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The King is Dead

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The King is Dead
Season 1, Episode 15
Air date May 9, 1999
Episode Guide
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The King is Dead is the fifteenth episode of the first season of Family Guy. It is the fifteenth episode, overall.

Synopsis[]

Lois writes a screenplay for The King and I, which gets accepted into theater production. However, Peter decides to make a few tweaks to the script.

Plot[]

Lois is named director of the Quahog Player's theater group production, and she decides to produce The King and I. Meanwhile, Peter's boss, Mr. Weed, is having important people over, and workers are bringing in their own invented toys to show them and give them ideas. Peter's toy, however, is ridiculed for resembling a sex toy. Peter is humiliated and decides to try-out for Lois' play.

At auditions, Brian and Loretta are the only two happy about their roles in the play, Peter doesn't even get a part, so Lois names Peter producer in the hopes of keeping him out of the way, but Peter gradually takes over, radically changing the play, making Anna's best friend a talking penguin. He gets the play mentioned on the news by casting newscaster Diane Simmons as Anna, Lois likes the fact that he got the play on the news, but is mad because Loretta, who was playing Anna, was doing a great job, but Peter recast her as Lady Teong. Peter also adds material inspired by The Jerry Springer Show and Flashdance and changes Anna's outfit into something more "this century".

Peter later comes up with another idea, the Siamese twins aren't twins, but aliens. Everyone accedes to the idea, except for Lois, who hates what Peter is doing to the play. She thinks that nobody will show up to the play but is proven wrong when Meg and Chris tell everyone they sold out. Lois then quits leaving Peter as the director, thus making him the most powerful man on set. His constant changes to the plot of the play frustrate Diane into quitting, so he plays Anna himself.

Lois comes to the play, but only in the hope of seeing Peter's work ridiculed by everyone in town. Peter’s version of The King and I depicts a post-apocalyptic future set in the ruined world of 2015 AD after the 9th nuclear war. The world is a “grim future filled with lots of explosions and partial nudity,” ruled by an oppressive king, played by Brian. A.N.N.A. is an Automoton Nuclear Neo-humanoid Android, a robot ninja from the planet England. A.N.N.A., not succumbing to the enticing, bikini-clad "Siamese children's” all-female sex orgy, kung fu fights with the King, thus destroying him, and reclaiming Siam for the United States of America. He then ends the play with a musical number, based on A.N.N.A's victory.

To Lois’ perturbation, the show is a hit. Lois berates the audience for applauding, claiming that the show is what is ruining dramatic art. In the end, Peter comes home from the wrap party, and apologizes to Lois for stealing away her show, and in turn, she apologizes to him for scolding his work.

Characters[]

Major Roles[]

Minor Roles[]

Quotes[]

