Dial Meg for Murder
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"Dial Meg for Murder" is the eleventh episode of season eight of the Fox animated comedy Family Guy, and aired on January 31, 2010, on Fox. This episode aired exactly eleven years after the very first episode aired. The episode follows Meg as she dates and falls in love with an inmate at the local prison, eventually ending up hiding him in the Griffin family home, and being sent to jail, returning a hardened criminal.
The episode was written by Alex Carter and Andrew Goldberg, and directed by Cyndi Tang. It received mostly positive reviews for its storyline, and cultural references. According to Nielsen ratings, it was viewed in 6.21 million homes in its original airing. The episode featured guest performances by Dave Boat, Peter Chen, Chace Crawford, Camille Guaty, Victor J. Ho, Allison Janney and Rachael MacFarlane, along with several recurring guest voice actors for the series.
Plot
Peter decides to enter the local rodeo competition, and trains using Chris and Meg in various ways. However, during the competition he quickly falls off his anthropomorphic bull, and ends up being raped, offscreen, by the bull. While at the rodeo, Brian meets the editor of Teen People, who gives him a job writing an article about the average American girl. When he starts following and spying on Meg with Stewie for research, they discover that she has fallen in love with a man in jail named Luke, who she met through a school pen-pal project.
Brian reveals Meg's secret to Peter and Lois, who forbid her from seeing Luke. However, he soon breaks out of jail during a prison riot and tries to hide in the Griffins' house. Brian finds him just as Peter enters, who only knows what is happening when reading TV Guide, which details the plot of the episode, and is the same reason he entered the rodeo. As Luke escapes out the window, Peter alerts Joe, who apprehends Luke. Joe also arrests Meg for harboring a fugitive, and she is sent to prison.
Three months later, Meg returns home a hardened criminal, abusing her family, still doing things from prison, and beating up the kids who make fun of her at school, for which she is suspended. Wanting to start a new life away from home, Meg ambushes Brian in his car and forces him to drive to Mort's Pharmacy so she can rob him. Brian, however, shows her the article he wrote, in which he describes her "far sweeter and kinder" than the typical American girl. Meg is touched by this, so she changes her mind, and returns home.
Production
First touched upon by actress Mila Kunis at the 2009 Comic Con in San Diego,[1][2] the episode was written by series regulars Alex Carter and Andrew Goldberg, and directed by Cyndi Tang, in her second episode for the season, the first being "Spies Reminiscent of Us", before the conclusion of the eighth production season.[3]
In addition to the regular cast, voice actor Dave Boat, Peter Chen, actor Chace Crawford, actress Camille Guaty, Victor J. Ho, actress Allison Janney, and Rachael MacFarlane guest starred in the episode. Recurring guest voice actors Lori Alan, Johnny Brennan, writer Steve Callaghan, Chris Cox, writer Danny Smith, writer Alec Sulkin and writer John Viener also made minor appearances.[3]
Cultural references
At the beginning of the episode, Stewie rhetorically asks whether or not he can call the television magazine TV Guide "The Guide".[4][5] In one scene Stewie refers to Meg as "one of those crazy chicks, who hooks up with an even crazier guy," with a photograph of Jenny McCarthy and Jim Carrey then being shown.[4][5] The song "The Ballad of Billy the Kid" by singer and perfomer Billy Joel is used in depicting Peter's flashbacks about being a cowboy.[4][5] The ending of the episode includes a reference to The Simpsons, in which Meg states an unfunny joke, with Peter announcing he is not amused, responding by sarcastically stating "Always end on a strong joke." The start of the closing credits that follow the statement is styled to match those used in The Simpsons credits.[5]
Reception
In a significant decrease from the previous episode, the episode was viewed in 6.21 million homes in its original airing, according to Nielsen ratings.[6] The 52nd Grammy Awards and the Pro Bowl aired simultaneously as the Animation Domination block, resulting in lower than usual ratings.[6] Despite this, the episode also acquired a 3.2 rating in the 18-49 demographic, surpassing The Simpsons, American Dad! and The Cleveland Show, in both rating and total viewership.[6]
Reviews of the episode were mixed to mostly positive, with critics finding "a lot to like about this episode."[7] Jason Hughes of TV Squad gave the episode a positive review, stating that "[the writers] finally found an angle for a Meg-centric episode that was fully engaging and entertaining."[8] Ahsan Haque of IGN also praised the episode, saying that "the fact that the writers chose to focus on a coherent storyline that relied mostly on contextual humor always helps," calling the ending "somewhat touching."[7] Todd VanDerWerff of The A.V. Club criticized the storyline much more harshly, however, saying that it "relied too heavily on the show's old fallbacks of politically incorrect humor, and ostensibly funny violence."[4]
The conservative Parents Television Council, a frequent critic of Family Guy and other Seth McFarlane-produced shows, named "Dial Meg for Murder" its "Worst TV Show of the Week" for the week ending February 5, 2010, due to excessive violence in scenes featuring Meg as both the victim and the instigator. Also cited was the sequence where Peter unsuccessfully fights off an angry bull, and later is shown in a fetal position while the bull stands over him, calling it "sickening."[9]
References
- ^ Maxwell, Erin (July 25, 2009). "MacFarlane revels in 'Family Guy' noms". Variety. Retrieved October 31, 2009.
- ^ Phillips, Jevon (July 25, 2009). "The Emmy-nominated 'Family Guy' and the abortion episode you will not see". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved October 31, 2009.
- ^ a b "Family Guy - Dial Meg for Murder Cast and crew". Yahoo!. Retrieved 2010-06-24.
- ^ a b c d VanDerWerff, Todd (2010-02-01). ""Million Dollar Maybe"/"Our Gang"/"Dial Meg for Murder"/"A Jones for a Smith". The A.V. Club. Retrieved 2010-02-01.
- ^ a b c d Edmonson, Will (2010-02-01). ""Family Guy" Non Sequiturs Explained! - "Dial Meg for Murder"". Sling. Retrieved 2010-06-24.
- ^ a b c "TV Ratings Sunday: Grammy Awards Drown Out The Competition". TV by the Numbers. 2010-02-01. Retrieved 2010-02-01.
- ^ a b Haque, Ahsan (2010-02-01). "Family Guy: "Dial Meg for Murder" Review". IGN. Retrieved 2010-02-02.
- ^ Hughes, Jason (2010-02-01). "Sundays with Seth: A night of criminal activity". TV Squad. Retrieved 2010-02-01.
- ^ ""Family Guy" on Fox". Parents Television Council. February 5, 2010. Retrieved February 5, 2010.
External links
"Dial Meg for Murder".
| Preceded by "Big Man on Hippocampus" |
Family Guy (season 8) | Succeeded by "Extra Large Medium" |