4/3/23, 3:34 AM I Never Met the Dead Man - Wikipedia

I Never Met the Dead Man

"I Never Met the Dead Man" is the second episode of
the first season of the animated comedy series Family Guy. "I Never Met the Dead
It originally aired on Fox in the United States on April 11, Man"
1999, stating in a promo that it is the official series Family Guy episode
premiere of the show. The episode follows Peter Griffin as
he teaches his daughter Meg how to drive. Due to his
terrible advice they crash into a satellite dish, breaking out
the city's cable. Peter begins to suffer from television
withdrawal but finds new life in outdoor activities, driving
his family to exhaustion. Meanwhile, Stewie plots to
destroy the world's supply of broccoli with a weather
control device so Lois cannot force him to eat the vegetable.

"I Never Met the Dead Man" was written by Chris Sheridan
and directed by Michael Dante DiMartino, both firsts in the
Peter blaming Meg for his mistake.
Family Guy series. Much of the episode's humor, in
standard Family Guy usage, is structured around cutaway Episode no. Season 1
sequences that parody pop culture, including those focused Episode 2
on Looney Tunes, Star Trek, Wizard of Oz, ALF, Gilligan's Directed by Michael Dante
Island, Bewitched, and Beverly Hills, 90210. The title "I
DiMartino
Never Met the Dead Man" was derived from 1930s and
1940s radio programs, particularly the radio thriller Written by Chris Sheridan
anthology Suspense, which featured several elements Production code 1ACX02
pertaining to death and murder. The episode featured guest
Original air date April 11, 1999
performances by Erik Estrada, Butch Hartman, Aaron
Lustig and Joey Slotnick, along with several recurring voice Guest appearances
actors for the series.
Butch Hartman
Critical responses to the episode were favorable; several
television critics singled it out as among the "most Aaron Lustig
memorable" episodes in the series. Joey Slotnick
Frank Welker as Fred Jones
Plot Erik Estrada as Officer Ponch

In a cold open, Stewie plays with his Sesame Street telephone. As the phone says to count to three,
Stewie uses his laser gun to destroy the phone three times.

Annoyed that Peter spends more time watching television than with his own family, Lois suggests
he teach Meg how to drive. Peter reluctantly agrees, and unwittingly gives Meg a list of lousy
driving tips, including instructing her to "rev" her engine twice at traffic lights and challenge other
drivers to a race, which causes her to eventually fail her driving test. As Peter drives them home
from the DMV, he notices that a show he wanted to watch is on television in a nearby house.
Distracted by the show, he crashes the car into the main cable television transmitter, breaking out
reception for the entire town of Quahog. As Peter and Meg realize this, angry citizens of Quahog
approach. In response, Peter promises Meg that if she takes the blame for breaking the cable
transmitter, she would get a new convertible when she finally gets her license. Once they arrive
home with the transmitter still attached to the car, Lois becomes furious with Peter for placing the
blame on his daughter. Meg, of course, is blamed and is about to admit the truth, but then decides

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to keep quiet, reflecting with an inner voice, a reference to The Wonder Years, at school.
Meanwhile, Stewie, (seeing the opportunity of the dish attached to the car), steals the satellite dish
in a plan to create a weather control device capable of destroying the world's supply of broccoli,
since Lois had forced him to eat the vegetable earlier that day.

Suffering withdrawal syndrome from the lack of cable, Peter straps a television-sized cardboard
cutout to himself, making it appear as though his entire world is a television program. When Meg
cannot deal with the public scorn, she reveals that her father is truly responsible for Quahog's loss
of television, causing the town to turn against him. To save Peter from further scorn and verbal
attacks, Lois gives a heartfelt speech to the community about how television has kept them all from
enjoying one another. Inspired by the speech, Peter drags the family to one outdoor activity after
another, which quickly exhausts them. Once the family cannot keep up with him, Peter decides to
go off with William Shatner, who has appeared on the Griffin family's doorstep after experiencing
a flat tire, to a nearby festival. Meanwhile, Stewie's weather machine creates a huge storm. The
storm's lightning strike destroys Stewie's weather machine and blows Stewie off the roof and onto
the ground. While Meg is practicing driving with Lois, the storm causes her to accidentally hit
Shatner and Peter, killing Shatner and hospitalizing Peter. As her father recovers, in a full-body
cast, he is forced to watch television, causing him to become addicted once again, much to his
family's relief.

During the credits, Stewie tries (and fails) to imagine he is eating his broccoli by pouring it onto
Brian's plate.

Production
"I Never Met the Dead Man" was the first episode of Family Guy for both
writer Chris Sheridan and director Michael Dante DiMartino.[1] For the
first months of production, the writers shared one office lent to them by
the King of the Hill production crew.[2] As with the remaining first four
episodes of the season, the title of the episode was derived from 1930s
and 1940s radio programs, particularly the radio thriller anthology
"Suspense", which featured several elements pertaining to death and
murder. This convention was later dropped following the fourth episode
of the season.[2] In addition to the regular cast, actor Erik Estrada, writer
and animator Butch Hartman, actor Aaron Lustig, actor Joey Slotnick
Michael Dante DiMartino
and voice actor Frank Welker guest starred in the episode. Recurring directed the episode
guest voice actress Lori Alan also made minor appearances.[1] The
episode originally aired on April 11, 1999, nearly three months after the
series premiere.[1][3]