Meg: Can I help out in the show, Mom?
Stewie: Yes, you can be the dumpy teenager who stays backstage and cries because nobody finds her attractive.
Peter: Lois I think you made a mistake. I'm not the King, I'm not I, I'm not anybody. So, what, I had sex with you for nothing?
Peter: Don't you worry, Lois. I'll get the word out. I'll tell two friends and they'll tell two friends, that's like ten people right there.
Peter: We don't need Diane Simmons, we got someone better all along, someone radiant and sassy, with a soul and a passion that can only come from 100 years of black oppression.
Loretta: Thank you Peter, I'll do it.
Peter: Get over yourself, I was talking about me.
Peter: Great news, Edgar Bronfman, Jr., we made the deal. We're richer and more powerful than ever. I'm the king of the wor...aagghh!...Agghh-ow! Aggh-agh! Ow..agh! Nyagh! [falls onto sandhill, bumps into a cactus, ripping back of bathrobe. Tumbles further until a baby tree snatches his bathrobe and Star of David necklace, naked. He hits onto a sewage pipe] Dammit!
[inside a Mexican household, the family is about to eat dinner with the wife plumping mashed potatoes. Then Peter's body crashes on the roof to the table]
Mexican 1: ¿Quién es este? [Who is this?]
Mexican 2: Él es la respuesta a mis oraciones. [He is the answer to my prayers!]
Mexican 1: ¡¿Por quuué?! [Why?]
Lois Griffin: Oh my God. They liked it? [Peter bows on stage as bouquets of flowers are thrown at him; audience continues to applaud; Lois stands on her seat and faces the audience] Stop it! Stop clapping right now! [The audience stops clapping and sits back down in their seats] What's wrong with you people? People who does this shouldn't be encouraged! They should be punished! That man has committed a murder here this evening and the victim's name is "theater"! This is the kind of mind-numbing schlock that's been on television for years and is turning our society into a cultural wasteland! This isn't art! This isn't even entertainment! This is...this is... BULLCRAP!!!
Peter: Mr. Weed said whoever comes up with the best idea for the big Christmas toy gets a huge bonus!
Chris: Why don't you invent the Frisbee, dad? That's an awesome toy!
Meg: The Frisbee's already been invented.
Chris: Then how come I've never heard of it?
Meg: I don't know. Probably because we never had one.
Peter: What am I supposed to do with all my great ideas? Put 'em in a tub and clean myself with them? Cause that's what soap is for, Lois.
Peter: Well, Lois, I tried to express my creativity like you said. First I took an art class. [Peter is in art class; nude man is posing] Am I supposed to draw the penis? Then I tried sculpting. [Peter is in sculpting class; again, nude man is posing] Am I supposed to sculpt the penis? Then I tried music. [Peter is in music class; everything is normal] Am I supposed to conduct with my penis?
Meg: I don't get it, Mom, if you're so mad at Dad for wrecking your show, why did you come to opening night?
Lois: I came because I love the theater. I mean, if I just came here to enjoy watching your father be humiliated when this asinine spectacle of his is ridiculed by everyone in town, what kind of person would I be?
Chris: You'd be a bitch.
Stewie: You know, Mother, as first lady of the American stage Helen Hayes once said, "I'm going to kill you."
Stewie: [to Peter] You, your the worst thing to happen to musical theater since Andrew Lloyd Webber. [throws some food at Lois] And you, I just plain don't like you.
Diane Simmons: Tom, I'm getting late word that you're a petty, jealous closet-case.
Tom Tucker: Bit of breaking news, we now go live to Diane being a bitch. Diane.
Stewie: You know, it is so fashionable to take a shot at Jay Leno. Look, the fact is the man is out there every bloody night with fresh material and he's charming.
Peter: Alright, now Diane, your role is, you're a steel-town girl on a Saturday night, looking for the fight of your life.
Peter: Cut, all wrong. God, send me dancers.
[On the news]
Tom Tucker: It was a moving scene today at Hatch Pond as six members of the Pawtucket fire department struggled valiantly to save the life of a fish, trapped under the frozen ice. Rescue workers managed to get the fish out of the water, but unfortunately it died shortly after.
Brian: Oh, Lois, congratulations! Our little theater group finally has a committed visionary at its helm. And such an attractive one.
Lois: Brian, you'll have to audition just like everyone else.
Brian: Oh, God, of course. I...you didn't think...you thought I was...Lois!
Peter: You should've heard them laughing at me, Lois. I got great ideas, but they look at me, and all they see is a loser. Except that guy with the lazy eye. He sees a loser and the snack machine.
Lois: Peter, a lot of creative people had mindless jobs. Michelangelo worked in a marble quarry. Herman Melville was a customs agent. Albert Einstein worked for the patent office.
Brian: I think what Lois is trying to say is you have to find a way to express yourself creatively. For example, Chris has his drawing, Meg does her skating, I sing... beautifully.
Lois: So I've heard.
Peter: You're right, Lois. Man was meant to create. That's why God invented Shrinky Dinks.
God: It works! Look how tiny they are! [Albert Einstein smashes God's head into the oven] Oof!
Loretta: [reading "The King and I" cast list] Anna! Oh, baby, baby! I'm a star!
Cleveland Jr.: My mother's a celebrity!
Cleveland: Wow. I've never hugged a celebrity before. Except for Pearl Bailey at a book signing once, but then we later found out it wasn't actually her.
Brian: The King of Siam? Why, why, that's the lead! This is so unexpected!
Quagmire: Hey, shut up!
Brian: The King of Siam? Why, why, that's the lead!
Peter: Some of our greatest actors started in news, like Sean Penn.
[Scene cuts to a cigarette-smoking Sean Penn as a TV weatherman]
Sean Penn: Today's weather calls for breezy skies and sun, and there's gonna be a... [rushes towards the camera]...get that fucking camera out of my face!
Lois: Okay, let's go from the top of Scene 7. Action!
Loretta: "Oh, Mrs. Anna, the king needs you. You must go to him."
Diane Simmons: "Lady Thiang, if he needs me, truly needs me, I will go to him."
Peter: Cut! All wrong! No good!
Lois: Peter, what are you doing? She was wonderful.
Loretta: She wonderful my ass.
Lois: Besides, I'm the director.
Peter: It just doesn't feel real, you know? Anna and Miss Thing both love the king, right? On "Springer" yesterday, they had "I won't share my husband" and these two women bitch-slapped each other. The crowd went nuts. Loretta, why don't you try slapping Diane?
Loretta: I think I can do that.
Lois: Wait a minute. Nobody's slapping anybody. This is Rodgers and Hammerstein, not trash TV!
Diane Simmons: I think Peter may be onto something. Springer is one of our station's highest-rated shows.
Lois: I don't know.
Peter: I thought you wanted to do a good show? If you want to do a bad show, why don't we just do Rent?
Lois: I guess we can try that...
Loretta: Action!
[Loretta slaps Diane, knocking her to the ground]
Peter: Face it, Lois, you're just jealous because people like my ideas better than yours.
Lois: I don't care if the whole world loves your ideas. That doesn't make them good. I was trying to make art.
Peter: Oh, art-schmart. Put enough monkeys in a room with a typewriter, they'll produce Shakespeare.
[Scene goes to a group of monkeys in a room with a typewriter writing Shakespeare]
Monkey 1: Uh, let's see. "A 'something' by any other name..."
Monkey 2: "Carnation," "peony."
Monkey 3: No, they did that on last week's Marlowe.
Monkey 4: What about "daisy"?
Monkey 5: "Chrysanthemum"!
Monkey 2: "Iris," "rose"? What about "rose"?
Monkey 1: Did you say "rose"?
Monkey 4: Yeah, "rose." "Rose" is good!
Monkey 1: "A rose by any other name." That works.
Monkey 4: I like that a lot.
Monkey 1: Moving on.
Monkey 5: Hey, what about "tulip"?
Monkey 1: "Rose" is fine. Moving on.
Peter: Hey, I have more creativity in my whole body than most people do before 9:00 a.m.
Lois: The only thing you create before 9:00 a.m. is exactly what you've turned my show into.
Peter: I think my work will speak for itself. [leaves the room and comes back] Oh, ha-ha, I just got that. A poop joke? That's real creative, Lois.
Brian: [preparing backstage before the play] Su-su-sudio. Su-su-sudio.
Peter: [chuckling to Lois] Hey, were you there when I farted?

