Death Has a Shadow

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“Death Has a Shadow”
Family Guy episode

Peter accidentally getting the $150,000 check from the government.
Episode no. Season 1
Episode 1
Written by Seth MacFarlane
Directed by Peter Shin
Guest stars Billy West
Production no. 1ACX01
Original airdate January 31, 1999
Season 1 episodes
Family Guy - Season 1
January 31, 1999 – May 16, 1999
  1. Death Has a Shadow
  2. I Never Met the Dead Man
  3. Chitty Chitty Death Bang
  4. Mind Over Murder
  5. A Hero Sits Next Door
  6. The Son Also Draws
  7. Brian: Portrait of a Dog
  Season 2 →
List of Family Guy episodes

"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. It is the first episode of Family Guy, to be aired. Much of this episode is based on Seth MacFarlane's original pitch to FOX.

Contents

[edit] Plot summary

When Peter is invited to a stag party at Quagmire's house, Lois makes him promise not to drink too much. Peter completely ignores this and gets incredibly drunk at the party falling asleep on the kichen 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 to immediately apply 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. 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.

[edit] Original pilot

Scene from the original pilot.
Scene from the original pilot. [1]
  • The animation for the original pilot was produced by Film Roman. The premiere episode is different from the originally pitched pilot in various story details, names and appearances.
  • Peter's skin is of a slightly darker tone, and the rims of his glasses appear thicker.
  • Lois' hair is blonde rather than red, and she wears a pink shirt and navy pants instead of turquoise and tan. Alex Borstein also used her regular voice for this role.
  • Meg wears a blue cap instead of pink, and her shirt has a reversed color scheme. The rims of her glasses are also thicker. Her voice was provided by Seth MacFarlane's sister Rachael.
  • Chris wears navy shorts instead of black pants and is barefoot. His personality is much different, as he was initially intended to be a fraternity boy. Chris Griffin was voiced by Seth MacFarlane instead of Seth Green for the pilot. According to McFarlane Seth Green was hired because FOX wanted a larger voice cast.
  • Stewie wears a purple shirt with green overalls instead of yellow with red.
  • "Bullshit" is completely heard in the pilot. But in the TV version, the word "shit" is drowned out by the audience, "Aw, that is bull—."
  • In this version, Cleveland makes a cameo as one of the fathers with "brain implants." He also appears in the court talking to Quagmire.
  • Tom Tucker's name in the original pilot is Mike.
  • In the TV version of the pilot, Quagmire appears at the party, convincing Peter to disobey Lois and drink more beer. The one in the original pilot is a completely different character, except he has the same voice as Quagmire. The pilot version of Quagmire is seen next to Cleveland in the court room.
  • Mr. Weed's voice is more emotionless and lacks an accent.
  • Both this episode and the following one ("I Never Met the Dead Man") borrowed their titles from episodes of the classic radio program Suspense.

[edit] Censorship

  • Edits made in syndication:
  • The cutaway of Peter passing out on a table after licking butter rum ice cream was cut.
  • The part during the party sequence where Charlie says "Your clock won't flush" is cut.[citation needed]
  • During the sequence where Peter goes to work hungover cuts out the part where one of the workers pitches a new idea for an action figure called "GI Jew."[citation needed]
  • The part where the Michaelangelo statue's penis breaking off was cut.[citation needed]
  • The cutaway of Peter losing a music contest to the von Trapp family was cut before he could say, "That is bull--" and getting drowned out by audience applause.[citation needed]

[edit] References

  1. ^ Check the Volume 2 DVD, Region 1.
 This article or section includes a list of references or external links, but its sources remain unclear because it lacks in-text citations.
You can improve this article by introducing more precise citations.
  • Callaghan, Steve. “Death Has a Shadow.” Family Guy: The Official Episode Guide Seasons 1–3. New York: HarperCollins, 2005. 14–17.
  • Delarte, Alonso. “Nitpicking Family Guy: Season 1.” Bob’s Poetry Magazine March 2005: 7–8. http://bobspoetry.com/Bobs02Mr.pdf

[edit] External links


Preceded by
“N/A (Series premiere)”		 Family Guy Episodes Followed by
“I Never Met the Dead Man”