Extra Large Medium

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"Extra Large Medium"
Family Guy episode
Episode no.Season 8
Episode 12
Directed byJohn Holmquist
Written bySteve Callaghan
Production code7ACX14[1]
Original air dateFebruary 14, 2010 (2010-02-14)
Guest appearances
Episode chronology
← Previous
"Dial Meg for Murder" 		Next →
"Go, Stewie, Go!"
Family Guy season 8
List of episodes

"Extra Large Medium" is the 12th episode of the

psychic readings
, but is eventually discovered to be faking his ability once he is approached by the town's police force.

The episode generated significant controversy. Former

Parents Television Council during its original broadcast.[3]

Despite the controversy, critical responses to the episode were mostly positive; critics praised its storyline, numerous cultural references, and its portrayal of a person with Down syndrome. According to

Jackson Douglas, Andrea Fay Friedman, Phil LaMarr, Michele Lee and Nana Visitor, along with several recurring guest voice actors for the series. It was nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Original Music and Lyrics, for the episode's song entitled "Down’s Syndrome Girl", at the 62nd Primetime Emmy Awards. Both Walter Murphy and MacFarlane were recognized for their work on the music and lyrics. "Extra Large Medium" was released on DVD
, along with 11 other episodes from the season, on December 13, 2011.

Plot

When the

Joe
requests his help in a frantic search for a missing person who has been strapped to a bomb. Peter stalls for time during the search (as he just wants to feel the victim's daughter's breasts), eventually resulting in a gruesome death when the bomb explodes, prompting Peter to flatly admit that he actually has no psychic powers whatsoever.

Meanwhile, during the time when Chris and Stewie were lost in the woods, Chris promises to ask out Ellen, a classmate of his who has

stereotype
of people with Down syndrome being different, and she tells him to leave. Stewie consoles Chris by congratulating him for demonstrating courage, in asking her out on a date, as he had promised to do.

Production and development

A man with brown hair, leans forward slightly to speak into a microphone.
Steve Callaghan wrote the episode.

The episode was directed by series regular John Holmquist, and written by series show runner Steve Callaghan before the conclusion of the eighth production season. Series regulars Peter Shin and James Purdum served as supervising directors, with Seth MacFarlane and David Zuckerman working as staff writers for the episode.[4] Composer Walter Murphy, who has worked on the series since its inception, returned to compose the music for "Extra Large Medium".[5]

Actress Andrea Fay Friedman, who was diagnosed with Down syndrome at birth,[2] and who has appeared on several television shows, including Saving Grace and Life Goes On, voiced the character Ellen.[6][7] Before performing on the show, Friedman stated in an interview that she had never watched Family Guy, but found it to be "funny" after watching several episodes from the series.[7] In developing Friedman's character, her physical appearance was largely used in creating Ellen, in addition to adding a "bossy" personality to the character, which Friedman was reluctant to perform at first. She eventually "had a nice time" performing the script, however, as it was her first voice acting performance.[7]

"Extra Large Medium", along with the eleven other episodes from the first half of Family Guy's eighth season, was released on a three-disc

San Diego Comic-Con International.[8][9]

In addition to the regular cast, voice actress Jennifer Birmingham, actor

Jackson Douglas, Andrea Fay Friedman, voice actor Phil LaMarr, singer Michele Lee, and actress Nana Visitor guest starred in the episode. Recurring guest voice actors Lori Alan, writer Danny Smith, writer Alec Sulkin and writer John Viener also made minor appearances.[4] Recurring guest voice actors Patrick Warburton and Adam West
made guest appearances as well.