Songs[]

Trivia[]

  • This is the last episode animated by Film Roman.
  • This episode reveals Diane Simmons's maiden name, Diane Seidelman.
  • Peter claims that he has "soul and passion that only comes with hundreds of years of black oppression." He eventually finds out that one of his ancestors is black in "Peter Griffin: Husband, Father, ...Brother?".
  • Many recurring and one-time characters on the show are seen in the audience such as Cleveland Brown Jr., Pablo, Li, their Indian brother, Guillermo, Chris's Scoutmaster, the readheaded waitress at Flappy Jack's House of Pancakes who convinced Flappy to give Meg the job, and Randall Fargus, who would not make his official debut until "Running Mates".
  • When auditioning for the play, Brian sings "If Ever I Would Leave You" from the musical Camelot.
  • Thinking the audition a mere formality, Peter gives an off-key rendition of the theme song of children's television series Land of the Lost.
  • A flashback shows an independent film starring Diane during her college days. It includes many clichés of student films, including a non-linear plot, gloomy music, surreal images, and a pointless close-up of an object.
  • Lyrics from the song "Maniac" from the movie Flashdance are used by Peter. In addition, the torn sweatshirt and legwarmers worn by Diane is the same look sported by Jennifer Beals in the film.
  • Before the play, Brian rehearses lyrics to “Sussudio” by Phil Collins.
  • Peter’s final version of The King and I contains many generic elements of post-apocalyptic science fiction and B-movies.
  • Lois mentions the "mindless jobs" of famous creative people. She is correct that Moby Dick author Herman Melville worked as a customs agent and scientist Albert Einstein worked in the patent office, although it was the Swiss patent office not that of the US. Also, Michelangelo's father, and later the artist himself, owned a rock quarry but he was never a laborer in one.
  • Stewie "quotes" “first lady of the American stage” Helen Hayes in telling Lois “I'm going to kill you.” This is not an actual quote from Hayes.
  • Cleveland says he once met singer/actress Pearl Bailey at a book signing. Later, in American Dad!, Pearl Bailey becomes the name given to the local high school.
  • Stewie says that Peter is the worst thing to happen to musical theater since Andrew Lloyd Webber.

Cultural References[]

  • Peter's toy Mr. Zucchini Head is a parody of Mr. Potato Head. Peter puts a small cap atop the head of Mr. Zucchini resembling a condom, a pair of rounded shoes resembling testicles, and flips a switch in its back causing it to vibrate, rendering it little more than a vibrator.
  • Stewie auditions with the "winter of our discontent" soliloquy from William Shakespeare's Richard III, which he will repeat again in the beginning of "And the Wiener Is...".
  • A cutaway shows a writing team of monkeys writing Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, a reference to the infinite monkey theorem.
  • The Brine theater marquee says “A Peter Griffin Joint,” a nod to director Spike Lee, whose films are credited as “A Spike Lee Joint.”
  • The showstopping musical number from the show, “A.N.N.A. Rules,” is loosely set to the tune of “Shall We Dance?” from the original The King and I.
  • Sean Penn’s destruction of the camera is a reference to his assault of a paparazzi.
  • "Yeah, this is a real SNAFU!" SNAFU: Situation Normal All Fouled Up. Slang abbreviation of military origin. "Fouled" is a euphemism for the actual "Fucked."
  • The lyrics mention "As surely as Paul Lynde was gay", referring to the long-time character actor and center square on Hollywood Squares had a strikingly "flaming" persona, but he remained in the closet due to the prejudices of the time.

Continuity[]

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