Hi folks and welcome to another Simpsons Sunday post. We unfortunately have another death in rock to mention and that is guitarist Malcolm Young of AC/DC, aged 64. Yes, his brother Angus rocked but Malcolm had the rhythm and great guitar riffs such as: Highway To Hell and Back In Black and, many other classic songs the brothers wrote for AC/DC, with both Bon Scott and Brian Johnson on lead vocals. Speaking of Highway To Hell, that song was used at the end of the season 10 episode Simpsons Bible Stories in which the family fall asleep in church and wake up alone in church. apocalypse has come and the Simpsons disended to hel, while the Flanders family ascend to heaven. There is more to it but if you have watched the episode, you know what happens visually. RIP Malcolm and thanks for the riffs.This weeks post is about the classic season 4 episode Mr. Plow, which aired exactly 25 years ago tonight. I actually first watched it about 11 years late but I’m glad I did and now have it in my iTunes collection. Anyway, let’s talk about the episode. Shall we?
A blizzard hits Springfield, so Marge calls Homer at Moe’s Tavern and tells him to come home right away. Homer drives through the snowstorm and manages to wreck both of the family cars when he rear-ends Marge’s car in the driveway. Marge, Bart, Lisa and Maggie are in the front door waiting for him and are shocked at what happened. Homer then lies to an insurance claims adjuster, about his whereabouts before the accident in order to cover the fact that he was coming home from a bar.
The insurance company pays the claim, and Homer goes to a car show to get a new car. A salesman talks Homer into getting a snowplough because he can afford the higher payments by doing plowing jobs on the side. Homer buys the snowplough after the salesman scares Homer into buying it by making a whipping noise with his mouth, after Homer points out that he wishes to discuss it with Marge. Homer then starts his snowplough business, thanks to a late night TV commercial it becomes an instant success. Here is the commercial in which The Simpson family participated, along with Grandpa Simpson.
(Marge) “Our driveway’s snowed in.” (Bart and Lisa) “Old Man Winter!” (Grandpa Simpson as old man winter) “That’s right. I fill your driveways with ice and snow. What are you going to do about it? Nothin’. That’s what. (Homer as Mr. Plow) “Stop!” (Bart, Lisa and Marge) “Mr. Plow!” (Homer) “Get out, you lousy season.” (Grandpa Simpson) “All right. I’m going. My head hurts. I have to lie down for a while.”
(Bart and Lisa) “Yea!” (Homer Simpson as Mr. Plow) Hello, I’m Mr. Plow. Are you tired of having your hands cut off by snow blowers and the inevitable heart attacks that come with shoveling snow?” (Bart and Lisa) “Uh-huh.” – (Mr. Plow) “Then call Klondike 5-3226. Call now and receive a free T-shirt. He could still surprise ya.”
(Lisa) “But I’m a real tightwad. Can I afford this remarkable system?” (Mr. Plow) “Absolutely. My prices are so low; you’ll think I’ve suffered brain damage.” (Bart Simpson) “You are fully bonded and licensed by the city, aren’t you, Mr. Plow?” (Mr. Plow) “Shut up, boy.”
So, remember–call Mr. Plow, that’s my name. That name again is Mr. Plow.”
In recognition of the achievement, Mayor Quimby gives Homer a key to the city. Mr. Plow, for making it possible for people to get where they’re going without resorting to public transportation or carpooling I give you the key to the city.”
Barney, who has been working at a succession of dead-end jobs, asks Homer how he can be a success, so Homer tells him to go out and be the best Barney he can be. The next day Barney has bought a bigger plow, and goes into business for himself as “The Plow King”. With Linda Ronstadt’s help, Barney creates his own ad (denouncing Mr. Plow as an alcoholic loser) and steals all of Homer’s customers. Mayor Quimby then takes back the key to the city from Homer and gives it to Barney. To get revenge, Homer tricks Barney into going on a fake plow job at the top of a mountain called Widow’s Peak.While Barney is gone up the mountain, Homer begins to plow driveways again. However, the news later reports there have been an avalanche on Widow’s Peak. Homer, feeling guilty, sets out to rescue Barney, and in the end they agree to become partners. Their claim that not even God could stop them brings about a response from God “oh no? and the melting of the snow.Later on the news Kent Brockman says the following:
“Could this record-breaking heat wave be the result of the dreaded greenhouse effect? Well, if70 degree days in the middle of winter are the price of car pollution you’ll forgive me if I keep my old Pontiac.”