Cultural references

Peter mentions starring in Starlight Express, which is a rock musical by Andrew Lloyd Webber;[10] although Peter's role as shown onscreen has little to do with the actual performance. While Stewie and Chris are lost in the forest overnight, Stewie plays a guessing game with one of the answers being Thornton Melon. Stewie looks at the television audience wondering why the majority of them chose Thornton Melon, then Stewie notes that Thornton Melon was the character that Rodney Dangerfield played in the 1986 film Back to School.[10] It was in fact a quote by Henry David Thoreau. Stewie's reference to a newspaper headline saying "Stewie Defeats Truman" is a takeoff of the famous "Dewey Defeats Truman" headline, which erroneously predicted that Thomas E. Dewey would defeat Harry S. Truman in the 1948 presidential election.[10] Peter's new career as a psychic is a parody of John Edward and his TV series Crossing Over.[10] While the police depend on Peter to help them find someone, Peter stalls by pretending to channel the spirit of Lou Costello; his exchange with Joe about the missing man, Mr. Hu who lives on First Street, is a takeoff of the famous Abbott and Costello routine "Who's on First?".[10] Also, there was a cutaway to the Enterprise from the original Star Trek series showing Spock winning the lottery (with the numbers 18, 24, 41 and 72), then cussing at everyone shortly before leaving. Nana Visitor voices the Enterprise viewscreen, while series writer and producer John Viener voices Spock in the cutaway.

Reception

"Extra Large Medium" was broadcast on February 14, 2010, in the United States as part of the animation television night on Fox. It was preceded by an episode of

Nielsen ratings, despite airing simultaneously with the 2010 Winter Olympics on NBC, Undercover Boss on CBS and Extreme Makeover: Home Edition on ABC.[11] The episode also acquired a 3.2/8 rating in the 18–49 demographic beating The Simpsons, The Cleveland Show and American Dad!, in addition to significantly edging out all three shows in total viewership.[11] The episode's ratings were slightly up from the previous episode, "Dial Meg for Murder".[12]

Reviews of the episode were positive, citing the episode as "a pleasant surprise." In a simultaneous review of the episodes of The Simpsons and American Dad! that preceded and followed the episode respectively and The Cleveland Show, Emily VanDerWerff of

TV Squad called the Abbott and Costello joke "hilariously appropriate", and stated that the episode's portrayal of a person with Down syndrome was "refreshing."[15]

On July 8, 2010, the episode's song entitled "Down Syndrome Girl" was nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Music and Lyrics at the 62nd Primetime Emmy Awards. Series creator Seth MacFarlane and composer Walter Murphy were nominated for their work on the song's lyrics and music.[16] On July 24, 2010, MacFarlane gave a live performance of the song at the 2010 San Diego Comic-Con International,[17] to an audience of nearly 4,200 attendees.[18] At the Creative Arts Awards on August 21, 2010, "Down Syndrome Girl" lost to the USA Network series Monk.[19]

Controversy

A woman with brown hair tied back, and glasses, looks to her side slightly, while speaking into a microphone
Former Governor Sarah Palin took offense to the episode.

At one point, Ellen states that her mother is the former

San Diego Comic-Con International on July 24, 2010, in talking about the upcoming ninth season of the show, stating, "This season, I decided that I'd even things out and write something that would offend smart people."[22]

Bill Maher supported MacFarlane and the episode.

In an interview with the

mental retardation" and "disturbing sexual references," and the climactic scene in the subplot, where Peter pretends to be a psychic, which the PTC said also contained sexual humor.[27]

