PTV

"PTV"
Family Guy episode
The FCC censors Quahog.
Episode no.	Season 4 Episode 14
Written by	Alec Sulkin Wellesley Wild
Directed by	Dan Povenmire
Production no.	4ACX17
Original airdate	November 6, 2005
Guest stars
Maurice LaMarche Phil Lamarr Keith Ferguson
Episode chronology ← Previous Next → "Jungle Love" "Brian Goes Back to College"
Family Guy (season 4) List of Family Guy episodes

"PTV" is the fourteenth episode of season four of the FOX animated series Family Guy. It was written by Alec Sulkin and Wellesley Wild and directed by Dan Povenmire. In the episode, Peter starts his own television channel, after the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) starts to censor television. After the FCC forces Peter to stop broadcasting Peter claims that they can not stop people from being who they are, as a result, the FCC starts censoring their lives.

A satire on censorship by the government, many changes had to be made prior to broadcast because of international censors. The writers eventually ended up "horse trading" with FOX,^[1] exchanging a body-part reference for a dirty word. With a Nielsen Rating of 4.4, "PTV" was the nineteenth most-watched episode of the week in which it was broadcast. The episode gained mostly positive responses from critics, and received a Primetime Emmy Award nomination for Outstanding Animated Program (for Programming Less Than One Hour) as well as an Annie Award nomination for directing.

The episode, because of its explicit content, received a rating of TV-14 for suggestive dialogue (D), offensive language (L), and sexual content (S) in the United States.

Plot

Opening sequence

In a lengthy sequence completely unconnected to the main plot of the episode, after preventing Osama bin Laden from sending a hostile message to the United States, Stewie. Parodying the opening scene for The Naked Gun Stewie then rides off on his tricycle, cycling through scenes from various movies and video games such as Doom (parodying the opening scene of 1990's cartoon Bobby's World). He eventually arrives at his house, and bikes into the garage where he runs over Homer Simpson (parodying the pre-2009 opening of The Simpsons), Peter comes through the door, looks down and says: "Hi, Stewie. Who the hell is that?"

Episode summary

The FCC decides to censor television, after an incident during the Emmy Awards, in which David Hyde Pierce's testicles were revealed. Enraged by the FCC's actions, Peter decides to start his own TV network, which he calls PTV, on which he broadcasts classic shows unedited, as well as original programming, such as Cheeky Bastard, Midnight Q, Dogs Humping and The Peter Griffin Side-Boob Hour. Although PTV becomes a huge success, Lois is furious about Peter's lust for perverted TV, so she calls the FCC. This prompts Peter, Brian, and Stewie to perform an elaborate musical number about how insane the FCC's regulations are. Despite being impressed with the song, the FCC shuts down PTV. When Peter tells the FCC's representatives that they can't stop people from being who they are or how they live, they decide to take on the challenge.

The FCC start to censor any foul language and inappropriate behavior in Quahog; for instance, a black "censor's bar" is pulled over Peter's genitals by FCC employees after he leaves the shower, all expletives are overdubbed with an air horn, and audible farts are banned in public (being replaced by a machine that converts the sounds into Steven Wright jokes). Lois approves of their actions, believing Peter needs a lesson in decency. However, she realizes that the FCC's presence makes their living situation uncomfortable after they prevent her and Peter from having any real sex ("Oh, you can have sex, just no moaning, no tongue-kissing, no thrusting, no movement whatsoever"), causing her to become extremely irritable. They lobby Congress to have the FCC's rulings reversed. At first they disagree, but they relent when Peter makes them realize the resemblance of many Washington buildings to various crude body parts, and the Lincoln Memorial is on the toilet. The oppression of the FCC is gone, and the family settles down to watch an episode of The Brady Bunch that features bathroom jokes.

