Mother Tucker

"Mother Tucker"
Family Guy episode
Peter with Tom Tucker, his new stepfather.
Episode no.	Season 5 Episode 2
Written by	Tom Devanney
Directed by	James Purdum
Production no.	4ACX31
Original airdate	September 17, 2006
Guest stars
Phyllis Diller as Thelma Griffin Tamera Mowry Gore Vidal as Himself
Episode chronology ← Previous Next → "Stewie Loves Lois" "Hell Comes to Quahog"
Family Guy (season 5) List of Family Guy episodes

"Mother Tucker" is the second episode of season five of Family Guy, which was broadcast on Fox on September 17, 2006.^[1] The episode follows Peter's mother, Thelma, divorcing from Peter's non-biological father, Francis and dating news anchorman Tom Tucker. Peter becomes closely attached to Tucker, only for his mother to suddenly end the relationship, leaving Peter feeling abandoned. Meanwhile, Stewie and Brian are employed as DJs on a local radio station, but have creative differences over the tone of the show which eventually force Brian to quit.^[2]

The show received positive reviews, which considered it funny but forgettable in comparison with earlier episodes. It also reportedly sparked controversy over its use of the word retarded. The episode featured guest performances by Phyllis Diller, Gore Vidal, and Tamera Mowry.^[3]

Plot

Peter's mother, Thelma, visits the house and says she has left Peter's father, Francis. In an attempt to find her a new husband, Lois takes Thelma to a meeting for single people where she meets Tom Tucker. Thelma and Tom begin dating, which upsets Peter because his mother is dating again so quickly after leaving his father. Peter tries to sabotage the new relationship but is eventually persuaded by Tom that he should let his mother be happy. Peter bonds with Tom, but when his mother suddenly ends the relationship, Peter is upset. Peter learns that it is important for fathers and son to spend time together and tells Tom that he should spend more time with his own son Jake.

Meanwhile, Brian gets his own radio talk show but is interrupted by Stewie's prank phone calls. The station's producer loves the calls and makes Stewie the co-host. Stewie turns Brian's sophisticated talk show into a lewd, raucous, shock jock-style comedy show called "Dingo and the Baby", much to Brian's annoyance. Brian quits his job, and the show is replaced by one featuring Cleveland and Quagmire as "Dark Chocolate and The Rod".^[2]

Production

During the scene of the "Weenie and the Butt" radio stall, several sound effects can be heard, each of these were recorded individually by people who have sung at The Oscars and other high publicity events; Seth MacFarlane has commented that these sound effect recordings took much longer than expected, as they did not sound professional enough.^[4]. The episode featured guest voice performances from Phyllis Diller playing Thelma and Tamera Mowry in her third appearance. Author Gore Vidal appeared as himself towards the end of the episode.

When Thelma is trying to convince Peter to accept that she is dating Tucker, she comments "Tom here has won a local Emmy for his work with the retarded". FOX has a specific rule stating that the word "Retard" or "Retarded" cannot be said on their network, but this scene was permitted, despite breaking this rule. MacFarlane has commented that he cannot understand why you're not allowed to say the word on FOX, given that it is permitted on other networks, and because of the fact that the word was used several times before, even dedicating an entire episode exploring Peter's intelligence. According to MacFarlane and other episode commentators, the scene provoked an angry reaction among some the mental health community.^[4]

There were several scenes throughout this episode that were removed from the script and not broadcast. One of these came just after Tucker apologized to Peter about losing his temper, when it was intended that Jake Tucker would appear and the origin of his upside-down face would be revealed.^[4][5] The scene with "The Peanuts Reunion" was originally meant for season four episode "Patriot Games", but was moved to this episode, to ease time constraints in "Patriot Games". The scene was described by 20th Century Fox worker Leann Siegel as being depressing.^[6]

Cultural references

The scene showing Darth Vader as a parking attendant is a reference to the character from the Star Wars movie franchise. Vader is seen in the contemporary world as a failure, and is in a depressed state, before declaring to his girlfriend in his run-down apartment that he has to "give it a shot". The scene then cuts to a bank, where Vader (in a suit & tie) is attempting to get a loan to build the Death Star. When the bank manager doesn't follow the reason for his loan application, and appears to be in the process of rejecting his application, Vader quickly changes the reason for the loan, declaring it to be in order to "open a sports bar". This scene, as with all of scenes that contain references to Star Wars or its characters, was sent to Lucasfilm for approval, in order to protect copyright.^[4] MacFarlane also comments that every film should have a scene of a man standing in the shower and letting the water run down his back, to "wash the pain away".^[4] In a scene, Peter reaches for the freezer to take out some ice cream, and as he is lifting the spoon in slow motion up to his mouth, he is warned by Tucker several times not to eat it. When he eats it, Tucker repeatedly spanks him in a reference to Kramer vs. Kramer. The slow motion animation of Peter slowly going to eat the ice cream, was described to be "very well animated".^[4]

Reception

IGN's Dan Iverson gave the show a positive review, saying that Mother Tucker "would make even the most anti-Family Guy television viewers out there laugh pretty hard",^[7] but he also commented that "it probably won't be remembered as fondly as some of the episodes from the first few seasons".^[7] He also commented that "the funniest aspect of the episode was the radio scene", and that "the first time we see radio jockeys, we get the impression that they are immature, simple-minded idiots".^[7]

References

External links

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Mother Tucker

Family Guy portal

• Mother Tucker on Family Guy Wiki, an external wiki
• Mother Tucker at TV.com.
• Mother Tucker at the Internet Movie Database.