With no more business, and no way to make the payments, Homer’s plow is repossessed at the end of the episode, but that doesn’t stop Marge from enjoying Homer wearing his Mr. Plow jacket to bed and Homer singing her a rendition of his Mr. Plow song, with a forecast of gettin’ it on.
For me, this episode is one of my favourites because it discusses a topic which I have always had an interest in, which is Weather. Although, I enjoy the weather because of Weather Radio and not just because of weather itself. I follow it more than most people because of my interest in it and as I said, because of the WX Radio networks in both Canada and the US.
Obviously, with the death of Adam West this past June, his dialogue in this episode he had when meeting the Simpson family, was played on the radio and tweeted and posted on social media outlets by people, including myself, Al Jean and others. This is certainly a classic episode and thankfully we can now enjoy it digitally as a part of the season 4 collection, as well as being on another iTunes collection.. sadly, Linda Ronstadt can no longer sing anymore because she has Parkinson’s disease but thankfully, we can enjoy her singing on this episode two. There have been similar episodes but this is one of the best weather related episodes I have come to love.
On the birthday front, there are 4 birthdays to talk about, for two supporting cast members and two guest stars: Joe Mantegna, Danny DeVito, Kirk Hammet and Maggie Roswell. Joe and Maggie voice reoccurring characters on The Simpsons and have their own careers outside the series.
Joe Mantegna of course, voices the mob boss in the Springfield mafia Fat Toney and or Fit Fat Toney. Fat Toney first appeared in the Season 3 episode Bart The Murderer and last appeared in the Season 22 episode Donnie Fatso, where he was killed off and replaced by his cousin Fit Toney, now known as Fit Fat Toney. Some people have said that Fat Toney may have inspired the character Tony Soprano from the TV show The Sopranos, portrayed by James Gandolfini. I think maybe that’s true in a sense but it could also be a coincidence because The two characters sound so much alike, if you pay attension to the voices. All though, Tony soprano’s voice was a bit deeper because James Gandolfini’s voice is a bit lower then Joe Mantegna’s voice. Otherwise, they sound almost alike.
Joe turned 70 on November 13th and besides The Simpsons he has a starring roll as FBI Special Agent David Rossi on the CBS show criminal minds. I used to watch it as much as I could and my favourite episode was from Season 4. It is about a serial killer portrayed by Alex O’Loughlin as Vincent, who would kill people with a knife. This includes his 24-year-old friend, which promps him to ask for help in stopping his homicidal tendencies via video tape. For the record, the episode is called the big wheel. The exception to his killing spree was a blind boy named Stanley he became close with, after murdering the boy’s Mother. She is not the first victim in the episode, though, someone else who is a realtor is. She is at work and she mistakingly refers to him as Robert.
For more about Joe Mantegna check out his website. http://joemantegna.com/ and you can also follow him on Twitter @JoeMantegna. I think there is a lot to learn about him, through both his Twitter page and other internet sources. Keep up all the great work on The Simpsons and with other TV shows and movies you are involved in and thanks for all the years of continued entertainment.
Maggie Roswell turned another year older November 14th and for her part, she voices a few recurring characters on The Simpsons. They include: Luann Van Houten, Mary Bailey, Helen Lovejoy, Elizabeth Hoover, Shary Bobbins and Maude Flanders to name a few. Of course, the last two I mentioned are deceased characters. Although Maude has reappeared in flashbacks and as her own ghost. I actually liked Maude because Maggie was able to make her sound the most normal and sweet out of all the characters she voices on The Simpsons. I guess that’s why she was chosen to be one of the supporting cast members, along with Pamela Hayden.
Let us not forget that she is also able to voice such a character as Helen Lovejoy, who is actually one of my least favorite characters of all on the show. This is because of her rather annoying way of saying the following phrase, which is her catch phrase “won’t someone please think of the children. “If you hear it once you’ll understand why I cannot stand that character. However, I don’t hold it against anybody for her existence. Like it or not, she’s important to the show and its cast of characters, as they all are to each other in Springfield.
Back to Maude flanders for a moment… I think if she was still alive she would have probably become one of the most loved characters, along with her husband at the time, Ned. I like her because she called him Nedy when other characters called him Ned. Once again, I don’t hold it against any of the Simpsons staff for killing off Maude when they did. Really, the only one who could have voiced Maude and given her her signature sound is Maggie, along with all her characters she voices.
