Peterotica

"Peterotica"
Family Guy episode
Peter signs a woman's breasts at a book signing of one of his Peterotica books.
Episode no.	Season 4 Episode 24
Directed by	Kurt Dumas
Written by	Patrick Meighan
Production code	4ACX27
Original air date	April 23, 2006
Guest stars
Betty White as Herself Tamera Mowry as book customer Alex Breckenridge as Renee Zellwegger
Episode chronology
← Previous "Deep Throats" Next → "You May Now Kiss the... Uh... Guy Who Receives"
Family Guy (season 4) List of Family Guy episodes

"Peterotica" is the twenty-fourth episode from season four of Family Guy. The episode originally broadcast on April 23, 2006, and was written by Patrick Meighan and directed by Kurt Dumas. The title of the episode is a portmanteau between "Peter" and "Erotica". The plot follows Peter's brief career writing erotic novels. After Peter asks Carter Pewterschmidt for publishing money, Carter is sued by a man who has a car accident while listening to an audio book of one of Peter's novels; the settlement forces Carter into bankruptcy. Peter attempts to help Carter accept life as a middle-class citizen, then decides to work with Carter so they both can become wealthy, but then gives up after multiple failed attempts. Carter soon gets his fortune back when his wife returns to him, and he resumes hating Peter. Meanwhile, Stewie attempts to train for the Olympics, despite discouraging comments from Brian.

Plot

Peter, Joe, and Cleveland accompany Quagmire to a sex shop. While there, Peter buys an erotic book entitled Much Ado About Humping and finds it disappointing. Peter writes a letter to the author including an example of what he would consider a better writing style for an erotic novel, which impresses his friends when he reads it to them. Encouraged by their enthusiasm, Peter decides to write his own erotic novel, which is received well by all who read it.The novels he authors are converted into audio-books, as read by Betty White and published by Peter's father-in-law, [[Carter Pewterschmidt. While listening to one of Peter's new books, an aroused driver tries to take off his shirt and instead crashes his car. The man sues Carter, who is liable as publisher and immediately loses everything. Angry at Peter for making him lose his fortune, Carter comes to the Griffin house intent on shooting Peter. Lois persuades Carter to spare him, however, and Peter agrees to let Carter live with them until he has income.

Barbara, Carter's wife, soon divorces him and marries Ted Turner. Meanwhile, Peter attempts to teach Carter how to live as a regular person, but Carter does not take well to this. So Peter and Carter attempt to make some money, robbing a train as a last resort after several other failed attempts, but the train robbery is unsuccessful. Barbara returns to Quahog as Peter and Carter realise they will not be rich, and Barbara informs Carter he is rich again due to her divorcing Ted Turner and taking half his assets. Despite Peter helping him, Carter abandons him again, leaving him with no money. Lois informs Peter she refused the 10 million dollars her parents offered her ten years ago, as money would just complicate things, which leads Peter to fantasise about killing her. Meanwhile, Stewie trains to participate in the Olympics, but an accident during training leaves him with a shard of glass in his forehead.

Production

The "naughty flapper girl" gag was included in the original draft of the episode. The original title of the episode was intended to be "A Connecticut Yankee and King Arthur's Butt", but broadcasting standards objected. The scene of Peter reading his new erotic novel to Lois was never cut from airing, although the producers of Family Guy had some trouble originally with it, as it is the second semen joke of the episode. The gag in which Peter is a landlord over a rat family in the Griffin family basement was removed from television broadcasting for timing purposes. Stewie is seen practicing for the Olympics and is disturbed by Chris; this scene was originally meant to be the start of a sub-plot which would see Stewie building a machine to make Chris intelligent. Although it would be successful, Chris would become more clever than Stewie. The sub-plot was scrapped because it was deemed not funny enough. A sequence showing all of the different erotic novels written by Peter was edited for the television version; one entitled "Catcher in the Eye" was removed from the television version, as broadcasting standards disliked the cover, which implied her eye was a target for semen during ejaculation.

When Lois' father, Carter, sits down at the breakfast table, Lois states: "Daddy, did you remember to clean up?" Originally, she was meant to say "Daddy, did you remember to wipe yourself?", but broadcasting standards objected, so it was modified to "Daddy, did you remember to clean yourself?" However, standards still objected, so it was changed to its current version. The "thinking grenade" sketch, in which Peter uses live grenades to help him think, was originally intended to be used in "PTV" in a scene in The Drunken Clam, but there were no windows in the Clam nearby for Peter to throw the grenade through, so, instead of adding windows directly for that episode, the gag was moved to this episode.

Cultural references

The episode features multiple references to popular culture. The song Quagmire sings in the sex shop is a part of "Make 'Em Laugh", from the 1952 musical film Singin' in the Rain. The lawyer attempting to sue Carter is forced into a battle with a rancor, in a scene that mirrors Luke Skywalker's fight with the Rancor in Jabba the Hutt's palace from Return of the Jedi. Peter is shown watching Blind Justice in his house, a reference to the show. A reference to The Simpsons' appearance in The Tracey Ullman Show is made when the Griffins are shown as characters in the show. Show producer David A. Goodman comments that, contrary to what some think, the show was not trying to get at The Simpsons, rather trying to show the differences in voices and character appearance. While Peter and Carter try to steal money from Lois' purse, Peter balances on a unicycle and hums Aram Khachaturian's Sabre Dance. The erotic book Peter bought at the sex shop is Much Ado About Humping, an obvious parody of the William Shakespeare play Much Ado About Nothing. The four porn books shown on screen are references to works of literature: Angela's Asses to Angela's Ashes by Frank McCourt, Catcher in the Eye to Catcher in the Rye by J. D. Salinger, Shaved New World to Brave New World by Aldous Huxley, and Harry Potter and the Half-Black Chick to Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince by J. K. Rowling. When Peter and Carter are trying to obtain money, they start their own sitcom called Quahog Creek, a ripoff of WB's Dawson's Creek. When waiting in line at the movies, Peter tells Carter about a new movie, The Picnic, starring Jude Law and Renee Zellweger. The song used is "Roll to Me", by Del Amitri. The theme song "I Don't Want to Wait" uses misinterpreted lyrics of the actual theme song performed by Paula Cole. Peter's "Thinking Grenades" use the same sound effect as the grenades in the Halo video games.

Reception

In a review of the Family Guy, Volume Four DVD collection, Mike Drucker of IGN singled out "Peterotica" and "PTV" as "new classics." In a review of the episode, Bob Sassone of TV Squad commented on the scene where Peter acts as a landlord over a rat, writing, "to be honest, I'm not even sure what the hell was going on there, it was so disturbing." Geoffrey D. Roberts of Real Talk Reviews criticized the episode, writing that "the story is thin and the laughter absent." The episode sparked controversy over a depiction of the Charwoman cleaning character, a character used by Carol Burnett in The Carol Burnett Show that was used in the episode without her consent. Burnett sued, but the case was later dismissed.

External links

• "Peterotica" at TV.com
• "Peterotica" at the Internet Movie Database

Preceded by Deep Throats

Family Guy (season 4)

Succeeded by You May Now Kiss the... Uh... Guy Who Receives