"I Never Met the Dead Man" is the second episode of the first season of Family Guy. It was first shown on the Fox network on April 11, 1999. The episode is about Peter Griffin trying to teach his daughter Meg about driving. However, Peter crashes his car into a satellite dish. This destorys their city's cable television. Peter has a hard time living without television, but he is able to find fun ways to live life without it.

Story 

Lois thinks that Peter is watching too much television. She makes him go outside to teach Meg how to drive. Peter gives Meg bad instructions that make her fail a driving test. Peter drives Meg back to their house, but gets distracted by a television show inside another house. Peter crashes his car into a transmitter, which destroys the cable television in their city. Many people get angry at Peter for doing this. Peter tells them that Meg crashed his car into the transmitter. Peter says to Meg that if she will take the blame, he will get her a new car. Meg does not tell anyone that Peter actually crashed the car into the transmitter.

Peter goes through a withdrawal from television. Peter cuts out cardboard in the shape of a television screen so that he can see everything as a television show. Meg can not deal with being treated badly, so she tells everyone that Peter broke the city's television. Lois gives a speech on how television was stopping everyone from interacting with each other. Peter no longer likes television and wants to do outdoor activities with his family. Peter later goes to a festival with William Shatner when the family gets tired of doing activities with him. Lois tries to teach Meg better instructions on driving. However, a rainstorm makes Meg run over Peter and Shatner. Shatner dies and Peter must go to the hospital. Peter is forced to watch television at the hospital, which brings back his addiction for television.

During the story of the episode, Stewie tries to destroy his broccoli because Lois wants him to eat it, even though he does not want to. Stewie gets a See 'n Say toy and makes it a weather control device. He uses it to start a rainstorm to destroy all broccoli in the world (this is the same rainstorm that made Meg run over Peter and Shatner).

Production 

"I Never Met the Dead Man" was written by Chris Sheridan. Michael Dante DiMartino is the director of the episode. The episode's title comes from a radio drama from the 1940s. This was also used for other episodes of the first season, such as "Death Has a Shadow" and "Mind Over Murder". This did not happen anymore after the fifth episode. Erik Estrada, Butch Hartman, Aaron Lustig, Joey Slotnick, and Frank Welker are guest stars in the episode.

Reception 

Ahsan Haque from IGN thought that the episode is "one of the most memorable episodes of the series". He says that the story and the jokes in the episode make it "one of the finest in the series." Haque said that Stewie's plan to destory all broccoli is "elaborate" and "creative". Haque put Peter's view of everything as a television show on his list of "Peter Griffin's Top 10 Craziest Ideas". Robin Pierson from The TV Critic thought that the episode is "A really fun twenty two minutes of television."

References

Other websites 

Family Guy (season 1) episodes
1999 television episodes