Ratings Guy

"Ratings Guy"
Family Guy episode
Episode no.	Season 11 Episode 2
Directed by	James Purdum
Written by	Dave Ihlenfeld David Wright
Production code	AACX01
Original air date	October 7, 2012
Guest appearance(s)
J. J. Abrams as himself Sandra Bernhard as herself Mark Burnett as himself Dan Castellaneta as Homer Simpson Michael Clarke Duncan as guy in cowboy boots Billy Gardell as Mike Biggs Jon Hamm as himself Kadeem Hardison as NBA player Dick Wolf as himself
Episode chronology
← Previous "Into Fat Air" Next → "The Old Man and the Big 'C'"
Family Guy (season 11) List of Family Guy episodes

"Ratings Guy" is the second episode of the eleventh season of the animated comedy series Family Guy. It originally aired on the Fox network in the United States on October 7, 2012. The episode follows the Griffin family becoming a Nielsen family and Peter attempting to take over the TV airwaves.

This episode was dedicated in memory of both Phyllis Diller (who voiced Thelma Griffin in several episodes of the show) and Michael Clarke Duncan (who had a brief voice role in this episode). This episode was also one of Duncan's final roles before his untimely death from complications following a heart attack.

The Griffins receive a letter from the Nielsen Company telling them they have been selected to have their viewing habits monitored. Tom Tucker comes to the door, having heard of the Griffins becoming a Nielsen family, and asks Peter for some suggestions to change the show. Tom performs Peter's crazy suggestions on the air, which displeases Peter's friends Joe and Quagmire. When the Nielsen representative returns to reset the card on his Nielsen box, Peter takes the opportunity to steal a bunch of Nielsen boxes so he can have a much bigger impact on the ratings.

Peter soon forces many shows to make outlandish changes to "improve" them, which angers Lois and Joe, and an angry mob issue their complaints towards Peter for what he did to some TV shows. Quagmire says that Peter put a real cougar on Cougar Town which is now dead because Courteney Cox ripped it apart with her teeth and claws. Seamus says that Peter turned Anderson Cooper 360° into Anderson Cooper 720° making Anderson Cooper turn around too much. Carter Pewterschmidt says that Peter converted The Biggest Loser to the metric system making it look like the contestants aren't losing enough weight. When Peter claims that he is a Nielsen God, Horace throws a glass bottle at Peter injuring him as the angry mob cheers.

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Wikipedia