And I'm Joyce Kinney
Lois's darkest secret is revealed on live television.
In the Family Guy season nine episode "And I'm Joyce Kinney," Lois befriends a news anchor and confesses a college secret, which is then broadcast. Airing January 16, 2011, on Fox, it was written by Alec Sulkin and directed by Dominic Bianchi. The episode was among five submitted for an Emmy in Outstanding Comedy Series.
Quick Facts
- Series
- Family Guy
- Season
- 9
- Air date
- 16 January 2011
- Production
- 8ACX12
- Writer
- Alec Sulkin
- Director
- Dominic Bianchi
Facts from the source article.
Plot
As the family watches the local news, Lois expresses her admiration for new co-anchor Joyce Kinney. Later at church, Lois learns of a bake sale and decides to contribute. While buying ingredients at the store, she encounters Joyce, and the two quickly become close friends, spending the day together at the news studio. That night, over drinks, they share their darkest secrets. Reluctantly, Lois reveals she appeared in an adult film during college in the 1980s, before meeting Peter. Despite Joyce's promise of secrecy, the story is broadcast on the local news the next day. Confronting Joyce, Lois learns that they attended high school together, where Joyce was overweight and known as Joyce Chevapravatdumrong. Joyce explains that Lois humiliated her in front of the entire school by placing a hotdog in her mouth and pulling down her pants while blindfolded, revealing her pink underwear, and has sought revenge ever since. Lois becomes a pariah, and her children face ridicule at school. At church, the family is asked to leave. Inspired by Brian, Lois shows the porno to the congregation, which reaccepts her due to a positive opinion of the film, much to Joyce's annoyance. Meanwhile, Stewie suspects he may have been conceived through the porno, noting that one actor has a football-shaped head like his.
Production and development
The episode was written by series regular Alec Sulkin and directed by series regular Dominic Bianchi, both in their first episode of the season. Peter Shin and James Purdum served as supervising directors. Staff writers included Alex Carter, Andrew Goldberg, Elaine Ko, Spencer Porter, and Aaron Blitzstein. Composer Walter Murphy returned to score the episode. The episode continues from the season premiere, in which news anchor Diane Simmons was killed by Stewie; Joyce Kinney was introduced as her replacement, voiced by Christine Lakin. In addition to the regular cast, guest performers included Kirker Butler, Colin Ford, Christine Lakin, Rachael MacFarlane, Helen Reddy, and Jennifer Tilly. Recurring guest voice actors Ralph Garman, Chris Sheridan, Danny Smith, Alec Sulkin, and John Viener also made minor appearances.
Cultural references
The opening sequence parodies the 1977 CBS series The Incredible Hulk, with Stewie as Bruce Banner, Tom Tucker as Mr. McGee, and Peter as the Hulk. Lois compares Joyce's celebrity status to Miss Piggy from The Muppets, leading to a cutaway showing a beaten Kermit the Frog and Fozzie Bear discussing a "Bears in Space" skit that was changed to "Pigs in Space." The Griffin family watches The Ellen DeGeneres Show, with Ellen DeGeneres appearing as host. Lois mentions that the porno film is "long gone," likening it to the original ending of the 1978 musical film Grease. Joyce's original surname, Chevapravatdumrong, references Family Guy writer Cherry Chevapravatdumrong; Joyce explains she changed it to Kinney because "they'd never let that name on TV." A Facebook cutaway gag shows Lois's profile. Brian suggests Lois take criticism head on, citing Ryan Seacrest's handling of jokes about his alleged homosexuality.
Reception
The episode aired on January 16, 2011, as part of Fox's Animation Domination lineup, preceded by American Dad!, The Simpsons, and Bob's Burgers, and followed by The Cleveland Show. It was watched by 7.08 million viewers and earned a 3.7 rating in the 18–49 demographic, outperforming the other four shows in that demographic and in total viewership, though ratings decreased from the previous week due to the absence of an NFL Wild Card lead-in. Critical reception was mixed. Rowan Kaiser of The A.V. Club gave the episode a C−, the worst rating of the night, criticizing the flashback reveal as feeling like cheating and noting that the episode did not play with the series' format as earlier episodes had. Kaiser praised the "burning bush" joke. Jason Hughes of TV Squad praised some "silly side jokes" but found the ending illogical and criticized the episode's reliance on cutaway gags. One critic described the storyline as "pretty dull."
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