"Call Girl" is the fourteenth episode of the
eleventh season and the 202nd overall episode of the
animated
Animation is a filmmaking technique whereby image, still images are manipulated to create Motion picture, moving images. In traditional animation, images are drawn or painted by hand on cel, transparent celluloid sheets to be photographed and e ...
comedy series
Television comedy is a category of broadcasting that has been present since the early days of entertainment media. While there are several genres of comedy, some of the first ones aired were variety shows. One of the first United States television ...
''
Family Guy
''Family Guy'' is an American animated sitcom created by Seth MacFarlane for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series premiered on January 31, 1999, following Super Bowl XXXIII, with the rest of the first season airing from April 11, 1999. Th ...
''. It aired on
Fox
Foxes are small-to-medium-sized omnivorous mammals belonging to several genera of the family Canidae. They have a flattened skull; upright, triangular ears; a pointed, slightly upturned snout; and a long, bushy tail ("brush").
Twelve species ...
in the United States on March 10, 2013. It was written by
Wellesley Wild
Henry Wellesley Wild (born April 27, 1972) is an American screenwriter, producer, and voice actor. He is best known for writing and producing several episodes of the animated series ''Family Guy'' and for being the developer of the 2020 revival ...
and directed by
John Holmquist
John Holmquist is an American animator, director, designer, and storyboard artist. He has worked on several episodes of ''Rugrats'' as a director and storyboard artist from the late 1990s to early 2000s. In 2003, he won a Daytime Emmy Award for ...
. In the episode, when Peter loses everything in a lawsuit,
Lois
Lois is a common English name from the New Testament. Paul the Apostle mentions Lois, the pious grandmother of Saint Timothy in the Second Epistle to Timothy (commending her for her faith in 2 Timothy 1:5). The name was first used by English C ...
gets a job. She starts working on a phone sex line, and ends up with
Peter
Peter may refer to:
People
* List of people named Peter, a list of people and fictional characters with the given name
* Peter (given name)
** Saint Peter (died 60s), apostle of Jesus, leader of the early Christian Church
* Peter (surname), a su ...
as a client.
Plot
Chris
Chris is a short form of various names including Christopher, Christian, Christina, and Christine. Chris is also used as a name in its own right, however it is not as common.
People with the given name
* Chris Abani (born 1966), Nigerian autho ...
builds a birdhouse he built based on an episode of ''
Benson'' and Peter becomes interested in attracting birds. Chris wants the birds to reenact the ''Benson'' episode "Conflict of Interest." A
falcon
Falcons () are birds of prey in the genus ''Falco'', which includes about 40 species. Some small species of falcons with long, narrow wings are called hobbies, and some that hover while hunting are called kestrels. Falcons are widely distrib ...
sweeps in and snatches the smaller birds. Peter decides to become a
falconer. He acquires a falcon, which he names Xerxes and trains to fetch him things. As Peter sets off to take Xerxes to the park, they spot a couple on a motorcycle with a sidecar, and uses Xerxes to hijack the motorcycle and steal it. He ends up losing everything, including Xerxes, when the motorcycle owner files a lawsuit against him.
Lois berates him for losing everything, and is forced to get a job. Waiting at the employment agency, a man named Randy offers her voice work. She believes she will be appearing on television and in movies, but when she gets to the office, she finds it is a phone sex operation. Despite her reservations, she is lured by the money and decides to give it a try. She finds herself answering calls for most of the men in town and returns home exhausted and not in the mood for sex.
At the Drunken Clam, Peter complains to
Joe and
Quagmire about not having sex. Quagmire gives him the number for his favorite phone sex service. Later at home, Peter calls the line. Lois answers and quickly figures out that it is Peter. She entertains him, and he becomes attracted to her voice without realizing who it is. Later, Lois asks about his day and tries to get some thoughts out of him about his experience. Peter calls the sex line again later and asks for a date. Lois objects because he is married, but begrudgingly agrees, and later confides in her friend Bonnie.
