You Can't Do That on Television, Peter

"You Can't Do That on Television, Peter" is the eighteenth episode of the tenth season of the animated comedy series, Family Guy. The episode originally aired on Fox in the United States on April 1, 2012. In the episode, Peter creates and stars in a children's TV show after his favourite show is cancelled. Meanwhile, Meg shadows Dr. Hartman at the Quahog hospital.

This episode was written by Julius Sharpe and directed by Bob Bowen. It guest-stars Katharine McPhee as Mother Maggie. It generally received negative reviews from critics for its cultural references and storyline.

Plot

Peter informs his family that he's writing a coffee table book titled Lesbian Butts in '80s Jeans. Lois insists that he spend time with Stewie while she goes out. While they watch television together, Peter becomes hooked on Jolly Farm Revue and loses track of Stewie. Lois returns and criticizes Peter for his irresponsibility, and he wishes aloud that she were more like Mother Maggie (the Jolly Farm host). Mother Maggie announces that the show has been canceled. Peter creates and stars in his own children's TV show called Petey's Funhouse, and is granted airtime by a local TV station. Lois is surprised at his initial success, but fears it will not end well.

The content of Peter's show tends to be over the heads of his intended audience, containing off-color humor and adult themes. Lois is upset when Peter's success leads to late nights out on the town. Angry that Lois keeps saying negative things about him and angry that she isn't supporting his show, Peter makes a puppet resembling Lois called "Saggy Naggy", which represents her as an aging shrew who mouths off about everything and nags Peter to do her work. The puppet's reputation on the show impacts Lois's life when she is attacked by children (including Stewie) at a department store. When Peter wants sex, Lois turns him away. Lois agrees to stop nagging if Peter will stop using the puppet. Peter refuses. On his next show, he performs a "Who's on First?" routine involving a live puma, which ends with Peter being seriously mauled by the wild animal.

Meanwhile, Meg excels in her biology class causing her teacher to arrange an internship with Dr. Hartman at the hospital. Meg follows Hartman during his daily duties and enjoys the learning experience, but she is stunned by Dr. Hartman's professional incompetence and ignorance of basic science. Dr. Hartman reveals that he keeps a cheat sheet in each patient's file listing the names of body parts. He is forced to reference the cheat sheet just to tell Meg that she has "a good head on her shoulders". Hartman is called away and leaves her in charge, telling her that she knows as much as he does about medicine. As Meg examines Bruce's embarrassing "thingie" complaint, another doctor walks in and asks her to leave the hospital. She travels to the TV studio where Peter lies bleeding following the mauling. Meg uses her medical knowledge to save Peter's life.

At the hospital, Peter admits that Lois was right and Lois says that she only nags Peter because she loves him. When Meg points out that she helped, Peter ignores this and asks her for a glass of water. When the puma arrives, he delightedly says he now understands the humor of the "Who's on First" routine.

Production and development

The episode was written by Julius Sharpe and directed by Bob Bowen.

Cultural references

• The title references the CTV show You Can't Do That on Television.

• Peter refers to "Who's on First?", and subsequently performs with a puma playing Abbott's part and Peter doing Costello.^[1]

• The name of Peter's children's show Petey's Funhouse is a pun on Pee-wee's Playhouse.^[1]

Reception

This episode was watched by 5.5 million U.S. viewers, with a 2.5/6 rating share in the 18-49 demographic group.^[2]

Critical reception for the episode was generally negative, with Kevin McFarland of The A.V. Club giving it a "D" grade. He particularly disliked its portrayal of Peter, calling him "so misogynistic and uncaring that whenever Family Guy goes back to the well for one of these plots, it’s a chore to keep track of every piece of the story that mirrors another time Peter ignored his family’s well-being for his own purposes." He referred to the episode as "another showcase for Peter’s misogyny."^[1]

It debuted on September 2, 2012 in the United Kingdom and managed 1.23 million viewers, becoming the most-watched peak time multichannel broadcast of the night.^[3]

References

External links

Wikiquote has quotations related to: "You Can't Do That on Television, Peter"

• "You Can't Do That on Television, Peter" at the Internet Movie Database
• "You Can't Do That on Television, Peter" at TV.com