To Love and Die in Dixie

"To Love and Die in Dixie"
Family Guy episode
Sam's father, Chris, Sam, Peter
Episode no.	Season 3 Episode 12
Directed by	Dan Povenmire
Written by	Steve Callaghan
Production code	3ACX09
Original air date	November 18, 2001
Guest stars
Waylon Jennings as Himself Dakota Fanning as Little Girl Kathleen Wilhoite as Sam
Episode chronology
← Previous "Emission Impossible" Next → "Screwed the Pooch"
Family Guy (season 3) List of Family Guy episodes

"To Love and Die in Dixie" is the 12th episode of the third season of the animated comedy series Family Guy. Country music singer Waylon Jennings, who died three months after the episode aired on television in the United States, guest-stars in his last ever appearance on the show. Dakota Fanning also guest starred on the episode. The title is a reference to a line in the traditional Southern song "Dixie".

The episode was written by future showrunner Steve Callaghan, and was directed by Dan Povenmire. It features the first appearance of the recurring character Mr. Herbert. This episode is rated TV-PG.

Plot

Needing extra money, Chris decides to get a newspaper route, to help pay for a birthday gift for a girl he likes. Among those on his paper route is an old man named Herbert who is sexually attracted to Chris. He gives his crush a present, but his clumsiness and over-eagerness scares her off. Nevertheless, he decides to stay with the paper route. Shortly thereafter, however, Chris witnesses a robbery at a convenience store, and his bike ends up being stolen by the burglar as a getaway vehicle (even though he takes the bike but runs on foot). Later, when Joe brings Chris to the police station, he identifies the thief out of a police lineup. However, Peter shows up and tells the thief (not knowing he is the thief) that he is here to pick up Chris who was going to "finger the guy who held up the convenience store" and then proceeds to give the thief a picture of Chris, along with a list of his school schedule, and his greatest fears. When the thief escapes and swears revenge on Chris, the family is placed in the Witness Protection Program. The Griffins are then relocated to Bumblescum, a tiny town in the deep South. When they get there and see their house, Meg complains about it, and Lois says that "If we fix it up a bit it could be a piece of crap." While there, Peter becomes sheriff with Brian as his deputy. Stewie joins a hillbilly jug band, Meg becomes popular with her classmates, and Chris meets a new friend named Sam.

Later, when Peter interferes with a Civil War reenactment, claiming the North won the war, despite how they were being portrayed in the play, Sam's dad says Chris and Sam can no longer be friends. Not knowing of this, Sam unexpectedly kisses Chris, and Chris assumes Sam is gay. As Chris writes in a journal about what happened with Sam, Brian hears the story (as Chris was speaking out what he wrote), and he explains that kissing Sam seemingly felt right.

When the two meet again, Chris tells Sam that he likes him but only as a friend. Sam agrees and when they are about to go swimming it is revealed to Chris (by Sam's bra, underwear and long hair covered by a cap) that Sam is a girl. Due to the fact that Chris has had bad experience with girls (as seen in the beginning of the episode) he now feels awkward around Sam. At a party that was held that night, Sam explains to Chris that he had no problem talking to her, when he thought she was a guy, so she tells Chris to think of her as a boy who he can make out with.

After the Secret Service agents who were hired to look over the Griffins home in Quahog accidentally reveal the location of the family (telling the criminal where Meg was, but not Chris), the criminal tracks the family down in Bumblescum, and attempts to kill Chris. During the confrontation, however, the criminal is shot by Sam's father.

With the criminal gone, the Griffins return to Quahog with Chris having to leave Sam behind. Once they are home, they realize that someone had left 113 messages on their answering machine, all of which turn out to be from Herbert, who is looking for Chris.

Production

Steve Callaghan wrote the episode.

Dan Povenmire, who directed the episode, was granted substantial creative freedom by series creator and executive producer Seth MacFarlane. Povenmire recalled that MacFarlane would tell him "We've got two minutes to fill. Give me some visual gags. Do whatever you want. I trust you." Povenmire praised this management style for letting him "have fun." Povenmire brought realism, and material from his own experiences, to the visual direction of Family Guy.

For this episode, Povenmire drew inspiration from his own childhood in the deep south for a sequence for a background scene where a "redneck" character nonchalantly kicks a corpse into the nearby river. Also, there was a running gag of raccoons jumping out of things and scratching Peter in the face.

Cultural references

The title of the episode is a reference to the 1985 crime film To Live and Die in L.A., and is also a reference to the song "Dixie". The plot of this episode is somewhat similar to the 1991 film, Cape Fear. When Chris goes to Barbara's party, he gives her a bottle of Elizabeth Taylor's brand of perfume and says "I guess that means you'll smell like bourbon and vicodin", referring to the actress's alleged substance abuse problems. This episode parodies most of The Dukes of Hazzard, which was set in the south. The most notable connections include Peter painting a confederate flag and numbers on his car, and the video frame freezing as their car is in mid-jump and then being voiced over by Waylon Jennings. When the Griffins move into their new house, Jeff Foxworthy is in the closet and he pops out to tell the joke, "You know you're a redneck when your gun rack has a gun rack." The joke alludes the comedian's "You might be a redneck..." comedy bit. Giving homage to Ringo Star's famous exclamation, Stewie shouts out "I've got blisters on my fingers!" upon completing his banjo performance.

Continuity

In this episode, Peter insists he and Brian jump into the car through the windows. After successfully doing so himself, Brian attempts it, only to find Peter left the window up. Later, in the episode "The Fat Guy Strangler" Peter is being strangled by the titular character. Brian throws a rock toward them, but instead of hitting the murderer, hits Peter in the face. Peter tells Brian he missed, to which the dog quips, "No I didn't. That's for rolling up the damn window when I tried to jump into the General Lee."

References

General

• Callaghan, Steve (2005). Family Guy: The Official Episode Guide Seasons 1–3. Orion Books. ISBN 0-7528-7399-7.

Specific

External links

• "To Love and Die in Dixie" at the Internet Movie Database
• "To Love and Die in Dixie" at TV.com

Preceded by Emission Impossible

Family Guy (season 3)

Succeeded by Screwed the Pooch