A Hero Sits Next Door
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| Family Guy Episode | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| "A Hero Sits Next Door" | |||
 Lois meets Joe Swanson |
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| Episode no.: | 5 | ||
| Prod. code: | 1ACX05 | ||
| Airdate: | May 2, 1999 | ||
| Writer(s): | Mark Weitzman and Mike Barker | ||
| Director: | Monte Young | ||
| Guest star(s): | Michelle Kwan | ||
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"A Hero Sits Next Door" is an episode of Family Guy from Season One. Guest starring Michelle Kwan as herself.
[edit] Plot summary
Mr. Weed introduces Guillermo, a ringer he hired to ensure the company's victory at the annual softball game. Peter injures Guillermo with a wild pitch during practice and must find a new player to replace him. He discovers his new neighbor, Joe Swanson, played ball in college and invites him to play; when Joe shows up on the field, however, Peter (and the other players) are horrified to see that he is wheelchair-bound. Joe turns out to be a fantastic player, however, and leads the team to victory. In addition, he is also a heroic policeman, and soon becomes very popular. Peter decides to perform a heroic deed to compete with Joe and attempts to stop a bank robbery in progress. He and Brian are taken hostage until Joe convinces the robbers to surrender. Peter is disappointed, but his family tells him that he is their hero.
[edit] Notes
- Joe Swanson identifies himself as a "police lieutenant" in this episode, yet in every episode showing him in uniform he's drawn with the rank insignia of a private.
- The "GO _UCK YOURSELF __" puzzle on Wheel of Fortune could not possibly contain the four-letter expletive, since the F had already been guessed. The phrase was "GO TUCK YOURSELF IN".
- In this episode, Joe, Bonnie and Kevin Swanson are introduced.
- This is the first episode not to have the word "death" or the word "murder" in the title. The writing staff has remarked that they initially planned to give each episode a bizarrely macabre title, but dropped the approach after the first four episodes because they were getting the episodes mixed up.
- When the bankrobbers take the gun back from Peter, one of them has a prosthetic hand.
[edit] Cultural references
- All Peter can think to offer the Japanese baseball player is "Me love you long time," a line a prostitute delivers in Full Metal Jacket and is sampled in the song "Me So Horny".
- Peter pretends to have stereotypical Tourette syndrome.
- After Stewie tries to escape from listening to Lois and Bonnie's conversation, he says "Oh to be the Lindbergh baby right about now," a reference to Charles Lindbergh III's (Charles Lindbergh's son) kidnapping.
- When Peter is mad at Joe for taking all his friends he quotes the Frank Sinatra song: They Can't Take That Away From Me by saying "The way I wear my hat? No, no he can't take that away from me".
[edit] References
- Callaghan, Steve. "A Hero Sits Next Door." Family Guy: The Official Episode Guide Seasons 1-3. New York: HarperCollins, 2005. 30 - 33.
- Delarte, Alonso. "Nitpicking Family Guy: Season 1." Bob's Poetry Magazine March 2005: 12 - 13. http://bobspoetry.com/Bobs02Mr.pdf
| Preceded by: "Mind over Murder" |
Family Guy Episodes | Followed by: "The Son Also Draws" |
