The Story on Page One
| "The Story on Page One" | |
|---|---|
| Family Guy episode | |
| Episode no. |
Season 2 Episode 19 |
| Directed by | Gavin Dell |
| Written by | Craig Hoffman |
| Production code | 2ACX14 |
| Original air date | July 18, 2000 |
| Guest appearance(s) | |
| |
| Episode chronology | |
"The Story on Page One" is the 19th episode from the second season of the FOX animated series Family Guy. It is the 26th episode of Family Guy. It guest-stars Luke Perry as himself.
Plot
At a visit to Brown University (Brian's alma mater), Meg is deemed not to be Brown material due to her lack of extracurricular activities, prompting her to start writing for her high school's paper. Meg tries to arrange an interview with the reluctant Mayor West, and eventually coerces him to accept. During the interview, the rambling Mayor West expresses frustration over how water keeps disappearing from his potted plants and through the drain of his sink. He then reveals to Meg he has spent $150,000 of the tax payers' money investigating the disappearing water, and how he will keep on even if it will cost the tax payers a million. An excited Meg thinks she has found her scoop, but Peter does not think the story will capture young people's attention. He sneaks into Meg's school at night, burns his daughter's article and replaces it with a story claiming Luke Perry is gay. The next day at school, Meg's friends are impressed by her story, but the story is also read by an outraged Luke Perry (who reads every high school newspaper in America, to see if he is mentioned) and files a lawsuit against Meg for libel.
Meg is deeply upset, but Peter, uncharacteristically feeling responsible, promises to make it up to her. In order to get Meg out of her legal problems, Peter tries to stage a photo of Perry acting gay through seducing him himself, thus making the article seem valid, but Perry does not respond to Peter's sexual antics (other than throwing up at the sight of Peter in a thong). After several failed attempts, Peter eventually confesses to Perry that he wrote the article, not Meg, and pleads him to drop the lawsuit. Perry accepts, on the condition that Meg does a real interview with him so he can set the record straight. Later, with the next number of the school paper in print, Peter visits Perry and gives him a copy so he can read the revised article for himself (which is revealed not to have helped Meg at all towards getting into Brown). Perry grabs the paper, abruptly excuses himself and slams the door shut in Peter's face. He then rushes back to his bed where Adam West is waiting for him. The mayor concedes to have sex with Perry, but only if he stops stealing his water. Perry obviously has no clue what West is talking about, but gladly accepts the terms anyway.
Meanwhile, Stewie realizes how short he is after Brian shows him the chemistry lab (the professor says he is too young to attend college). Frustrated with his short stature, Stewie puts a mind control device on Chris in order to make his brother do his evil bidding (as usual, killing Lois is on top of his list). The plan backfires when the device is shorted out by the microwave oven, causing Chris to turn on Stewie instead. Stewie eventually manages to evade his rampaging brother by disguising himself as a helpful passer-by, pointing Chris in the wrong direction.
Cultural references
- While touring Brown University, Lois recalls how when she was attending college, the National Guard came and shot some of her friends. This is a reference to the 1970 Kent State shootings where members of the Ohio National Guard shot 13 students on campus.
- When Brian is recalling his days at the University, both the events he remembers are parodies from scenes in the film School Ties.
- Stewie wishing to become big is a reference to the film Big.
- It features a parody of the Stephen J. Cannell Productions logo.
- When the Griffin family goes to see the dean, at the receptionist desk a man says, "No one sees the dean, not nobody, not no how!" This is a reference to the film The Wizard of Oz
- Peter says that he wanted to name Meg after Twiki, a robot from Buck Rogers in the 25th Century.
- Adam West asks Meg if she's Sarah Connor when she tells him that he's her only hope.
- The snack that Stewie is eating after the scene with Adam West in the toilet are Fig Newtons.
- After holding an exploding bomb from Mayor West, Meg has Daffy Duck’s bill on the wrong side of her head, and then states, “Of course, you realize, this means war”, parodying a frequent gag on Looney Tunes.
- Peter's old job was a parody of the film Ghostbusters and the ghost he sucked in was a parody of the film Ghost.
- In the scene when Luke Perry is first introduced, a woman shouts to him that it is time for dinner, taken directly from Star Wars.
- When Peter switches Meg's newspaper story, he sneaks into the school parodying John Belushi doing the same in Animal House.
- When Stewie is testing out his mind control device on Chris, they sing a part of Irving Berlin's "Puttin on the Ritz," a parody of Mel Brooks's film Young Frankenstein.
- Peter and Brian go to the hotel Luke Perry is staying at called The Five Seasons. This is a reference to Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts.
- Peter tells Luke Perry that the Pink Floyd album The Dark Side of the Moon synchronizes with The Wizard of Oz, which is often regarded as Dark Side of the Rainbow.
- While Stewie is being shooed out of the Chemistry Department at Brown University, he remarks that "the shelf life of that sodium pentothal is only two years!" Sodium Pentothal is a rapid-onset barbiturate drug.
- Peter mentions the band Moby Grape.
Notes
- The episode marks one of Mary Kay Bergman's final voice performances before her suicide in 1999.
Reception
Ahsan Haque of IGN, rating the episode a 9.1/10, praised the episode, stating that it had "the right combination of a great storyline" and "some extremely memorable and clever random jokes".[1]
References
- ↑ Haque, Ahsan. "Family Guy: "The Story on Page One" Review". IGN. Retrieved 2009-12-01.
External links
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