Leave My TV Alone, Peter

Family Guy, S11E02

The Griffins were selected to be a Nielsen family, which gave Peter a lot of power to influence local TV shows.  Peter stole more of the Nielsen boxes when he realized this and started to ruin TV nationwide.

This episode poked a lot of fun at many different TV shows while Peter took advantage of being a part of the Nielsen family.  They also went after some of the people who play a hand in making some of the popular TV as well, which was nice as well.  I'm glad that Family Guy didn't go too crazy with bashing any particular show, but they did make sure they got a jab at as many as possible before the half hour was over.

One of Peter's first changes to TV when he suggested that prairie dogs pop up during the news whenever Tom said something sad was kind of funny in a cute way.  I just find news in general to be a little too serious (and rightly so), so I enjoy Peter's attempt to make it a little more entertaining for the simple-minded (which I can tend to be).

I was a little annoyed later when Stewie was concerned that the volume on their TV wasn't working:

No matter how low I turn the volume, Aziz Ansari is always shouting at me.  What did I do?

He's not that loud!  I know it's a joke and all, but come on.  When I think of Aziz, him shouting all the time isn't the first thing that comes to mind, so I'm annoyed that they didn't think of something more clever for him.  Boo.  But least they didn't say anything racist because they love to go down that road whenever they can.

My favorite TV star they mentioned was definitely Jon Hamm.  I think he is hilarious when he's not playing a dramatic role (though sometimes I think Don is hilarious), and I had no idea he was gonna to pop up on this show.  He and Peter had a pretty funny conversation:

[Peter] Hello, Jon Hamm?  Peter Griffin, Nielsen family.  Listen, did I catch you at a good time, or are you and the critics busy sucking each other’s butts?
[Hamm] Excuse me?
[Peter] Look, your show is really boring. But don’t worry, I got some ideas on how you can jazz it up.
[Hamm] Listen, I don’t need your suggestions, pal.  I’ve been a big celebrity for a year and a half now.

But then Hamm changes his mind when Peter makes their ratings drop and listens to his suggestions to put in light sabers and Kiss (I think) playing the theme to Star Wars.  For a show like Mad Men, that is just the craziest thing ever, but I feel like it would be so off the wall that I would totally watch an episode like that.  I'd like Family Guy to make some more jokes about Mad Men if they are going to give me as good as a laugh I had last Sunday night.

That was about the best thing in the episode, but I also liked Mayor West complaining about Cougar Town:

You put a real cougar on Cougar Town, and now that cougar’s dead because Courtney Cox ripped it apart with her teeth and claws!

And I also liked Peter basically summarizing what J.J. Abrams' shows are like while speaking to him:

[Peter] J.J. Abrams, you take wonder and complexity and present it in a way that no one can possibly understand.  Whaddaya got?!
[Abrams] I’ve got an alien that goes back in time and encounters a koala bear in an Eastern European town.
[Peter] Totally confused.  Do it!

I'm still not sure what the hell was going on in Lost, which was really aptly named.  Haha.

I also thought it was nice of them to do this episode in memory of the deceased Phyllis Diller and Michael Clarke Duncan.  I enjoy when they dedicate these episodes because it just sort of helps the memory of their lives live on.

This could be one of my favorites for this season, but it is a little early to know whether something will top it later on.  I hope that there are a lot of stories with a lot of good jokes, like this one, instead of like last season where I felt I spent most of my time complaining about what I didn't like.  Good job this time!