References

  1. ^ "20th Century Fox – Fox In Flight – Family Guy". 20th Century Fox. Archived from the original on 2011-07-11. Retrieved 2010-04-26.
  2. ^ a b Bauer, E. Patricia (2010-02-15). "Fox's 'Family Guy' tweaks Down syndrome, Palin". Archived from the original on 2011-07-15. Retrieved 2010-02-16.
  3. ^ "Family Guy on Fox". Worst TV Show of the Week. 2010-02-26. Archived from the original on 2010-06-13. Retrieved 2010-02-26.
  4. ^ a b "Family Guy – Extra Large Medium – Cast and crew". Yahoo!. Retrieved 2010-08-20.
  5. ^ Callaghan, Steve; Holmquist, John; MacFarlane, Seth (2011-02-14). "Extra Large Medium". Family Guy. Season 08. Episode 12. Fox.
  6. ISBN 978-0-345-49773-4
    .
  7. ^ a b c d Itzkoff, Dave (February 18, 2010). "'Family Guy' Voice Actor Says Palin 'Does Not Have a Sense of Humor'". The New York Times. Retrieved 2010-02-18.
  8. ^ Lambert, Dave (2011-06-24). "Family Guy – Does a Fan Site Message Board Have a List of Volume 9 DVD Contents and Extras?". TVShowsonDVD.com. Archived from the original on 2011-08-09. Retrieved 2011-07-28.
  9. ^ Lambert, Dave (2011-07-21). "Family Guy – Street Date, Cost, and Other New Info for 'Volume 9' Come Out". TVShowsonDVD.com. Archived from the original on 2012-10-20. Retrieved 2011-07-28.
  10. ^ a b c d e ""Extra Large Medium" Non-Sequiturs Explained". Sling.com. Archived from the original on 2010-02-27.
  11. ^ a b Seidman, Robert. "TV Ratings Sunday: Olympics Take Night, But Undercover Boss Strong in Second Outing". TV by the Numbers. Archived from the original on 2014-01-02. Retrieved 2010-02-15.
  12. ^ "TV Ratings Sunday: Grammy Awards Drown Out The Competition". TV by the Numbers. 2010-02-01. Archived from the original on 2012-06-17. Retrieved 2010-02-01.
  13. ^ VanDerWerff, Emily (February 15, 2010). ""Boy Meets Curl"/"Buried Pleasure"/"Extra Large Medium"/"May the Best Stan Win"". The A.V. Club. The Onion. Retrieved September 16, 2019.
  14. ^ Isler, Ramsey (2010-02-15). "Family Guy: "Extra Large Medium" Review". IGN. Retrieved 2010-02-16.
  15. ^ Hughes, Jason (2010-02-15). "Sundays with Seth: Love Is Mean and Sometimes Violent, but It's Eternal". TV Squad. Retrieved 2010-02-21.
  16. ^ "62nd Primetime Emmy Awars nominations" (PDF). Academy of Television Arts & Sciences. 2010-07-08. Retrieved 2010-07-08.
  17. ^ Collins, Scott (2010-07-24). "Comic-Con 2010: Seth MacFarlane does 'Family Guy' live". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2010-08-09.
  18. ^ "Comic-Con Magazine" (PDF). San Diego Comic-Con International. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2010-09-20. Retrieved 2010-08-21.
  19. ^ O'Neil, Tom (2010-08-21). "Emmys Creative Arts: Winners list". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on 2015-09-28. Retrieved 2010-08-21.
  20. ^ Fox Hollywood – What a Disappointment
  21. Huffington Post
    . Retrieved 2010-02-17.
  22. ^ Hibberd, James (2010-07-25). "'Family' to stir Palin with return of 'DS Girl'". The Hollywood Reporter. Archived from the original on July 27, 2010. Retrieved 2010-08-02.
  23. ^ "Sarah Palin vs. 'Family Guy': Seth MacFarlane responds (sort of)". Los Angeles Times. February 16, 2010. Retrieved 2014-02-16. From its inception, 'Family Guy' has used biting satire as the foundation of its humor. The show is an "equal-opportunity offender.
  24. ^ "'Family Guy' Actress Says Sarah Palin is Chasing Votes". theinsider.com. February 19, 2010. Archived from the original on April 16, 2012. Retrieved 2010-02-20.
  25. ^ Real Time with Bill Maher. February 19, 2010. HBO. This was an actress that was frustrated by this because what I think Sarah Palin was doing was coming out and saying I am here to defend you. And what Andrea, the actress, said was I don't need this, I love my life. I'm very happy, and I don't need you to use this piece of cartoon footage to inspire phony pity because I'm very happy and very content with my life
  26. ^ de Moraes, Lisa (February 24, 2010). ""Family Guy" actor Warburton takes Sarah Palin's point". Washington Post. Retrieved 2010-03-04.
  27. ^ ""Family Guy" on Fox". Parents Television Council. February 26, 2010. Archived from the original on February 22, 2012. Retrieved March 1, 2010.

External links

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