"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.
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 Marge's car on a snowy night (which he had spent drinking at Moe's), Homer is forced to purchase a replacement car. After he is initially unsuccessful after test driving a tiny foreign vehicle which is unsuitable for him, a car show salesman convinces Homer to get a pickup truck mounted with a snowplow. Homer agrees on the basis that he can make the payments by plowing people's driveways. Homer starts his plowing business, titled Mr. Plow, but he has trouble finding customers until Lisa suggests recording an advertisement on late night local television. The resulting commercial and jingle attracts many 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 starts a rival company called the Plow King, and creates his own commercial, with Linda Ronstadt singing the jingle, which badmouths Homer. Homer pays an agency to make him a new commercial, but it turns out to be completely baffling. As a result, Homer loses his success to Barney, and Mayor Quimby revokes his key to the city and hands it over to Barney.
To get revenge and regain his customers, Homer tricks Barney into plowing a non-existent 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. Homer immediately drives to the mountain and rescues him. The friends resolve their differences and agree to work together in the plow business. God, angered by Homer saying that not even he can stop them, promptly retaliates by causing a heatwave, melting all the snow and effectively putting them both out of business. As Homer can no longer make the snowplow payments, his plow is repossessed, but he keeps the Mr. Plow jacket to wear to bed for Marge, turning her on.
Production
When the episode was being written, many writers' contracts had expired, so there weren't some writers 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. However, Jon Vitti was very committed to this episode and pitched almost the entire plot by himself.
Vitti's idea was to have Adam West be at the car show, so then they could hire him for the voice acting and Vitti could finally meet him. The other writers agreed because they were all big fans of Batman when they were children and also wanted to meet Adam West. Matt Groening said that West was one of the most popular people to ever come to the studio. Linda Ronstadt was recorded in San Francisco. Jon Vitti was tasked with recording Ronstadt, and he enjoyed it immensely. He remarked 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, 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, and the writers liked it so much that they included it in the episode.