Death Has a Shadow
| "Death Has a Shadow" |
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"Death Has a Shadow" is the first episode of the FOX animated series Family Guy, which first aired after Super Bowl XXXIII, on January 31, 1999. The episode is based on Seth MacFarlane's original pitch to FOX and is a duplicate of the original Family Guy pilot.
Plot summary
When Peter is invited to a stag party at Quagmire's house, Lois makes him promise not to drink. Peter completely ignores this and gets incredibly drunk at the party falling asleep on the kitchen table. Needless to say, Lois is very upset, though she decides to forgive him since nothing bad has happened. However, Peter continues to fall asleep on the job at the Happy-Go-Lucky Toy Factory the next morning, leading to the release of many highly dangerous "toys" (actually things like jackknives, toasters, and hair dryers). Peter is subsequently fired for negligence. Realizing that he would only hurt his wife again, Peter decides to not tell Lois and instead immediately applies for welfare. Peter, however, is shocked to find that his first welfare check is for $150,000, due to a misplaced decimal point. With his new fortune, Peter begins to buy lavish gifts for his family, due in part to the fact that he is trying to keep Meg and Chris, who have found out that Peter is now unemployed, from telling Lois of what has happened. Lois, however, does eventually find out after she directly receives a new welfare check. With Lois once again upset with him, Peter decides that he will make it up to her by dropping all of his extra welfare money out of a blimp above Super Bowl XXXIII (complete with a parody of the NFL on FOX main theme music). Despite his good intentions, Peter is prosecuted for welfare fraud along with Brian (who didn't actually do anything at all). Realizing he does care for her and his family, Lois makes a passionate plea to the judge to forgive her husband, but this only succeeds in convincing the judge to let her join him in jail. After being hypnotized by Stewie's mind control device, the judge sees Stewie in the court's audience and decides that he can not send Peter or Lois to prison because it would leave Stewie without the protection of his parents. Also, due to the mind control device Stewie has created, the judge is able to get Peter his job at the toy factory back. The episode ends with things returning back to normal, with Peter thinking about new ways to make money, supporting the idea that Peter never learned his lesson.
Cultural references
- The episode's title is borrowed from that of an episode of the classic radio program, Suspense.
- The show's producers originally intended to include "death" or a related word like "murder" in every episode's title, but this was dropped after a few episodes.
- The Griffins watch The Brady Bunch in the beginning of the episode.
- At the stag party, a porn video entitled "Assablanca" is shown, which is a nod to the classic Casablanca.
- A cutaway shows a puny Hitler at the gym, jealous of a strong man with a Star of David around his neck, getting attention, thus beginning his hatred for Judaism.
- At the football game, an announcer similar to John Madden is present.
References
 | This article includes a list of references, related reading, or external links, but its sources remain unclear because it lacks inline citations. (February 2008) |
- Callaghan, Steve. "Death Has a Shadow". Family Guy: The Official Episode Guide Seasons 1—3. New York: HarperCollins, 2005. 14-17.