Production

"PTV" was written by Alec Sulkin and Wellesley Wild and directed by Dan Povenmire.^[2] Various scenes in "PTV" were taken out of the episode due to FOX's international censors.^[1] As the writers worked on the episode the producers ended up, as the Chicago Tribune describes it, "horse trading" with FOX, removing a body-part reference in exchange for a dirty word.^[1] While the writing staff of the show was disappointed with the number of scenes that were removed from the episode, they were happy with the final result.^[1] The opening sequence, of which Family Guy's creator Seth McFarlane was particularly proud, was added into the episode after the producers discovered the episode ran three minutes short.^[3][4]

Cultural references

"PTV" contained various cultural references. "PTV" has been described as a satire on the "government's ever-increasing reach into our living rooms" by Television Watch executive director Jim Dyke.^[5] The opening sequence in which Stewie bikes his tricycle through various movie and game scenes is a reference to The Naked Gun series of films.^[3] The movies and games from which animated scenes are shown are The Wizard of Oz, The Shining, Ben-Hur, Doom, Star Wars and The Sound of Music.^[3] The FCC censors various television shows, such as Ralph Kramden's threats of physical violence in The Honeymooners, two-thirds of Dick Van Dyke's name in The Dick Van Dyke Show and Chrissy Snow's bikini in Three's Company.^[6] Former Frasier cast member David Hyde Pierce, was briefly mentioned in the episode.^[7] The extreme reaction of the FCC to Pierce's incident is a parody of the FCC's reaction to Janet Jackson's "wardrobe malfunction" during Super Bowl XXXVIII.^[3] Bob Hope, Wile E. Coyote, Ozzy Osbourne and George W. Bush made appearances in cutaway gags.^[8] Terrorist Osama Bin Laden had a prominent part in the opening sequence.^[7]

Reception

Episode director Dan Povenmire was nominated for an Annie Award for directing "PTV".^[9]

The episode was broadcast on November 6, 2005 on FOX,^[10] it gained a Nielsen Rating of 4.4, making it the nineteenth most watched program in the week of October 31 to November 6.^[11][12] "PTV" received a Primetime Emmy Award nomination in the Outstanding Animated Program (for Programming Less Than One Hour) category.^[13] The The Simpsons episode "The Seemingly Never-Ending Story" was the eventual recipient of the award.^[14] Povenmire was nominated for an Annie Award for Directing in an Animated Television Production, but lost the award to Peter Shin, who directed the Family Guy episode "North by North Quahog".^[15]

The episode was positively received by critics. Maureen Ryan of the Chicago Tribune called "PTV" "Family Guy's most rebellious outing yet".^[16] TV Squad critic Ryan Budke considered "PTV" his favorite episode ever.^[7] Jacqueline Cutler of The Star-Ledger called "PTV" "[...] the funniest, most sardonic half-hour on TV in a while."^[17] While exclusively airing the sixth season of Family Guy for British audiences, BBC Three aired this episode as part of the Family Guy 100th Anniversary special, declaring it to be "The Best Episode...So Far".^[18] The Hartford Courant, however, gave it a largely negative review, stating it was "not even funny for a second".^[19] MacFarlane revealed in an interview that the crew received a letter of inquiry from the U.S. regulatory board regarding the episode, much to his surprise "they actually thought it was funny".^[20]

On June 1, 2007, the FCC song was voted second on The Paley Center for Media special "TV's Funniest Moments", behind The Chris Rock Show segment "Black Progress".^[21] The song was also voted sixth on IGN's list of Family Guy's "Top 10 Musical Moments", IGN stated "if there's a song that perfectly resonates what Family Guy is all about, then this is it".^[22] The 59th Primetime Emmy Awards opened with Stewie and Brian singing about the upcoming TV season using the tune from "The FCC Song", originating from this episode.^[23] The altered version of the song contained references to shows such as Scrubs, Two and a Half Men and Cavemen.^[24]

References

External links

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: PTV

• "PTV" at TV.com
• "PTV" at the Internet Movie Database