Livin' on a Prayer (Family Guy)

"Livin' on a Prayer" is the twelfth episode of the tenth season of the animated comedy series Family Guy. The episode originally aired on Fox in the United States on January 29, 2012. In this episode, Stewie befriends another boy named Scotty. When Scotty falls ill, Peter and Lois take him to the hospital, in which his parents disagree due to their religious beliefs.

The episode received fairly positive reviews for its cutaway gags and cultural references. This episode was written by Danny Smith and directed by Pete Michels. The episode features guest performances from Max Burkholder, Gary Cole, Rob Corddry, Judy Greer, Jonathan Morgan Heit, Kevin Michael Richardson, Sage Ryan, Nicole Sullivan, and Josh Robert Thompson along with several recurring voice actors for the series.

Plot

The Griffin family goes to the Quahog Public Library for the Children's Sing-a-long activity held by Bruce. Whilst there, Stewie meets a boy named Scotty Jennings and his parents Ben and Hope, whom Lois and Peter befriend. Lois organizes a play date for Stewie and Scotty. Everything goes well until Scotty suddenly falls ill whilst playing with Stewie and passes out, so Lois and Peter rush him to the hospital.

At the hospital, Dr. Hartman tells them that Scotty has Hodgkin's lymphoma and needs urgent treatment or else he will die. When Scotty's parents Ben and Hope arrive, they confess that they already knew their son had cancer, but do not use modern hospital treatment due to their religious beliefs as Christian Scientists, stating that they use "faith" as a medicine. Despite her own religious views, Lois finds the couple's beliefs ridiculous and tries to convince them to let Scotty receive medical treatment. Unfortunately, Ben and Hope remain adamant that continuous prayer will save their son. Lois then seeks advice from Joe, but even the police are unable to intervene, as it would be a violation of Hope and Ben's right to practice their faith.

As a last resort, Lois decides to take matters into her own hands by kidnapping Scotty and taking him to the hospital herself. Arriving at the Jennings' house, Peter has Lois use a walkie-talkie to confirm that Peter is at the various checkpoints like Peter on the telephone pole, Peter cutting the wires to the alarm system, a sexy Peter distracting the security guards while dressed as a prostitute, a van full of Peters with stern faces because they're about to pull off a heist, an upside-down Peter who isn't upside down until the camera spins around to see that he is upside down, a Peter in an open airplane door slapping Peters on the back as they parachute out, a super gymnastic Asian Peter who is contorted into a box that will be delivered into the house by a Peter, and a Peter who hasn't answered because something has gone terribly wrong. Lois and Peter sneak into the house and get Scotty out successfully.

Lois and Peter's plans plans are thrown into turmoil when news spreads of their kidnapping and a huge crowd and the police with Joe stop them at the hospital. Ben and Hope arrive, and plead with Lois to return Scotty to them, but not before Lois explains that even if they use faith of God as a medicine, people still have created modern medicine, which is also the possibility of what God may have allowed. She then states that if they really want God to answer their prayers, they should do the right thing for Scotty. Eventually, Ben and Hope agree and allow their son to go to the hospital to receive his treatments, prompting Peter to exclaim "Hey Everybody, We're All Gonna Get Laid!"

Scotty ends up beating his cancer, but by this point, Stewie has found a new friend with leprosy. At the end of the show, Peter decides to study Christian Science and proves a theory by imagining himself as Kate Middleton at the Royal Wedding. While there, he asks William when he thinks the Queen will die.

Cultural references

The title is a reference to the Bon Jovi song of the same name. The opening sequence is a parody of the opening sequence of Little House on the Prairie.

While dressing up to kidnap Scotty, Peter dresses like the title character from Harry Potter.

Mayor West claims he is musician John Mayer and references Mayer's song Your Body Is a Wonderland. When Lois gets Scotty's parents to treat their son's cancer, Peter says Rodney Dangerfield's quote from Caddyshack "Hey everybody! We're all gonna get laid!."

The cutaway gag involving a vampire in San Francisco is reminiscent of an 80's era Saturday Night Live skit about a vampire who is paranoid about catching AIDS, so he arranges to have a woman's blood sample tested before biting her. Unfortunately, the test takes too long and the sun comes up before he can complete the deed. Interestingly, James Woods (a frequent guest on Family Guy) guest starred in the episode as Count Dracula. Here, the tests come back to Count Dracula quickly and he leaves the person that he was going to bite.

Production and development

This episode was written by Danny Smith and directed by Pete Michels.

In addition to the regular cast, actors Max Burkholder, Gary Cole, Rob Corddry, Judy Greer, Jonathan Morgan Heit, Kevin Michael Richardson, Sage Ryan, Nicole Sullivan, and Josh Robert Thompson guest starred in the episode. Recurring voice actors Steve Callaghan, Gary Janetti, Danny Smith, Alec Sulkin, and John Viener made minor appearances. Recurring guest voice actors Adam West and Patrick Warburton appeared in the episode as well. This episode marked Judy Greer's second appearance on this season, the first being "Lottery Fever".

Reception

The episode received fairly positive reviews. Kevin McFarland of The A.V. Club, a considerable critic of post-cancellation seasons of the show, gave the episode a B-, appreciating how it tackled religion in comparison to previous episodes, and enjoying several of the cutaway and filler gags, such as Mayor West claiming to be John Mayer. He disliked a joke about Count Dracula nearly catching HIV in San Francisco, however as he felt it was homophobic.^[1] A review by Kate Moon of TV Fanatic was even more overwhelmingly positive, claiming that the show delivered a "genuine message". She gave a 4.3/5 rating.^[2] Both reviews were favorable towards the opening credits.^[1][2]

In its original broadcast on January 29, 2012, "Livin' on a Prayer" was watched by 5.92 million U.S. viewers and acquired a 3.1/7 rating in the 18–49 demographic.^[3]

In its original broadcast in the UK on 29, July 2012, although the episode was cut back an hour to 11pm, it was watched by 1 million viewers, winning BBC Three's slot.^[4][5]

See also

• Wikipedia in culture

References

External links

Wikiquote has quotations related to: "Livin' on a Prayer"

• "Livin' on a Prayer" at TV.com