Death Is a Bitch
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| Family Guy Episode | |
|---|---|
| "Death is a Bitch" | |
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| Episode no.: | 13 |
| Prod. code: | 1ACX14 |
| Airdate: | March 21, 2000 |
| Writer(s): | Ricky Blitt |
| Director: | Michael Dante DiMartino |
| Guest star(s): | Norm MacDonald |
Death is a Bitch is an episode from the FOX animated television series Family Guy. It was produced for season 1 but aired in season 2. Guest stars Norm MacDonald as Death.
Contents |
[edit] Plot summary
Lois finds a lump on Peter's breast and afraid the lump could be cancer Peter sees a doctor. It turns out to be a benign fatty corpuscle, but Peter does not want to pay the hospital bill, so he declares himself deceased on the insurance form. When Death shows up at his house, Peter tries to run away and Death sprains his ankle. Death demands that Peter say nothing about Death's injury and the fact that no one can die while Death recovers, but Peter instead blabs about it to his drinking buddies, and inevitably proves it several times by getting shot, and the fact that no one can die becomes top news. He is forced to take over Death's job in order to prove to people they can still die and is assigned by Death to kill the kids from Dawson's Creek, but fails to do so because he says, "If I do, then I have nothing to watch on Wednesdays." Instead, Peter unwittingly kills two airplane pilots, proving people are not immortal, and forcing actress Karen Black to land the plane.
[edit] Cultural references
- The title of this episode refers to the proverb "Life is a bitch".
- 60 Minutes After Dark, a show Peter and Lois watch is a combination of the news show 60 Minutes and the raunchy variety show Playboy After Dark [1]. It shows 60 Minutes anchors Morley Safer, Mike Wallace, Ed Bradley, and Lesley Stahl in bed together, with Stahl commenting on how "one of [you] is hung like an elf." (This was edited out of the FOX rerun, but can be seen on the Cartoon Network and TBS versions and on the DVD)
- Peter passes a black cat, a raven, and an African-American man, the former two of which are traditionally seen as harbingers of bad luck and latter of which particularly frightens Peter.
- Peter thinks his doctor is talking about Fatty Arbuckle rather than a fatty corpuscle.
- When Peter asks Death “Who are you?” he answers “I’m Calista Flockhart,” referring to the actress’ thin and bony frame.
- Stewie says that his last helping of white meat was “dryer than Oscar Wilde", referring to the Irish writer’s sense of humor.
- When Death eats an entire turkey leg in one bite, he attributes the ability to “some films” he appeared in. This is a reference to the act of deep throating in pornographic films.
- Death's remark to Peter, "Hey, I caught FloJo," is a reference to the untimely death of runner Florence Joyner.
- When Death decides to stay with the Griffins, Peter objects saying, "How are we supposed to explain you to Mr. Roper?" referencing the original landlord (the one who had a sexually unsatisfied wife) from the sitcom Three's Company.
- Lois and Death play Life, the Hasbro board game.
- Death exclaims that the Griffins' TV is so old that they could get the DuMont network on it. Ironically, FOX grew out of the Metromedia TV stations, which in turn were a successor to DuMont. As such, Clarke Ingram, who maintains a DuMont memorial site, has suggested that Fox is a revival of DuMont. [2]
- Death's situation echoes the stage comedy The Man Who Came to Dinner, where a famous (though not supernatural) dinner guest injures himself on his hosts' doorstep and is forced to stay with them while he recovers, quickly making their lives miserable.
- Meg gives Death a copy of the magazine Glamour. Death asks for a copy of Entertainment Weekly, saying that the latest issue features a photograph of him sneaking up on sixty-plus-year-old television host Tom Snyder.
- Peter asks a group of bikers if one of them is effeminate fitness guru Richard Simmons and then if one of them is Richard Simmons' friend, Richard Simmons.
- Death borrows a Providence College sweatshirt from Peter. This could be Peter’s alma mater as Peter is a Rhode Island Catholic.
- A cutaway shows an alternate version of the 1997 film Titanic where Jack lives.
- When Meg suggests Death “kill all the girls who are prettier than me,” Death remarks that “that would just leave England".
- When asking Peter to imagine a world where Adolf Hitler is still alive, a cutaway shows Hitler as a talk show host interviewing actor Christian Slater.
- The pilot of the plane points out the San Fernando Valley beneath the plane where his brother “makes a very nice living directing porn.” San Fernando Valley is the center of the US pornography industry.
- As Peter looks at the cast of Dawson’s Creek, the show’s theme song “I Don't Want To Wait” by Paula Cole plays.
- A cutaway shows a scene of Dawson’s Creek, showing the character Pacey in bed with teacher Tamara Jacobs. Unlike the actual episode, Jacobs corrects Pacey’s grammar.
- Actress Karen Black successfully lands the plane, as her character did in the film Airport 1975. Newscaster Tom Tucker calls it "an obscure reference." He also mentions her other films Five Easy Pieces and Nashville.
- Death gives Peter a boxed set of singer-songwriter Boz Scaggs.
- In the bar shooting scene Chow Yun-Fat is seen doing a flying dive with two guns.
- This episode is similar to the Simpsons episode "Treehouse of Horror XIV", in which Death comes to the Simpson house for Bart. Homer then kills Death, puts on his cloak, and becomes the new Death.
[edit] Trivia
- Stewie's e-mail is loismustdie@yahoo.com.
- At the end of the Hitler parody scene the number to call is '213-DU WERDEST EINE KRANKENSCHWESTER BRAUCHEN'. This translates into '213-YOU WILL NEED A NURSE'. (A translation of an old German death threat, using derogatory phrasing instead of the more formal,'SIE BENÖTIGEN EINE KRANKENSCHWESTER' which would be the appropriate way to say it.) The German sentence is grammatically incorrect since 'werdest' is wrongly conjugated. The correct form of the verb would have been 'wirst' (Irregular verb).
[edit] References
- Callaghan, Steve. "Death Is a Bitch." Family Guy: The Official Episode Guide Seasons 1-3. New York: HarperCollins, 2005. 60 - 64.
- Delarte, Alonso. "Nitpicking Family Guy: Season 2." Bob's Poetry Magazine May 2005: 12 - 13. http://bobspoetry.com/Bobs02My.pdf
| Preceded by: "Love Thy Trophy" |
Family Guy Episodes | Followed by: "The King is Dead" |