At the Drunken Clam, Peter tells Joe and Quagmire about wanting to meet his phone sex woman, and the guys warn him against it. Peter wants to go through with it regardless. Lois sees Peter dressed up to go out. He makes up a story about going out of town, leaving Lois depressed and angry. She dresses up too, but disguised, and goes out to meet Peter. Peter opens up to her, not knowing it is Lois, and goes ahead and has sex with her, still unaware of who she is. Eight hours later, an angry Lois reveals the truth. Despite being shocked and appalled that Lois was doing phone sex, Peter admits that he somehow did know it was Lois on the phone, which proves to him that they were true soul-mates and he really did love her. He admits he ran up a phone bill of $7,000. Peter and Lois completely gross out Chris and
Meg
Meg is a feminine given name, often a short form of Margaret, Megan, Megumi (Japanese), etc. It may refer to:
People
*Meg (singer) (born 1980), Japanese singer
*Meg Baird, American musician
*Meg Bateman, Scottish writer
* Meg Bellamy, British ac ...
with their show of affection. However,
Stewie watches Peter and Lois having sex and asks if they can have a
threesome
In human sexuality, a threesome is "a sexual interaction between three people whereby at least one engages in physical sexual behaviour with both the other individuals". While the term ''threesome'' typically refers to sexual activity involvin ...
.
Reception
The episode received a 2.7 rating in the 18-49 demographic and was watched by a total of 5.27 million viewers. This made it the most watched show on
Fox's Animation Domination
Animation Domination (also called AniDom, Fox AD, and AD) is an American animated
Animation is a filmmaking technique whereby image, still images are manipulated to create Motion picture, moving images. In traditional animation, images are d ...
line-up that night, beating ''
The Simpsons
''The Simpsons'' is an American animated sitcom created by Matt Groening and developed by Groening, James L. Brooks and Sam Simon for the Fox Broadcasting Company. It is a Satire (film and television), satirical depiction of American life ...
'', ''
American Dad!
''American Dad!'' is an American animated sitcom created by Seth MacFarlane, Mike Barker (producer), Mike Barker and Matt Weitzman for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series premiered on February 6, 2005, following Super Bowl XXXIX, with the r ...
'', ''
Bob's Burgers
''Bob's Burgers'' is an American animated sitcom created by Loren Bouchard for the Fox Broadcasting Company. It is centered on the Belcher family—parents Bob Belcher, Bob and Linda Belcher, Linda and their three children, Tina Belcher, Tina, G ...
'' and ''
The Cleveland Show
''The Cleveland Show'' is an American animated sitcom created by Seth MacFarlane, Richard Appel, and Mike Henry (voice actor), Mike Henry for the Fox Broadcasting Company. A Spin-off (media), spin-off of ''Family Guy'', and the second television ...
''. The episode was met with polarized reviews from critics. Kevin McFarland of ''
The A.V. Club
''The A.V. Club'' is an online newspaper and entertainment website featuring reviews, interviews, and other articles that examine films, music, television, books, games, and other elements of pop-culture media. ''The A.V. Club'' was created in ...
'' gave the episode a C−, saying "'Call Girl' is all the more disappointing because every wrong step with the phone sex plot underscores that there’s a potentially great episode somewhere in there, but it requires changing most of the main plot and the unearned thematic resolution. I would’ve watched “Peter And The Sidecar Falcon” more than once, but as presently constituted, I can’t wait to forget the last 15 minutes of this episode." Mark Trammell at ''TV Equals'' said, "A pretty good episode on the whole. The stuff I liked, I liked a lot, and it was certainly enough to recommend the episode on the whole. Maybe it wasn’t an all-time classic, but it was one of the more solid episodes this season." Carter Dotson of ''TV Fanatic'' gave the episode three and a half stars out of five, saying "The situation at least was surprisingly complex for the series, and left a better taste in my mouth than some of this season's episodes, which have just featured an unrelenting misanthropic darkness at times without any of the redeeming qualities that this one had. Having something to think about is welcome!"
References
External links
Call Girlat Family Guy Wiki
*
{{Family Guy episodes, 11
2013 American television episodes
Family Guy season 11 episodes