Something else about Maude I have read and found to be untrue is that she never showed any emotion such as anger. Well, maybe she never got angry but she did show worry about Ned when he was missing in the episode In Marge We Trust. A list on the internet of the Top 15 most annoying characters, made her a part of the list along with Helen Lovejoy. The former, I can understand but the latter, no. This list also included Lisa Simpson and I disagree with that too. Unfortunately the link to the list is no longer up but I can assure you that what I just told you is true. Also, if you take out the fact that Maude was Ned Flanders’s wife she would be just a nice lady next door but that wouldn’t have been as funny. She would have just been this nice lady who Marge would get along with and Homer would longingly lust after, even in front of Marge. Maybe she would have babysat Bart Lisa and Maggie. I’m just saying it could have been a possibility too but the character has turned out fine the way she has been.
Check out Maggie’s website http://www.maggieroswell.com/. I took a brief look and I had no idea what she did outside The Simpsons and outside of her other work as an actress, before finding it on her Twitter page @MaggieRoswell. She is also a great singer and of course, she has show’n this talent off on The Simpsons especially during the first few seasons. Remember Shary Bobbins? You know? it was the episode where Homer and the kids were being especially lazy and Marge lost her hair? Okay, if that doesn’t ring a bell, it was the episode in which she shows up as the new nanny and encourages Bart and Lisa that household chores can be fun. She also changes the other citizens of Springfield to be less fat lazy and stupid, thanks to her gental nature. Albeit, but briefly.. It would be nice if she wasn’t killed at the end too and her and Groundskeeper Willie kissed and made up!
Thanks for all the work you do, inside and outside The Simpsons and keep singing. That is also one of my favourite things to do too, as most of my Twitter followers and Facebook friends know. I also like voices and imitating different Voice timbers and dialects. I wish there was a way that I could tweet out my voice on Twitter using the iPhone or any iOS device! Maybe there is but I haven’t found it yet. I’d be tweeting out my impressions of varius Simpsons characters to many people, for fun and so I could show off my own voice talents.
Also, veteran actor and director producer Danny DeVito celebrated his 72nd birthday on Friday and of course, guested as Homer’s half brother Herb Powell on Season 2’s Oh Brother, Where Are Thow? and Season 3’s Brother, Can You Spare Two Dimes? Also, a brief cameo in the episode The Changing Of The Guardian
When I looked him up on Wikipedia I learned how old he is and I’m shocked. He sounds about 10 or 20 years younger than his age to me. Actually, he reminds me of a weather guy on The Weather Channel in the US. I don’t know why but he does.
Also, guitarist Kirk Hammett of metallica celebrated a birthday yesterday. The entire current lineup of Metallica guest starred in the premiere of season 18: The Mook, The Chef, The Wife And Her Homer! It really was not surprising that the band did this because they are funny and sarcastic and they don’t mind poking fun at themselves once in a while. They are touring and playing well, considering the music they play and that the guys are in their ’50s.
As usual to end each Simpsons Sunday post, I recommend checking out Chris Ladesma’s blog. He is the Music Editor for The Simpsons and has been since day 1.
Finally, Metallica guitarist Kirk Hammett turned another year older yesterday. The entire current lineup of Metallica guest starred in the premiere of season 18: The Mook, The Chef, The Wife And Her Homer! It really was not surprising that the band did this because they are funny and sarcastic and they don’t mind poking fun at themselves once in a while. They are touring and playing well, considering the music they play and that the guys are in their ’50s.Well, that’s about it for this weeks Post. In the mean time, I recommend checking out my other blog, which has older posts relating to The Simpsons, along with a lot more interesting stuff about my favourite bands and other things. http://blindgordieblog.wordpress.com
Also, check out Chris Ladesma’s blog. He is the Music Editor for The Simpsons and has been since day 1.
http://simpsonsmusic500.wordpress.com/author/simpsonsmusic500/
Also, check out Yeardley Smith’s blog at http://gobbingoff.tumblr.com
Don’t forget about Marchez Vous, which is her women’s shoe designer company, which she started earlier in the decade. You can check out their website at
http://www.marchesvous.com
Additionally, for more news on The Simpsons, you can go to http://news.simpsonswiki.com/
You can also comment here or you can email me at blindgordie@gmail.com and I will reply as soon as I can to all messages I receive. If you follow me on Twitter or are my friend on Facebook you can comment directly to me that way too.
You can follow Simpsons Executive Producer Al Jean on Twitter and his Twitter handle is @AlJean.
He has ran the show since Season 13 and has ran it during Seasons 3 and 4.
Anyway, I’ll talk to you again next Sunday.
Simpsons on Sundays 