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". 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. Ditum also ranked West's performance as the seventh best guest appearance in the show's history.