Peterotica

Plot

Peter, Joe, and Cleveland accompany Quagmire to a sex shop called Pornoslavia. Peter buys an erotic book entitled Much Ado About Humping and finds it disappointing. Peter writes a letter to the author including an example of what he would consider a better writing style for an erotic novel, which impresses his friends when he reads it to them. Encouraged by their enthusiasm, Peter decides to write his own erotic novel, which is received well by all who read it. The novels he authors are converted into audio books read by Betty White, and published by Peter's father-in-law, Carter Pewterschmidt. While listening to one of Peter's audio books, an aroused driver tries to take off his shirt while driving and crashes his car into the Kool-Aid Man's house. The man sues Carter, who is liable as the publisher. Carter immediately loses his fortune. Blaming Peter for his penniless state, Carter arrives at the Griffin house intending to shoot Peter. Lois persuades Carter to spare him, and Peter agrees to let Carter live with them until he has income.

Barbara divorces Carter and marries Ted Turner. Peter attempts to teach Carter how to live as a "regular person", but Carter does not acclimate well. Peter and Carter attempt to make money, robbing a train after several other failed attempts, but the robbery is unsuccessful also. Carter punches Peter into the Kool Aid Guy's house after many repairs. As Peter and Carter begin to accept that they will never be rich, Barbara returns and informs Carter that they are rich again, because she has divorced Ted Turner and taken half his assets. Despite Peter's help, Carter abandons him. Lois informs Peter she refused $10 million that her parents offered her 10 years ago because money would just complicate things; as she explains this, Peter fantasizes about killing her.

Meanwhile, Stewie trains in gymnastics to participate in the Olympics, but an accident during training leaves him with a shard of glass in his forehead.

Production

"Peterotica" was written by Patrick Meighan and directed by Kurt Dumas. The episode ran into multiple objections from broadcasting standards and the show's producers. For instance, the original title of the episode was "A Connecticut Yankee and King Arthur's Butt", but broadcasting standards objected. A sequence showing all of the different erotic novels written by Peter was edited for the television version; one entitled "Catcher in the Eye" was removed from the television version as broadcasting standards disliked the cover, which implied her eye was a target for semen during ejaculation. The scene of Peter reading his new erotic novel to Lois was never cut from airing, although the producers of Family Guy had some trouble with it, as it is the second semen joke of the episode. When Lois' father, Carter, sits down at the breakfast table, Lois states: "Daddy, did you remember to clean up?" Originally, she was meant to say, "Daddy, did you remember to wipe yourself?", but broadcasting standards objected, so it was modified to "Daddy, did you remember to clean yourself?" However, standards still objected, so it was changed to its current version.

Stewie is seen practicing for the Olympics and is disturbed by Chris; this scene was originally meant to be the start of a subplot in which Stewie would build a machine to make Chris intelligent. Although it would be successful, Chris would become more clever than Stewie. The subplot was scrapped because it was deemed not funny enough. The gag in which Peter is a landlord over a rat family in the Griffin family basement was removed from television broadcasting for timing purposes. The "thinking grenade" sketch, in which Peter uses live grenades to help him think, was originally intended to be used in "PTV" in a scene in The Drunken Clam, but there were no windows in the Clam nearby for Peter to throw the grenades through, so instead of adding windows to the building's design for that episode, the gag was moved to this episode. The "naughty flapper girl" gag was included in the original draft of the episode.

Reception

In a review of the Family Guy, Volume Four DVD collection, Mike Drucker of IGN singled out "Peterotica" and "PTV" as "new classics." In a review of the episode, Bob Sassone of TV Squad commented on the scene where Peter acts as a landlord over a rat, writing, "to be honest, I'm not even sure what the hell was going on there, it was so disturbing." Geoffrey D. Roberts of Real Talk Reviews criticized the episode, writing that "the story is thin and the laughter absent." The episode sparked controversy over a depiction of the Charwoman cleaning character, a character used by Carol Burnett in The Carol Burnett Show that was used in the episode without her consent. Burnett sued, but the case was later dismissed.