8 Simple Rules for Buying My Teenage Daughter
| "8 Simple Rules for Buying My Teenage Daughter" | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Family Guy episode | |||
 Peter and Mort make a deal about Meg. |
|||
| Episode no. | Season 4 Episode 8 |
||
| Directed by | Greg Colton | ||
| Written by | Patrick Meighan | ||
| Production code | 4ACX11 | ||
| Original air date | July 10, 2005 | ||
| Guest stars | |||
| Episode chronology | |||
|
|||
| Family Guy (season 4) List of Family Guy episodes |
|||
"8 Simple Rules for Buying My Teenage Daughter" is an episode from the fourth season of the FOX animated series Family Guy which guest starred Joanna García as Stewie’s babysitter, Liddane. It was rated TV-14 for suggestive dialogue (D), offensive language (L), sexual content (S), and violence (V) in the United States.
Contents |
[edit] Plot summary
When Peter goes to the pharmacy to buy condoms, he realizes he has forgotten his wallet. Mort Goldman, the pharmacist, offers to open a tab for him; Peter quickly begins spending unnecessarily. For instance, he buys eight cases of ipecac so he can hold a vomiting contest with Brian, Chris, and Stewie; although Chris technically wins, all four vomit in a scene lasting 56 seconds. Soon, Mort calls in Peter's debt of $34,000. In desperation, Peter seizes upon a picture of Mort's son Neil, who is infatuated with Meg. Peter offers to sell Meg to the Goldmans to settle the bill, offering a contract; Mort agrees, but everyone is shocked to discover that Neil has started dating another girl named Cecilia. Meg becomes unexpectedly jealous and hunts desperately for a boyfriend to make Neil jealous; she ends up settling for Jake Tucker, who only wants her to buy him things. She finally tells Neil that she wants to be his girlfriend and signs the original contract to prove her sincerity; the Goldmans quickly put her to work as a slave plowing a field in their front yard. Brian finds a clause in the contract stating that it is null and void if Neil cheats on Meg, so Peter convinces Lois to dress as Mystique and seduce him at a fake X-Men convention. Neil tells Meg that he only wants her to be with him if she wants to be with him, tears up the contract, and quickly reconciles with his previous girlfriend. Meg's relief quickly gives way to renewed jealousy.
Meanwhile, after Meg had complained that she was tired of babysitting Stewie while their parents went out, Lois interviews candidates for a new babysitter. Stewie instantly falls in love with Liddane, an attractive young applicant. Liddane already has a boyfriend named Jeremy, however, and in a jealous rage, Stewie clubs him with a tire iron, ties him up, duct tapes his mouth shut, and locks him in the trunk of Brian's car. After Liddane prevents Stewie from touching her breasts, he drugs her and tells Lois that she invited friends over and that they were "smoking merry-joo-wanna and hero-ween! And they were all taking Eczema and touching each other!". Lois fires Liddane, who departs after giving Stewie a mixtape. Stewie regrets his actions and pursues her, but she has disappeared. Two weeks later, Stewie realizes that he forgot to release Jeremy from Brian's trunk, and mildly assumes that he is dead, without much remorse.
[edit] Cultural references
When Stewie realizes Liddane has a boyfriend, he thought that he and Liddane would go all the way and die together, and be the Family Guy version of Adolf Hitler and Eva Braun's suicide pact. A flashback shows Brian by the bowling alley, talking about how high school girls keep getting pretty and staying young. This is a reference to the movie Dazed and Confused, where Matthew McConaughey's character, David Wooderson says the exact same thing. Meg goes on Everybody Loves Raymond to tell Neil she doesn't like him. When Lois hires several people to apply for being Stewie's babysitter, one of them is Gloop from the 1967 show Herculoids. Tendro also comes in the house and starts shooting.[1] Peter mentions "I Can't Believe It's Not Butter!" twice, both after two characters make a statement starting with "I can't believe..."[2] In one scene, When Liddane babysits Stewie, they play a game of Jenga. In a cutaway, Peter buys a "breakfast machine", which turns out to be a Rube Goldberg machine which shoots him. The breakfast machine itself is similar to the breakfast machine featured in the film Pee-Wee's Big Adventure. When Liddane introduces Stewie to her boyfriend, Stewie gets jealous and furious and rants about Liddane's boyfriend, "wearing Teva sandals, an Abercrombie & Fitch crew neck henley who smokes his sticky buds out of a soda can while downloading his favorite Simpsons episodes." Stewie calling out to Lidanne after she has departed is a reference to Catherine Earnshaw calling for Heathcliff in Wuthering Heights.[3]
[edit] Production
The babysitter is named after Liddane Sanders, the production controller of Family Guy and American Dad!, according to the DVD commentary for this episode. Said commentary also states that this is the first episode of Family Guy to make a reference to The Simpsons.
[edit] Reception
This episode was the most-watched program on its original airdate among adults 18 to 49, with a viewership of 6.1 million.[4]
[edit] References
- ^ http://www.planet-familyguy.com/pfg/episodes/64/8SimpleRulesForBuyingMyTeenageDaughter/
- ^ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I_Can%27t_Believe_It%27s_Not_Butter!#In_popular_culture
- ^ http://familyguy.wikia.com/wiki/8_Simple_Rules_for_Buying_My_Teenage_Daughter/References
- ^ Aurthur, Kate (2005-07-12). "Sharing the Ratings Spoils". The New York Times. http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9A01E2DB103DF931A25754C0A9639C8B63. Retrieved 2009-03-26.
[edit] External links
| Preceded by Brian the Bachelor |
Family Guy (season 4) | Succeeded by Breaking Out Is Hard to Do |
