25 Days of Christmas #3b: "Mr. Plow"

It's not technically a Christmas episode, but it's on my previously-mentioned DVD of Simpsons holiday shows, so I watched it. It's one of the best-loved episodes, "Mr. Plow." This is from the fourth season, and unlike my previous episode, most things about the show are set in stone (most good things, anyway). This episode has two incongruous cameos from Linda Ronstadt and Adam West.

This is the second episode I saw in a row with a Batman reference, and I seem to remember this was the first burgeoning moment of Adam West's revival as a completely self-deprecating, unaware has-been-cum-celebrity.

As a quick review, Homer cracks up both of the family cars at once, and is bullied into buying a snowplow. He manages to build his plow business into a success, until Barney opens a rival plowing company.

This episode has a lot of memorable moments, and is the only episode I saw which featured my favorite Simpsons actor, Phil Hartman. I was excited to see Troy McClure in the opening moments of this show, since so often Lionel Hutz would appear in each McClure episode too. Sadly, that was not to be.

I have a vague recollection, from the audio commentary, that Matt Groening thinks one of the reasons this episode is so popular is that people never see snow on TV except during Christmas-specific stories.

As a Simpsons episode, I rate this 9/10.
As a Christmas story, I rate this 1/10 -- there's just nothing except snow, snow, snow.

I have at least two more episode reviews to write today, but I'm afraid I have to be at work in 8 hours. We'll get up to speed soon though.

The Simpsons - Christmas  The Simpsons: Season 4