And the Wiener Is...

Infobox Television episode
Title =And the Wiener Is...
Series =Family Guy


Caption =Peter shows Lois that Chris has a bigger penis.
Season =3
Episode =5
Airdate =August 8, 2001
Production =2ACX22
Writer =Mike Barker and Matt Weitzman
Director =Bert Ring
Guests =Fairuza Balk, Patrick Duffy, Debra Wilson
Episode list =List of Family Guy episodes
Season list = Infobox Family Guy Season 3
Prev =One If by Clam, Two If by Sea
Next =Death Lives__NOTOC__"And the Wiener Is..." is the fifth episode of season 3 of "Family Guy". It is the 33rd episode of "Family Guy". It guest stars Patrick Duffy as Jack.

Plot summary

In this episode, Peter is sure his son Chris will never beat him at anything, from skating races to video games to stacking dinnerware on top of his head. But when Peter and Chris go to the sauna, Chris takes off his towel and Peter suddenly discovers that he has a bigger penis than him. Suddenly insecure, Peter buys a long, red, penis-like car which he drives and reverses in and out of a tunnel imitating sexual penetration, and joins the National Gun Association (parodying the National Rifle Association) because he thinks that it will make up for the size of his own penis. On a hunting trip, a bear attack Peter and Chris, and Peter gazes back on his life. On that hunting trip with Chris he realizes that being a man is about bravery and not size when Chris drives away a bear that threatened to kill them both.

Meanwhile, Meg tries out for cheerleading but is accepted into the flag girl squad instead. The other members are drastically different, ranging from hideously ugly to deformed. As her squad performs, several of the “cooler” kids rig a device that pelts Meg with rotten meat. Lois devises a plan for revenge, which with Meg is reluctant at first, but then ultimately goes along with Lois’s cunning ideas. Meg makes friends with Connie, but this doesn’t last, as Connie and her friends trick Meg at a party for Connie's 16th birthday. Thinking she was going to kiss a popular boy while locked in a closet, Meg instead finds herself, in front of all the others, kissing a pig, held by the popular boy (A picture of the incident is even taken, further heightening the final act of embarrassment before Meg is driven over the edge). Lois, knowing they were just going to embarrass Meg again, sends Quagmire to molest Connie and friends, scarring her for life.

Controversy

The Parents Television Council, a frequent critic of "Family Guy", named the January 23, 2005 rebroadcast of the episode on FOX the “Worst TV Show of the Week” [cite web
url = http://www.parentstv.org/ptc/publications/bw/2005/0123worst.asp
title = Family Guy—Worst Family TV Shows of the Week
accessdate = 2007-04-28
last = Bowling
first = Aubree
work = ParentsTV.org
publisher = Parents Television Council] . They went on to file a complaint with the Federal Communications Commission about the broadcast, although the episode, rated TV-14 for suggestive dialogue (D), offensive language (L), and moderate sexual references (S) [ [http://www.fox.com/schedule/showinfo/familyguy/fg_222.htm FOX Schedule ] ] originally aired in 2001 without any complaints, and the nudity originally present was censored out. [ [http://www.televisionwatch.org/NewsPolls/PressReleases/PR002.html tv • watch ] ] [cite web | last = Rich | first = Frank| authorlink = Frank Rich | title = The Year of Living Indecently | work = "The New York Times" | date = 2005-02-06 | url =http://www.nytimes.com/2005/02/06/arts/06rich.html | accessdate = 2007-11-25 ] However, the FCC denied their complaint, finding “that because of the absence of explicit or graphic descriptions or depictions of any sexual organ, along with the absence of shocking, pandering, and/or titillating effect, the episode, taken as a whole, is not patently offensive.” [cite paper
author = Kevin Martin, Michael Copps, Deborah Tate, Jonathan Adelstein
title = Notices of Apparent Liability and Memorandum Opinion and Order
version =
publisher = Federal Communications Commission
date = 2006-03-15
url = http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/FCC-06-17A1.pdf
format =
accessdate = 2007-07-23“ [A] lthough the word ‘penis’ and euphemisms for that word are repeated several times in the episode, we find that because of the absence of explicit or graphic descriptions or depictions of any sexual organ, along with the absence of shocking, pandering, and/or titillating effect, the episode, taken as a whole, is not patently offensive as measured by contemporary community standards for the broadcast medium and is therefore not indecent.”]

Cultural references

*When Stewie shoots Brian with a powerful snow gun, Stewie says "Now is the winter of your discontent", which is based on a famous line from the Shakespearean play "Richard III".
*The song played by the marching band while Meg does her routine is "Electric Avenue" by Eddy Grant.
* Peter refers to himself as "the white Larry Bird", despite the fact that the NBA star is, in fact, white.
* In a fantasy sequence, Stewie sings Elton John's "Rocket Man", imitating William Shatner's infamous performance of the song at a 1978 science fiction film awards ceremony. But he talks through the song as if he were Henry Higgins.
* On the NGA's shooting range, an Imperial Stormtrooper from the "Star Wars" film series shoots a cutout of Luke Skywalker and misses, demonstrating the "Principle of Evil Marksmanship". Also on the shooting range, a blind man is seen shooting and "hitting the broad side of a barn", as the saying goes.
* The NGA's cartoon featuring "Petey the Pistol" is a parody of the NRA's cartoons featuring Eddie Eagle, as well as being similar to Pistol Pete, also a parody of Eddie from Michael Moore's show "The Awful Truth".
* The NGA film ends with the lesson "Guns don't kill people; dangerous minorities do". This is a parody of National Rifle Association's infamous slogan "Guns don't kill people; people kill people", as well as a parody of the stereotype associating gun ownership advocates with white supremacists. A similar logic would occur in Seth MacFarlane's other series "American Dad!" in the episode "Stannie Get Your Gun".
* While hunting in the woods, Peter tells Chris to call him "Rooster Cogburn", a reference to the character portrayed by John Wayne in "Rooster Cogburn" and "True Grit".
* Near the beginning of the episode, Peter is shown playing darts with the character of Andy Capp, a British comic strip character.

References

* S. Callaghan, “And the Wiener is...” "Family Guy: The Official Episode Guide Seasons 1–3". New York: HarperCollins, 2005. 144–147.

External links

*FGwiki|And the Wiener Is...