Death Has a Shadow
"Death Has a Shadow" is the series premiere and the first episode of the first season of the American animated television series Family Guy. Written by series creator Seth MacFarlane and directed by Peter Shin, the episode aired as a sneak peek on the Fox network in the United States on January 31, 1999, following Super Bowl XXXIII. In this episode, Peter loses his job after drinking too much at a stag party, causing him to fall asleep at work. He signs up for welfare to keep his wife Lois from finding out but gets much more money than he expected. After spending his money foolishly, Lois finds out and Peter decides to dump it from a blimp at the Super Bowl. He is arrested for welfare fraud and must await his family's rescue, as well as various performers who would later serve as frequent recurring and guest voices on the series.
"Death Has a Shadow"
Season 1
Episode 1
Peter Shin
Seth MacFarlane (rough-cut)
Seth MacFarlane
1ACX01[1]
January 31, 1999
22 minutes
The episode was the first overall episode to be animated by Film Roman, Inc. and Sunwoo Digital International, through its animation division Grimsaem Animation Co.
The basis for "Death Has a Shadow", as well as Family Guy as a whole, was MacFarlane's thesis film The Life of Larry, created in 1995 while he was a student at the Rhode Island School of Design. A sequel was conceived in 1996 called Larry & Steve, which aired in 1997 as a segment of Cartoon Network's World Premiere Toons. Both shorts caught the attention of Fox, who contacted MacFarlane in 1998 to develop a series based on the films. A hand-drawn pilot was created by MacFarlane with a budget of $50,000, which led to the series being accepted for production and the pilot being remade and extended into its broadcast form.
Critical responses to the episode were mostly positive. According to Nielsen ratings, it was viewed by 22 million viewers during its original airing in the United States. In the tenth season episode "Back to the Pilot", which premiered on November 13, 2011, Brian and Stewie go back in time to the events of this episode.[2]
Plot[edit]
As Lois prepares dinner, Stewie puts the final touches on his mind-control device, only for it to be taken away from him by Lois, who will not allow "toys" at the table. Later, Peter asks Lois for permission to attend an upcoming stag party. After he promises he will not drink alcohol, Lois allows him to go. However, Peter forgets his promise to Lois and plays such drinking games as "Drink the beer". He goes to work the next day with a hangover and falls asleep on the job as a safety inspector in a toy factory. Peter misses dangerous objects such as a butcher knife, a surge protector, a gasoline can, razor blades, a porcupine, a toaster with forks inside, and plug-in water. The company receives bad press after releasing unsafe toy products, and Peter is promptly fired by Mr. Weed.
At dinner, Peter breaks the news to his children but decides to keep it from Lois. He tries different jobs, such as cereal mascot and sneeze guard, but fails miserably. Brian pressures him to tell her the truth, but all he manages to do is to tell Lois how fat she is. Brian insists that Peter must look out for his family's welfare. With the word "welfare" in his mind, Peter soon applies for government assistance at a welfare office. But a processing error creates a weekly check for $150,000, which is based on a remark former President Ronald Reagan made of a woman called Linda Taylor from Chicago, Illinois, calling her a "welfare queen" by making assumptions of earning such proportions from government benefits in 1974.[3] Telling Lois he received a big raise, Peter spends his money on many foolish and extravagant things, such as renting the Statue of David, treating Meg to cosmetic surgery and even going so far as to surround his house with a moat to protect them from the Black Knight.
Unfortunately, Lois is given the welfare check by the mail lady and storms at Peter for lying to her. Peter decides to return the money to the taxpayers by dumping it from a blimp during Super Bowl XXXIII with Brian. After the commotion they cause, they are immediately shot down.
Eventually, Lois receives the bad news and goes to court, still angry at Peter for lying to her in the first place. After Peter apologizes for lying to Lois and accepting the money instead of reporting the welfare error, the judge sentences him to 24 months in prison for welfare fraud. Lois tries to explain he is not that bad and she loves him and insists that, no matter what, she will always stand by her husband. The judge agrees and sends her to jail with him. Stewie then whips out his mind control device and forces the judge into letting his father go free and get his job back.
Peter states that he has learned his lesson and will never commit welfare fraud again. Instead, he is going to try for such things as a minority scholarship, a sexual harassment suit, and a disability claim.[4]
Cultural references[edit]
In the final scenes of the episode, the Griffin family is seen watching a television program called TV's Bloopers, a reference to the 1984 ABC and NBC television series TV's Bloopers and Practical Jokes.
Towards the end of the courtroom scene, the Kool-Aid Man is seen breaking through a wall, which later became a running gag in the series involving a certain character or breaking through a wall and Peter's job as a Mascot is a parody of the Cocoa Puffs commercial.[18]
During Peter's recount of his job search to Brian, the talent show flashback mirrors the setting from The Sound of Music and refers to the characters of the film, the von Trapp family.