Dial Meg for Murder

"Dial Meg for Murder" is the 11th episode of season eight of the animated comedy series Family Guy. It originally aired on Fox in the United States on January 31, 2010. The episode follows teenager Meg as she visits an inmate at the local prison and falls in love with him. She eventually ends up hiding the fugitive in the Griffin family home, however, and is convicted and sent to jail. After returning home, she becomes a hardened criminal, who continually tortures her family. First announced at the 2009 San Diego Comic-Con International, the episode was written by Alex Carter and Andrew Goldberg, and directed by Cyndi Tang-Loveland. It received mostly positive reviews for its storyline and cultural references, in addition to receiving criticism from the Parents Television Council. According to Nielsen ratings, it was viewed in 6.21 million homes in its original airing. The episode featured guest performances by Dave Boat, Peter Chen, Chace Crawford, Camille Guaty, Victor J. Ho, Allison Janney, Rachael MacFarlane, and Lisa Wilhoit along with several recurring guest voice actors for the series. "Dial Meg for Murder" was released on DVD along with ten other episodes from the season on December 13, 2011. Plot When the news announces a local rodeo competition in Quahog, Peter decides to enter. He trains in various ways, such as roping Meg and branding her, only to find he has been beaten to it by Mayor West, who takes her away, and using Chris. However, during the competition he quickly falls off his anthropomorphic bull, which proceeds to rape him off-screen. Meanwhile, Brian meets the editor of Teen People (Allison Janney), who gives him a job writing an article about the average American girl. When he starts following and spying on Meg with Stewie for research, they discover that she has fallen in love with a man in jail named Luke (Chace Crawford), whom she met through a school pen-pal project. Brian reveals Meg's secret to Peter and Lois, who forbid her from seeing Luke again. However, Luke breaks out of jail during a prison riot and tries to hide in the Griffins' house. When Brian comes to Meg's room to apologize for what he did, he finds Luke just as Peter enters. Peter only knows what is happening when reading the episode's plot synopsis in TV Guide (the reason he entered the rodeo), and finds out who Luke is. As Luke escapes out the window, Peter alerts Joe, who apprehends Luke and arrests Meg for harboring a fugitive, for which she is imprisoned.