Mr. Plow

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Mr. Plow
Season 4 Episode 9
Production Code	9F07
Original Airdate	November 19, 1992
Written By	Jon Vitti
Directed By	Jim Reardon
Show Runners	Al Jean & Mike Reiss
Special Guests	Adam West and Linda Ronstadt as themselves
Blackboard Text	"A burp is not an answer"

"Mr. Plow" is the 9th episode of the fourth season. It was submitted for the overall comedy program Emmy Award as opposed to the animation category in 1993 (along with "A Streetcar Named Marge") although ultimately, it wasn't nominated.

Plot

It is snowing badly in Springfield, so Marge calls Homer at Moe's Tavern and tells him to come home right away. Homer drives through a snowstorm and both of the Simpsons' cars are destroyed as a result. He lies to an insurance claims adjuster about his whereabouts before the accident in order to cover the fact that he was drinking at the time.

Homer goes to a car show to get a new car, where after an unsettling encounter with Adam West, a salesman talks him into getting a snowplow because he can pay the higher debt by using it to plow snow off the roads. Homer starts his snow plow business as "Mr. Plow" with the help of a late-night ad. The business is a success, and Homer is given a key to the city.

Barney asks how he can be a success so Homer says to go out and be the best Barney he could be. The next day Barney has bought a bigger plow, and with Linda Ronstadt's help, creates an ad as "The Plow King", which steals all of Homer’s customers. Mayor Quimby takes back the key from Homer and gives it to Barney. To get revenge Homer tricks Barney into going on a fake plow job.

Without Barney around Homer begins to plow driveways again, but the news reports there has been an avalanche on the mountain that Homer sent Barney to. Homer, feeling guilty, sets out to rescue him, and in the end they agree to become partners. Their claim that not even God could stop them brings about a response from God—a heat wave that caused the melting of the snow. Homer’s plow is repossessed at the end of the episode.

Trivia

• Both the Plow King and Mr. Plow are driveable cars in the video games The Simpsons Road Rage and The Simpsons Hit and Run.

• Homer informs Barney if he goes out to the mountain to plow the road he will be paid with a "ten thousand dollar bill". When Barney asks which president is featured on the bill, Homer replies with "All of them. They're having a party. Jimmy Carter is passed out on a couch"

Cultural references

Mr. Plow parodies a number of television programs, mainly Batman. The episode references the Batusi; Catwomen Julie Newmar, Lee Meriwether and Eartha Kitt. It also takes a stab at Michael Keaton’s appearance in the movie versions, where he wore a muscle-molded Bat-suit. West’s Batmobile even sports the TV series’ license plate number: 2F-3567 (although it says "Springfield" instead of "Gotham City".)

Carnival of the Stars (hosted by Troy McClure) is a direct spoof of Circus of the Stars, the annual specials that aired on CBS (from 1976-1994), featuring celebrities performing circus acts. The Mr. Plow commercial featuring the snow dome being crushed is inspired by the shattered snow dome in the 1941 film Citizen Kane. Homer receives a phone call from delinquent accounts at Komatsu Motors and states that he is "Tony Plow", from Leave It to Beaver, rather than Mr. Plow. In reality, the part of Wally Cleaver was portrayed by Tony Dow.

The scene where the snowmen melt during the sudden heatwave is similar to the way the Nazi soldiers melt in the Raiders of the Lost Ark. When Homer claims that when two friends work together, not even God Himself can stop them. The merger of their businesses is short-lived however, as a heat wave melts all the snow. Although this was a positive comment by Homer on the power of teamwork and friendship, it was also construed as similar to the oft-referenced quote to the RMS Titanic; "God Himself cannot sink this ship!"

The 1977 William Friedkin film Sorcerer is briefly parodied as Homer crosses a rickety bridge. The scene is scored with Tangerine Dream-like music that was featured in the movie. The scene in which Bart is ambushed by snowballs is similar to Sonny Corleone’s death at the toll-booth in The Godfather. The opera sung by (a caricature of) Maria Callas in the second Mr. Plow TV ad is the famous cavatina "Casta Diva" from Vincenzo Bellini's Norma.

Homer's TV commercial jingle (Call Mr. Plow, that's my name / That name again is Mr. Plow) parodies a long-running jingle for Roto-Rooter. The same melody is also appropriated by Peter Griffin in the Family Guy episode "Patriot Games".