The Father, the Son, and the Holy Fonz

"The Father, the Son, and the Holy Fonz"

“The Father, the Son, and the Holy Fonz” is the eighteenth episode of the fourth season of Family Guy. It guest stars Charles Durning as Francis Griffin, Tom Bosley as Howard Cunningham, Marion Ross as Marion Cunningham, Gary Cole as Bill Lumbergh from Office Space, Sherman Hemsley as himself, and Paula Abdul as herself.

The title of the episode is a combined reference to Roman Catholic liturgy and Happy Days. The episode deals with Peter’s religious beliefs. The episode title is also a parody of a common Catholic invocation often said with the Sign of the Cross: "In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit."

Plot

Francis Griffin, Peter’s father, who is very devout in the Catholic faith, visits Quahog and insists that Stewie be baptized as a Catholic. Francis and Peter go to St. Philip’s church, where the priest refuses to baptize Stewie because he claims the holy water is tainted. Francis does not believe this and pushes Stewie onto the baptismal font. Stewie quickly becomes sick, so Peter and Lois take him to the hospital. A doctor diagnoses Stewie’s condition as exposure to tainted holy water. Stewie is quarantined in a germ-free environment. Lois asks Peter what his religious beliefs are, sending him on a quest to find a religion. At first he tries Mormonism, until he found out that Mormons can not drink alcohol. He then tries Jehovah's Witnesses, until he finds someone actually interested in hearing what he has to say—caught flatfooted, Peter recites the prologue to Quantum Leap with Jesus in the role of time traveler Sam Beckett. Peter then tries Hinduism, until he tackles the guy because he believes the red dot on his head is a laser spot from a sniper rifle. Francis later tells Peter he should look in his heart, so Peter starts his own religion: the First United Church of the Fonz. This new religion borrows surface elements from Catholicism but uses Happy Days episodes as its sacred texts. To the Griffins’ surprise, many people show up for the first worship service.

Brian, who has been playing jokes on Stewie, does not like the idea of Peter being a religious leader. Brian joins forces with Francis to find other fad religions to dissipate the congregation of the First United Church of the Fonz. People come to Peter's church, drawing away the congregation, to join their new churches, and soon everyone is gone. Lois cheers Peter up by telling him that if even just one person embraced the Fonz’s values of friendship, it was all worthwhile. This person turns out to be his father.

Production

Writer of the episode and executive show producer Danny Smith has written all Family Guy episodes to date to feature Francis, the first being "Holy Crap".

Controversy

Due to the controversy, it is still the only episode of Family Guy to be rated TV-MA on Adult Swim

Censorship

The FOX and BBC version of this episode cuts Stewie’s line, “Nothing says ‘Eat up’ like a bleeding, half-naked Jew nailed to a piece of wood” as Peter’s dad is hanging a crucifix above the kitchen door, due to religious sensitivities. Adult Swim and the DVD version do not cut out this line. According to the DVD commentary, the Fonz statue hanging at the Church of the Fonz was supposed to be on a cross similar to how Jesus is shown on a crucifix, but FOX Standards and Practices rejected it.

Cultural references

• Brian torments Stewie by forcing him to watch The View. In this version, the women act very much like farm hens, clucking and such as they sit. Star Jones Reynolds even lays an egg.
• Peter dances with Paula Abdul in footage of the video for Opposites Attract. He is superimposed over the animated role of MC Skat Kat, and sings an altered version of the original song’s lyrics, mainly replacing the line “Opposites attract” with “I’m dressed like a cat.” According to the DVD commentary, Paula Abdul had to come in and rerecord the song since the technical staff couldn’t separate her singing and replace MC Skat Kat’s lines with Peter’s.
• Peter describes Jesus going through a journey similar to Quantum Leap.
• When Francis baptizes Stewie “in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost,” Peter adds in “and Space Ghost.” Space Ghost was the protagonist of both an old Hanna-Barbera television show, and a late-night talk show parody from the mid-1990s.
• The vaudeville duo sings “Fatty’s in a little jam, dead girl, dead girl” to the tune of “Camptown Races,” and refers to silent movie comedian Fatty Arbuckle and accusations that he raped and murdered budding starlet Virginia Rappe.
• After Peter converts to Mormonism, he says that one of his new wives is the “Kramer” of his collection, a reference to Seinfeld.
• Stewie announces that he has had a horrible morning rolling around in his bubble, with the flashback imitating the Pinball Number Count sequence featured on Sesame Street sung by the Pointer Sisters.
• After Stewie is released from his bubble, he says to Brian that he and his friends at Cobra Kai will take him down, referring to the name of the gang of bullies in The Karate Kid.
• The ending sequence of Family Guy mirrors that of the opening for Happy Days and uses the song “Rock Around the Clock” by Bill Haley and his Comets, the opener for Happy Days’ seasons one and two. (According to the DVD commentary, they used the Bill Haley song because they were refused the rights to the Happy Days title theme song.)
• In a deleted scene on the Region 4 Volume 4 DVD release, Stewie talks to Brian about the Anime series Ojamajo Doremi, thinking that it’s like a kids’ version of Sex and the City.

Reception

"The Father, the Son, and the Holy Fonz" finished 40th in the weekly ratings for the week of December 12-18 2005, with a Nielsen rating of 8.26. Ryan Budke, of TV Squad, said "This was one of the funniest episodes this year." He continued saying, "[I] was cracking up from beginning to end on this one." He was "a little disappointed that Henry Winkler didn't actually show up in the show"

The Parents Television Council, a frequent critic of the show, labeled "The Father, the Son, and the Holy Fonz" the worst show of the week," Schukenburg also commented: "it isn't the first and certainly won't be the last time that the writers of The Family Guy take something as personal and meaningful as religion and mock it in the most superficial and narrow-minded ways for the sake of being outré during the Holidays".