Deep Throats

"Deep Throats" is the 23rd episode of season four of the television series Family Guy. It was written by Alex Borstein and directed by Greg Colton. Appalled at parking charges introduced by Mayor West, Brian decides to expose the corruption of the Mayor, despite the prospect of potentially destroying Meg's new career as the Mayor's intern. Meanwhile, Peter and Lois decide to participate in the Quahog community talent show with a folk singing act, as they did in the 1980s, but the couple becomes largely reliant on marijuana for inspiration and eventually fail the competition for their poor performance, despite their beliefs they were singing well when under the influence of the drugs.^[1]

Plot

Meg is employed as an intern for Mayor West after doing an interview with him. The family is impressed by this news, and Brian feels pressured as he is becoming the "new Meg" due to him not having a job. Brian decides to become a taxicab driver, but soon becomes intent on exposing the corruption of Mayor West to the public after receiving a $400 parking ticket for parking his taxicab on a handicapped zone without permit next to a store where Brian bought some milk for Lois. After discussing his corruption beliefs with Meg, she argues that Mayor West is a nice person and that he should drop it. Stewie, after learning of Brian's intentions to expose Mayor West, decides to go with Brian and assist him. After meeting in a parking lot with a whistleblower that happens to be Kermit the Frog, Brian discovers where Mayor West will be on the night, and follows him to a motel with Stewie.

They arrive at a motel, spy on West through the wall, and discover he's involved in a relationship with Meg. Seeing this relationship as an ideal opportunity to take West down, Brian photographs the two together in romantic scenes and records their talk in a restaurant, threatening to release them to the press. After Meg finds out about this, she confronts West, who says he and Meg should separate due to the negative media images which will follow if Brian does release the images, because even though he's used to it, he does not want Meg's life to be ruined, stating how much he really cares about her. They separate, with Mayor West telling Meg that even though he's leaving her, he'll always love her. Brian, having secretly heard this, realizes he has made a mistake and Mayor West isn't as bad as he thought, subsequently destroys the images, and later apologizes to Meg (telling her that he got so caught up in taking down Mayor West that he lost sight of what was really important). He intends to give her a ride home in his cab, but finds Cleveland Brown trashing the cab in anger (before he notices them and turns into a black panther and escapes) because Brian decided to buy the milk for Lois rather than taking Cleveland to his destination before Brian got the ticket, thinking that Brian did not pick him up because he was black.

Earlier, Peter and Brian pass Lois, and Peter rams her car and then shoots the tires. She's furious with Peter, but they manage to laugh and make up afterwards. Peter and Lois decide to participate in a community talent show with a folk-singing act they used to do back in the 1980s. They are having a hard time, however, at writing new songs and start to smoke marijuana, thinking it will provide inspiration. Peter and Lois begin to behave bizarrely in their high state, which greatly disturbs the family. At one point, Peter rips out a piece of his guitar and eats it, and they lie on the sofa totally naked in front of Brian and Stewie. At the show, they initially appear to wow the entire crowd with their performance, but, when the scene cuts to their house, it turns out that they lost. Chris, who was in the audience at the show, explains that they were completely oblivious to this fact in their high state and thought they were singing well, when in reality, they blundered horribly (just shouting "Aah!" to the crowd while plodding chords on the guitar.) Stewie ends the episode by singing the 'Mr. Belvedere' opening theme angrily as Chris explains the dangers of marijuana to Lois and Peter (he had also done it earlier in the episode when Peter and Lois were discussing their plan to perform at the talent show.)