Cultural references
When Meg asks her mother to help teach her how to drive, Lois suggests Peter take her driving
instead. With Peter refusing in order to continue watching an episode of Star Trek, actor William
Shatner, as portrayed by series creator Seth MacFarlane, then appears on the screen.[4][5]

Going on to suggest her father is not the best driver, Brian recalls a previous driving incident Peter
had with Wile E. Coyote, in which he accidentally ran over the Road Runner in the middle of the
desert. When Peter becomes concerned about the "ostrich" he just hit, Wile E. tells him to keep
going.[5]

In school, when Meg is about to confess that her father was actually the one who crashed the car,
she reflects with an inner voice, a reference to the 1990s hit TV show The Wonder Years.
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Continuing to suffer a withdrawal from not being able to watch television,

Peter has a Wizard of Oz-inspired nightmare featuring Alf from the 1986
NBC sitcom ALF, Gilligan from the 1964 CBS series Gilligan's Island, The
Robot from Lost in Space, and Jeannie from I Dream of Jeannie, who
promptly transforms into Samantha from the 1964 ABC series Bewitched.[5]

After creating a cardboard cutout in the shape of a television, Peter walks

around town with the contraption strapped to his waist, perceiving the
actions around him as television. Two women talking over lunch suggests
that he is watching the television station Lifetime, two elderly people out
An animated walking reminds him of CBS, a group of Black people playing basketball
likeness of actor suggests UPN, and James Woods High School reminds him of Beverly
William Shatner was
Hills, 90210.[4]
featured in the
episode. After TV service is restored and most of the Griffin family is watching Star
Trek, James T. Kirk tells his crew that there is a dangerous mission in that
someone will surely be killed. He explains the landing party will consist of
himself, Mr. Spock, Dr. McCoy, and Ensign Ricky (a redshirt), who, upon being called, cynically
says "Oh crap!", due to the television trope of oft-related instances of redshirt ensigns being killed
on the show. At the end of the episode, after Meg accidentally hits and kills Shatner with the
Griffin family car, the group of people looking over includes the actor who played Ensign Ricky
stating "Wow, I did not see that one coming."

Reception
Reviews for the episode were generally favorable. A 2008 review of the episode by Ahsan Haque of
IGN was positive, calling the storyline involving Stewie "elaborate [and] creative."[6] He gave the
episode a perfect score of ten, calling it one of the most "memorable" episodes in the entire series.
Haque went on to note that "the tightly woven and hilarious storyline, combined with a constant
barrage of cleverly inserted random jokes, and some truly unique imagery help make this episode
one of the finest in the series. This is Family Guy at its best, and definitely sets a very high bar for
animated comedy."[4] Robin Pierson of The TV Critic rated the episode a 70 out of 100, making it
the highest-rated episode of Family Guy on the site. Pierson described the episode as "A really fun
twenty two minutes of television. There are so many jokes to enjoy and they are more focussed
than the pilot," in particular praising the Fast Animals, Slow Children sequence.[5]

In 2008, Haque later listed Stewie's plan to freeze broccoli crops as number one on his list of
"Stewie's Top 10 Most Diabolical Evil Plans"[6] and placed Peter's idea to pretend the world is a
television program by attaching a cardboard cutout of a television set around his waist in sixth
place on his list of "Peter Griffin's Top 10 Craziest Ideas".[7]

References
1. "Family Guy — I Never Met the Dead Man Cast and Crew" (https://web.archive.org/web/20110
615061924/http://tv.yahoo.com/episode/1544/castcrew). Yahoo! TV. Yahoo! Inc. Archived from
the original (https://tv.yahoo.com/episode/1544/castcrew) on June 15, 2011. Retrieved
2010-05-07.
2. Goldman, Eric (2006-03-16). "William S. Paley TV Fest: Family Guy" (http://tv.ign.com/articles/
696/696615p1.html). IGN. News Corporation. Retrieved 2009-10-03.
3. "Family Guy — Death Has a Shadow" (https://web.archive.org/web/20070811195203/https://tv.
yahoo.com/family-guy/show/death-has-a-shadow/episode/1543). Yahoo! TV. Yahoo! Inc.
Archived from the original (https://tv.yahoo.com/family-guy/show/death-has-a-shadow/episode/
1543) on 2007-08-11. Retrieved 2010-05-07.
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4. Haque, Ashan (May 29, 2008). "Family Guy Flashback: "I Never Met the Dead Man" Review"
(https://www.ign.com/articles/2008/05/29/family-guy-flashback-i-never-met-the-dead-man-revie
w). IGN. News Corporation. Retrieved September 27, 2021.
5. Pierson, Robin (2009-08-07). "Episode 2: I Never Met The Dead Man" (http://thetvcritic.org/i-ne
ver-met-the-dead-man/). The TV Critic. Retrieved 2010-08-15.
6. Haque, Ahsan (February 3, 2009). "Family Guy: Stewie's Top 10 Most Diabolical Evil Plans" (ht
tps://www.ign.com/articles/2009/02/03/family-guy-stewies-top-10-most-diabolical-plans). IGN.
News Corporation. Retrieved September 27, 2021.
7. Haque, Ashan (July 31, 2008). "Family Guy: Peter Griffin's Top 10 Craziest Ideas" (https://ww
w.ign.com/articles/2008/07/31/family-guy-peter-griffins-top-10-craziest-ideas). IGN. News
Corporation. Retrieved September 27, 2021.

External links
Television portal

"I Never Met the Dead Man" (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0576942/) at IMDb

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