Don't Make Me Over (Family Guy)

Don't Make Me Over is the fourth episode of Season 4 of Family Guy. It first aired on June 5, 2005 on FOX. The episode's production code is 4ACX03. The working title of the episode was "Extreme Makeover: Meg Edition".

It was written by Gene Laufenberg and directed by Alex Frost. Guest starring Bob Widmer as the Tin Man, Tara Strong as Meg Griffin singing, and Gene Simmons as himself.

Plot summary

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"There's something I've gotta tell you. Being with you just made me feel so a... live from New York, it's Saturday Night!"

When Meg asks Craig Hoffman on a date and he turns her down, she looks to her family for support. In an effort to cheer her up, Lois takes Meg to the mall, where Channel 5 Asian reporter Tricia Takanawa is giving away free makeovers. Meg gets the ultimate makeover and instantly becomes popular. Peter reveales that he had a illigetimate daughter with another woman about the same as age as meg.

Meanwhile, the Drunken Clam is suffering due to a mall built across the street, so Peter and friends drag out a Karaoke machine that Horace had kept in a storage room. When Peter, Cleveland, Quagmire and Joe team up to sing Journey's song Don't Stop Believin', people swarm to the bar. Thrilled with their success, the group starts a band and travel to their first gig at a prison. The band is about to launch into their opening number when they realize they don't know any songs; Peter's family, who are attending to support him, hastily take the stage and sing Buy Me a Rainbow. They are an enormous hit, and they sign a contract with a record executive (who was imprisoned for stomping on a cat).

Despite the family's talent, their producer Dr. Diddy is more interested in exploiting Meg's new look to make her a teen sex symbol. Meg's newfound stardom goes to her head, causing resentment among the other family members; nevertheless, they travel to New York to perform on Saturday Night Live. Meg is immediately seduced by Jimmy Fallon and loses her virginity to him; she fails to realize that the entire encounter is being aired on live television, despite the fact that Fallon keeps glancing at the camera and laughing. Peter attacks Fallon on stage and beats him up, because Peter dislikes his acting. The Griffins return home, where Meg reverts to her old look, saying "being beautiful is too much work."

Cultural references

• The outfits and singing style of “Meg,” a Griffin “family band,” are similar to those of The Brady Bunch Variety Hour and The Partridge Family.
• During the "1980s fixing-stuff-up montage," "One Foot In Front Of The Other" by Bone Symphony is heard. It played during a montage in the 1984 film Revenge of the Nerds.
• As Stewie rides on Brian's back, he quotes Yoda from the Star Wars film series, saying "Strong with the force young Skywalker is."
• On a dare from Brian, Stewie runs naked through the mall, screaming, “Help! I’ve escaped from Kevin Spacey’s basement!,” a reference to tabloid questions regarding the actor’s sexuality.
• News anchor Tom Tucker says that the next news story will concern “Joan Rivers speaking from beyond the grave,” despite the fact that the actress is still alive.
• Peter and his friends attempt to revive the Drunken Clam with a “Coyote Ugly theme.”
• A cutaway shows Neil Armstrong faking the moon landing at a television studio called Stage 51, a reference to Area 51, a military base well known in conspiracy theory lore.
• While the Clam is a karaoke bar, Mort Goldman performs Maureen McGovern’s 1973 hit "There's Got to be a Morning After."
• Peter, Cleveland, Joe, and Quagmire sing "Don't Stop Believin'" a 1981 hit from Journey.
• Bill Cosby appears before a commercial break as he did in his 1970s-era animated series Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids.
• For their band Peter dresses like a member of Devo, Cleveland like a member of a member of a funk band, Joe like a glam rocker, and Quagmire like Tommy Lee, drummer of Mötley Crüe.
• Gene Simmons of KISS makes a cameo to encourage Peter. Simmons, an old friend of Lois, previously appeared in the episode “Road to Europe.”
• A cutaway shows a homosexual Tin Woodman of The Wizard of Oz toppling over on the Scarecrow.
• Peter attempts to satisfy angry inmates by telling a story about Lake Wobegon, the setting of Garrison Keillor’s radio show, A Prairie Home Companion, which often featured quaint stories of rural life.
• Dr. Diddy's name is a cross between Dr. Dre and P. Diddy, two well-known hip hop music performers and producers.
• When Brian asks the family if they think he is racist, Stewie says that he disliked the 1994 Spike Lee film Crooklyn.
• Later Brian attempts to impress Dr. Diddy by praising the show Benson, featuring an African-American lead character.
• Miss Swan shows up when Meg is sassing Lois. Miss Swan was a character from Alex Borstein’s tenure on MADtv. Bornstein voices Lois. Peter later mocks MADtv, a competitor to Saturday Night Live. When Meg loses her virginity, he screams, "My daughter was deflowered in front of one and a half times the MADtv audience."
• Upon hearing that he will be on Saturday Night Live, Peter replies "You mean I'm going to get to meet John Belushi and Gilda Radner and Phil Hartman and Chris Farley and Horatio Sanz?" All are former cast members who are dead, except Sanz. This may imply that the overweight Sanz is likely next to die. Coincidentally, another SNL castmember died four months after this episode aired: Charles Rocket [infamous for being a member of SNL's first widely-panned cast (Jean Doumanian's season six cast that included a young Gilbert Gottfried and then-future Dick Ebersol cast members Eddie Murphy and Joe Piscopo) and uttering the "f-word" at the end of an episode)].
• The episode mocks former SNL cast member Jimmy Fallon for "laughing and looking into the camera in every sketch [he’s] ever been in." While beating Fallon, Peter mentions that Carol Burnett used to do the same on her show but Fallon "hasn’t earned what she earned!"
• When Lois worries that Meg might develop a “coke problem,” Peter replies “No Coke! Pepsi!” a catch phrase from the "Olympia Diner" sketches of the show’s late 1970s era.
• This episode ends like a typical episode of Saturday Night Live with Peter, acting as the host, waving goodbye to the audience, surrounded the cast and musical guest, which was apparently Counting Crows. Peter exclaims, “Our thoughts are with you, Chevy,” presumably referring to Chevy Chase. It’s common for hosts to comfort former cast members who are facing some sort of turmoil like that, although Chase was not in the news for any such reason while this episode was in production. Peter may be generally referring to Chase’s recent career.
• After the faux SNL episode ends, It's Showtime at the Apollo begins. The variety show, filmed at the Apollo Theater, often airs after SNL on some NBC affiliates. It soon goes to Brian turning off the television and trying to defend his decision, ("I can't be tired at one in the morning?") keeping in line with the problems of seemingly being racist from earlier in the episode.