The Kiss Seen Around the World
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| Family Guy Episode | |
|---|---|
| "The Kiss Seen Around the World" | |
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| Episode no.: | 36 |
| Prod. code: | 3ACX02 |
| Airdate: | August 29, 2001 |
| Writer(s): | Steve Callaghan |
| Director: | Glen Hill |
| Guest star(s): | Hugh Downs , Ralph Garman , and Abe Vigoda |
"The Kiss Seen Around the World" is an episode from the third season of the FOX animated television series Family Guy. Guest starring Hugh Downs as himself, Ralph Garman as Gene Rayburn, and Abe Vigoda as himself.
The episode title is a parody of the famous saying of the shot in Lexington, Massachusetts in very start of the American Revolution "The shot heard around the world". The episode name can also refer to the famous home-run by Bobby Thompson in 1951.
[edit] Plot summary
Channel 5 announces they want two high school interns, and Meg, who has a crush on news anchor Tom Tucker, applies and is selected. The other intern turns out to be Neil Goldman, who himself has a crush on Meg, though Meg finds him repulsive. When the Mass Media Murderer threatens to kill Hugh Downs atop City Hall, Tom and Diane decide to send the interns to cover the event. The news copter is shot down. Fearing death, Meg kisses Neil, but Hugh Downs captures the Mass Media Murderer. That very night Neil puts the kiss on the news.
The next day, Neil gives everyone at school a T-shirt showing the kiss, and that evening Meg has to suffer through a dinner with his parents.
In return, Meg passes off a close-up of Neil's face as the Moon, and conducts on-the-street interviews, asking if anyone would kiss Neil. No one would even when Meg shows the picture of Neil to his father, he shields his eyes in disgust. She declares that she never liked him, and never will.
A despondent Neil threatens to jump off the City Hall roof. Meg's image of Tom Tucker is shattered when she realizes he doesn't want to save Neil, but just get a funny story for ratings. Neil falls, but Meg breaks his fall. She tells him that just because she doesn't like him, it doesn't mean she wants him to kill himself.
Meanwhile, Peter and Lois buy Stewie a tricycle, which Stewie absolutely loves. A bully steals Stewie's tricycle. He gets no help from the police and, when he attempts to bulk up to fight the bully, a gym just tries to hard-sell him a membership. In retaliation, Stewie captures the bully with a net and ties him up in the basement to interrogate him.
[edit] Notes
- During a news broadcast, Tom Tucker mentions the loss of Betsy LeBeau to Fred Johnson in a school board race. LeBeau was mentioned as a candidate for school board in the past episode "Running Mates"
- This episode reveals that Meg is allergic to peanuts.
[edit] Cultural references
- The man who calls Peter a “phony” and later levels the charge at Neil is referred to in the credits as “Holden Caulfield,” the protagonist of the classic 1951 novel The Catcher in the Rye, who often accused others of being “phonies.”
- The toy store where the Griffins shop is called “Toys R Overpriced,” a parody of Toys "R" Us.
- Brian lifts up a copy of the game Stratego to find actor Abe Vigoda, who tells him that Steve Guttenberg is hiding behind the Chinese checkers. Both actors have had few high-profile roles in their later careers.
- While pretending to play the keyboard, Peter says “I’m Yanni sans the attitude,” referring to the new age star who is often criticized as pretentious.
- Stewie is startled by a Hasbro Perfection game.
- Neil's class presentation is on the 1967 Star Trek episode "Arena". He is incorrect. It is episode #19 of the series not #18 (One would expect a stereotypical geek like Neil to know this). Also, actor William Shatner did not use a stunt double in the episode.
- Neil and his teacher briefly argue about who is the “superior officer”: Captain James T. Kirk from Star Trek: The Original Series or Captain Jean-Luc Picard from Star Trek: The Next Generation.
- Neil passes Meg a note reading “I Want You” and points at her while dressed as Uncle Sam. This is a reference to World War II-era military recruitment posters.
- A teacher is arrested for teaching that evolution was put into motion when Gil Gerard, star of the television series Buck Rogers in the 25th Century, “used a time machine, went back and ejaculated into the primordial ooze.”
- Tom Tucker tells the high school students “I pity the fool who does drugs,” a reference to the catch phrase of 1980s icon Mr. T.
- The scene in which Meg fantasizes about Tom Tucker emerging from a swimming pool and removing his shirt with The Cars song "Moving in Stereo playing in the background mirrors the infamous nude scene starring Phoebe Cates in Fast Times at Ridgemont High.
- When Meg screams, “Oh my God, I’m missing the news!” Peter replied “We all miss the news, but Huey Lewis needs time to create and we all have to learn to be patient,” referring to the rock band Huey Lewis and the News. While this episode was in production, the band had not released an album in six years. However, they released Plan B four months before it aired.
- Diane Simmons says, “In entertainment, Mary Tyler Moore is 64 years old today,” implying this scene in the episode took place December 29, 2000.
- Tom Tucker's "interview" with Dustin Hoffman consists of sliced-together clips from his films The Graduate, Rain Man, and Hook.
- The scene where Peter and Brian travel back in time to 1492 parodies the segmentPeabody's Improbable History on the popular cartoon show "The Rocky and Bullwinkle Show".
- Tom Tucker calls ABC World News Tonight anchor Peter Jennings.
- The Mass Media Murderer holds television journalist Hugh Downs hostage. The killer states his hatred for CBS’s Dan Rather.
- Peter videotapes a bag blowing in the wind and makes a speech about beauty and the serenity of life, like a character in the 1999 film American Beauty ("Sometimes there's so much beauty in the world it makes my heart burst"), to which God says, "It's just some trash blowing in the wind! Do you have any idea how complicated your circulatory system is?"
- Neil asks a hologram named Al, “Why haven’t I leaped?,” a reference to the science fiction show Quantum Leap, in which a character travels through time and cannot leave a certain period until he sets events “right.”
- When Lois finds Stewie’s bully tied-up, he says, "We’re playing house" Lois says "But the boy is all tied up." "Roman Polanski’s house." This could be a reference to the director being accused of child rape, his trademark dark, psychological style or the fact that the horrific Manson murders, in which Polanski’s wife, actress Sharon Tate, was killed, occurred in Polanski’s Beverly Hills residence.
- While Brian catches Meg kissing the television, Tom Tucker can faintly be heard saying “More news from the White House today on why President Bush stuck his finger in an electric socket. The president responded, ‘Dick Cheney told me that’s where leprechauns hide their gold.’”
[edit] Trivia
- The line "dismembered Baltic hooker" is "dismembered Spanish hooker" in the closed captions.
- Approximately 40 seconds into the episode, when Peter and Brian are commenting on the Toy Disc guns, one of the toy boxes on the shelf behind them has a symbol on the lid which could be the all seeing eye of the Illuminati.
[edit] References
- S. Callaghan, "Kiss Seen Around the World." Family Guy: The Official Episode Guide Seasons 1-3. New York: HarperCollins, 2005. 152 - 155.
- A. Delarte, "Nitpicking Family Guy: Season 3" in Bob's Poetry Magazine, 2.August 2005: 42 - 43 http://bobspoetry.com/Bobs02Au.pdf
| Preceded by: "Lethal Weapons" |
Family Guy Episodes | Followed by: "Mr. Saturday Knight" |
