Family Guy Viewer Mail 2

"Family Guy Viewer Mail #2" is the twenty-second episode of the tenth season of the animated comedy series Family Guy. The episode originally aired with the succeeding episode "Internal Affairs" on Fox in the United States on May 20, 2012.

In the episode, Brian and Stewie respond to viewer mail. Three segments respectively feature a British version of Family Guy, Peter Griffin turning everybody he touches into Robin Williams, and a typical day from Stewie's point of view. The episode is a sequel to the first viewer mail episode in the show's third season.

The episode was written by Tom Devanney, Alec Sulkin and Deepak Sethi and directed by Greg Colton. This episode features guest performances from Cate Blanchett, Max Burkholder, John Finnemore, Colin Ford, Ioan Gruffudd, Tom Hollander, Rachael MacFarlane, Chris O'Dowd, Jeff Ross, and Joshua Rush, along with several recurring guest performers for the series. The episode was dedicated to musician Warren Luening. This episode was coincidentally rerun on BBC Three on August 11, 2014, shortly before the news broke that Robin Williams had committed suicide by hanging earlier that same day.

Plot

Brian and Stewie read their mail from viewers and tell three stories.

"Chap of the Manor"

The episode uses the premise that Family Guy is based on a British television show.

In this British version of the series, Neville (Peter) states that he is going to the pub to meet his friends. When the news announces that Queen Elizabeth II will be in the parade, Neville tells his friends that he is related to the Queen and wishes to gain a lock of the Queen's hair to test it. When the Queen passes by, he tries to set up a fake barber chair along the route. When this fails to gain the Queen's attention twice, Neville and Collingsworth (Chris) steal a police motorcycle and chase the Queen to her death in a tunnel. As Neville and Collingsworth try to nonchalantly walk away, they are chased by a cohort of London Bobbies to the tune of "Yakety Sax". Back home, Neville discovers they are not related to the Queen after all.

"Fatman & Robin"

While Peter is watching a roast of his favorite stand-up comedian Robin Williams, he feels offended when insult comic Jeff Ross insults Williams. Peter runs outside in the middle of a thunderstorm and accuses God of hating Williams, wishing that everyone were Williams before getting struck by lightning. Upon waking up in the hospital, he discovers he has gained the ability to turn everyone and everything he touches into Williams (similar to the Midas Touch). Peter turns everyone in the city into Robin Williams (while "Rockin' Robin" is played). At first, this goes well for Peter, but soon the multiple clones become too much for him, especially after he accidentally turns Lois into one. After numerous suicide attempts which fail because everything he touches turns into Williams, he orders the drove of clones to venture the world to make others laugh, but chooses five clones to serve as replacements to his family members. The story ends showing that Peter appears insane and has cut both his hands off, a solution that prevents him from bringing any new clones into the world. Stewie was the only one that was not transformed, as he mimicked Williams, and at the end of the scene is shown on the roof supposing that Disney did not let the show portray Williams' role as the Genie from Aladdin.

"Point of Stew"

The audience sees the world through Stewie's eyes as Lois changes him, Meg wishes him to keep her ring (Stewie stating this is a "Red Flag"), and his friends ask him to go down the slide at the playground (doing a reference to the film National Lampoon's Vacation in the process). Later, Stewie secures a Twinkie to stuff in Brian's tail pipe on his car but ends up going for an unexpected ride with Brian where he chases a squirrel in his car and kills it. He then spots Herbert underneath a school bus. At bath time, he imagines a doll being eaten by a shark and Peter joins him. At bedtime, he makes a quick trip through time to stop Kurt Cobain from killing himself in 1994 by introducing him to Häagen-Dazs ice cream; on returning to the present he sees an obese Cobain on a 2012 album. As Lois reads a bedtime story, a drunken Peter rudely interrupts for sex as Stewie is forced to listen. In his dreams, he pictures Peter and Lois, who are having sex in reality, as lumberjacks chopping down trees, then Lois uses a chainsaw.

Production

The episode was written by Tom Devanney, Alec Sulkin and Deepak Sethi and directed by Greg Colton.

In addition to the regular cast, actors Cate Blanchett, Max Burkholder, John Finnemore, Colin Ford, Ioan Gruffudd, Tom Hollander, Rachael MacFarlane, Chris O'Dowd, Jeff Ross, and Joshua Rush guest starred in the episode. Recurring voice actors and writers Danny Smith, Alec Sulkin, and John Viener made minor performances in the episode. Actors Patrick Warburton and Adam West appeared in the episode as well.

Cultural references

In the interlude to the "Chap of the Manor" segment, Stewie jokingly says that Family Guy is based on The Simpsons, another animated comedy series which Family Guy has been likened to. He later claims it is based on a British television show, in a similar way to The Office.^[1] The "Chap of the Manor" segment featured references to the classic British series Benny Hill (manic, sped up chase sequence between Peter, Chris and the coppers), sketch show Monty Python's Flying Circus (jump cut to footage of old dowagers clapping & laughing in the cutaway gag), and Fawlty Towers (letter R falling off of the word "Manor" in the title sequence). The Queen's death in the "Chap of the Manor" segment references the death of Princess Diana, who died in a tunnel in Paris, France.

"Fatman and Robin" is a reference to the title of the universally panned 1997 film, Batman and Robin. The "Fatman and Robin" segment has references to various episodes from The Twilight Zone. When Peter tries to commit suicide by jumping off a cliff, the rock he lands on turns into Mrs. Doubtfire, another Robin Williams character.

In the "Point of Stew" segment, Lois reads Stewie a bedtime story based on the Kevin Bacon film Footloose.

Reception

In its original broadcast on May 20, 2012 on Fox, this episode was watched by 5.35 million U.S. viewers and acquired a 2.6/7 rating/share.^[2]

Reviews for this episode were mixed. Kevin McFarland of The A.V. Club gave an A- rating for "Chap of the Manor", C for "Fatman & Robin", and B- for the "Point of Stew".^[1]

Robin Williams incident

Peter attempts suicide but his revolver becomes Robin Williams. This caused controversy when the episode was shown on BBC Three shortly before it was announced that Williams had died by suspected suicide

BBC Three showed a repeat of this episode in the UK on August 11, 2014, the day that Robin Williams committed suicide. The episode aired at 23:25 GMT, and news of Williams' death broke about 23:50 GMT. Viewers reacted to the coincidence, highlighting that Peter attempted suicide in the episode. A BBC spokesperson said:^[3]

See also

• "Family Guy Viewer Mail #1"

References

External links

Wikiquote has quotations related to: "Family Guy Viewer Mail #2"

• "Family Guy Viewer Mail #2" at TV.com