Production

It was originally intended for Mayor West to beat Meg up when she is applying for a job within his office, but the scene was never used.^[2] The clay cars sketch was not animated by the regular show producers, rather it was drawn by Eileen Colehep, a woman who attended college with show producer Seth MacFarlane.^[3] The voice of Bruce the performance artist was performed by Mike Henry, and was originally scheduled to last longer,^[4][5] but it was reduced for unknown reasons.^[2] The concept behind the storyline of Peter and Lois performing in pubs when they were younger relates to MacFarlane's father, who used to do stage performances in bars. When he was performing, the woman who was to be MacFarlane's mother, came in to the bar and tracked his father down, asking for guitar lessons once she had found him.^[3] The song which Peter and Lois were singing when remembering their performances they hosted in their earlier years was created by Alec Sulkin and Patrick Megan, producers of Family Guy.^[4] Alex Borstein, voice actor of Lois Griffin had originally wanted Meg to be wearing a business outfit in the episode during her employment by Mayor West, but it was not used.^[4][5]

Alex Borstein wrote the episode.

The episode marks the first time in the series that Stewie has expressed an attraction for Brian.^[3][5] The name of Peter and Lois' band was originally intended to be "Mouthful of Peter," but broadcasting standards insisted that the show producers change the name to "Handful of Peter."^[2][3] In response to this, MacFarlane comments that "a handjob is more acceptable than a blowjob."^[3] When performing for the Quahog Talent Competition, one of the lyrics to Peter and Lois' song was scheduled to be "God would do her from behind, even do it a second time," but it was never used.^[2][3] Patrick Clark organized the format of the credits, which were different from the regular set.^[3][6]

Peter singing "Ding Fries are Done," was shortened for the televised version of the episode, with an extended version on the DVD.^[3] Cleveland sticking his middle finger up to Brian after he fails to stop in his taxi was allowed on the televised version of the episode. This was permitted because MacFarlane rang the show's broadcasting standards and asked for their explicit permission, explaining that it was very distant, and they allowed it.^[3] After smoking marijuana, Peter and Lois are shown lying on top of each other on the sofa; in the television version, they are wearing underwear, but are completely naked on the DVD, Adult Swim, and TBS versions.^[3] Similarly, Lois' comment during the scene, "Brian, he's knocking on the back door, what should I do? Should I let him in?" was censored from Fox airings, as it is a reference to anal sex,^[3] but remains intact on Adult Swim and TBS airings.

In addition to the regular cast, voice actors H. Jon Benjamin and Frank Welker, and actress Kate Jackson guest starred in the episode. Recurring voice actors Lori Alan, Ralph Garman, and Mike Henry, writers Chris Sheridan, Danny Smith, and John Viener, and actor Adam West, who portrays an exaggerated version of himself, also made minor appearances.

Cultural references

The episode takes its title from a scene when an anonymous informant (later revealed to be Kermit the Frog) secretly meets Brian in an underground parking lot. Brian calls the informant "Deep Throat," in a reference to the anonymous informant Deep Throat. The meeting itself is a reference to the meeting with Deep Throat or to the 1976 film All the President's Men. The part-time job Peter had wherein he sings a song about Burger King is based on the popular internet meme "Ding Fries are Done,",^[2][3] which is a parody of the popular Christmas song "Carol of the Bells".^[7] The Noid attempting to ruin Mayor West's pizza is a reference to the Noid from former Domino's Pizza television advertisements. The scene where Cleveland runs off as a black panther when he notices Meg and Brian looking at him as he destroys Brian's cab with a crowbar is a reference to Michael Jackson's "Black or White" 2nd ending known as the Black or White Panther Dance. When Lois mentions to Peter that it would be fun to be in the community talent show, Stewie says "You know what else is fun? Watching Mr. Belvedere without people talking so loudly!". He then proceeds to sing the theme song loudly. When Peter is being driven around by Brian, he refers to him as Bitterman, a reference to the chauffeur in the 1981 film Arthur. The song Mayor West and Meg are listening to in the hotel together is the theme song to Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles from the 1987 series.

Reception

On August 5, 2007, this episode was featured among a four-episode set of Family Guy on Fox, hosted by the stars of the film Superbad. "Deep Throats", alongside two other episodes of that set, were titled the "Worst TV Show of the Week" by the Parents Television Council, a frequent critic of Family Guy.^[8]

References

External links

Wikiquote has quotations related to: Deep Throats

• "Deep Throats" at the Internet Movie Database
• "Deep Throats" at TV.com