ Groening, Matt (2004). The Simpsons Season 4 DVD commentary for the episode "Mr. Plow" (DVD). 20th Century Fox.
- ^ Jean, Al; Reardon, Jim; Vitti, Jon (2004). The Simpsons Season 4 DVD commentary for the episode "Mr. Plow" (DVD). 20th Century Fox.
- ^ Jean, Al; Vitti, Jon (2004). The Simpsons Season 4 DVD commentary for the episode "Mr. Plow" (DVD). 20th Century Fox.
- ^ "7 times Adam West played "Adam West," and it was great". June 10, 2017.
- ^ Moore, Frazier (November 28, 1992). "ABC is first in November sweeps race". Sun-Sentinel. p. 3D.
- ^ a b "Primetime Emmy Awards Advanced Search". Emmys.org. Archived from the original on April 3, 2009. Retrieved October 24, 2007.
- ^ "The Family Dynamic (The best "Simpsons" episodes, Nos. 6-10)". Entertainment Weekly. February 2, 2003. Archived from the original on February 4, 2009. Retrieved December 19, 2015.
- ^ Canning, Robert (June 2, 2009). "The Simpsons Flashback: 'Mr. Plow' Review". IGN. Retrieved December 19, 2015.
- ^ Moran, Michael (January 14, 2010). "The 10 best Simpsons episodes ever". The Times. Archived from the original on June 15, 2011. Retrieved January 15, 2022.
- ^ Rabin, Nathan (June 3, 2012). "The Simpsons (Classic): 'Mr. Plow'". The A.V. Club. Retrieved January 15, 2022.
- ^ Dzikiy, Phil; Paul Lane (September 25, 2008). "TELEVISION: 20 years — A 'Simpsons' extravaganza". Niagara Gazette.
- ^ Ditum, Nathan (June 6, 2009). "The 50 Greatest Simpsons Movie References". Total Film. GamesRadar. Retrieved January 15, 2022.
- ^ Ditum, Nathan (March 29, 2009). "The 20 Best Simpsons Movie-Star Guest Spots". Total Film. GamesRadar. Retrieved January 15, 2022.
- ^ Katz, Mathew (November 11, 2019). "The best classic Simpsons episodes on Disney+". Digital Trends. Retrieved January 15, 2022.
- ^ Hendrickson, John (December 19, 2015). "If Mr. Plow Was an Annoying YouTube Ad". Esquire. Retrieved December 19, 2015.
- ^ YouTube for Business (December 17, 2015). "Homer Simpson saves the day with YouTube". YouTube. Archived from the original on December 17, 2015. Retrieved December 19, 2015.
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