The Peanut Butter Kid

"The Peanut Butter Kid"
Family Guy episode
Stewie Griffin in the national commercial for "Scooter's Peanut Butter"
Episode no.	Season 14 Episode 11
Directed by	Greg Colton
Written by	Artie Johann
Production code	DACX08
Original air date	January 10, 2016 (2016-01-10)
Guest appearance(s)
Sean Kenin as Usher
Episode chronology

"The Peanut Butter Kid" is the eleventh episode of the fourteenth season of the animated sitcom Family Guy, and the 260th episode overall. It aired on Fox in the United States on January 10, 2016, and is written by Artie Johann and directed by Greg Colton.^[1] In the episode, Stewie becomes a star in a commercial for peanut butter to help the Griffins who are struggling financially.

Plot

When the mail arrives from the bank, the Griffin family prays to God for forgiveness for cyberbullying a girl to death and beg for an expansion of funds as well as a snowmobile. After the prayer, they find they are still low on funds. Lois worries about Stewie's college fund as it is too late for Meg to go to college and Chris is too dumb to get in anywhere. Although Lois comes up with reasonable ideas, Peter decides to search for funds with a metal detector. Upon finding a metal detector in the ground, Peter turns both of them on and finds himself in a white void. He finds Mayor Adam West who asks "Did you also call into a talk show without turning down your radio first?" Soon, Peter finds land him in big trouble when he takes things from other people like Purple Hearts from a military graveyard and stuff at the beach. Lois tells him that his misuse of a metal detector is over and they will be returning the metal detector for the cash.

At the mall, they find auditions for a national commercial for "Scooter's Peanut Butter" is going on and they decide to enter Stewie after Joe Swanson and Bonnie Swanson are planning to enter Susie Swanson in the audition. His teasing of Brian catches the eye of the executives and he is chosen to be the spokesperson. The family friends and neighbors then gather for the premier of Stewie's commercial and it goes over well. He later receives a check for $2,000 which Lois wants to put away for him, but Peter thinks they should keep a little to celebrate.

Taking the family out to a fancy restaurant, Brian is unsure about exploiting Stewie, but finds he is already lined up for another commercial audition for a cough syrup. When they arrive, they find that the competition has been ratcheted up. Placed on the spot for a quick demonstration of his acting skills, Stewie hurts his balls and finds his parents are not so forgiving on the ride home for his failure.

Brian awakens to music in the middle of the night and finds Peter and Lois putting Stewie through his paces to sharpen his skills much to Stewie's detriment. Even worse, they slip him a homemade energy drink called 8-hour Energy (which is made from 5-hour Energy, espresso, Scotts Turf Builder, and a "tiny, tiny super-small" amount of cocaine) to keep him going.

At another audition for an Sunnydale Orange Juice commercial, Stewie is barely able to function so Lois has Peter give him more 8-hour Energy. He lands the commercial and Brian finds they are spending the money on more fancy gadgets for the home like a 3-D Printer that printed a coyote that attacked Chris. Brian goes to see Stewie and finds him still trying to work out on the “exercises” he was given. Although Stewie tries to put his trust in his parents, Brian sets out to show him that they no longer have his best interests at heart and tells him about other child actors that ended up in pornography and/or have died like Scott Schwartz (who did porn), Dustin Diamond (who did porn), Andrew Koenig (who was found hanging from a tree), Corey Haim (who died of pneumonia), and Dana Plato (who did porn and later died of a multi-drug intoxication). He gets through to Stewie and he decides to get out of the business.

At yet another commercial shoot, Peter tries to slip him more 8-hour Energy, but he gives it to a stagehand. During the filming of the commercial, Stewie goes on a rampage on the set by making a negative comment about Sunnydale Orange Juice and attempts to poop in the pitcher of orange juice. Peter and Lois see that Stewie is having a meltdown. The director then states, "Get this kid out of here! He's fired!". Peter and Lois realize that they are the cause of his actions and apologize. Although Brian's wink to Stewie freaks Peter out.

Later at the Griffin residence, Stewie admits to Brian that the dancing and cocaine felt good and might explore it later.

Reception

The episode received an audience of 3.92 million, making it the third most watched show on Fox that night behind Cooper Barrett's Guide to Surviving Life and The Simpsons.^[2]

References