Dial Meg for Murder

First announced at the 2009 San Diego Comic-Con, the episode was written by Alex Carter and Andrew Goldberg, and directed by Cyndi Tang-Loveland.

When he starts following and spying on Meg with Stewie for research, they discover that she has fallen in love with a young man in jail named Luke (Chace Crawford), whom she met through a school pen-pal project.

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.

Wanting to start a new life away from home, Meg ambushes Brian in his car and forces him to drive to Mort's Pharmacy at gunpoint, in order to rob him.

[4] Series regulars Peter Shin and James Purdum served as supervising directors, with Andrew Goldberg and Alex Carter working as staff writers for the episode.

[4] "Dial Meg for Murder", along with the eleven other episodes from Family Guy's eighth season, was released on a three-disc DVD set in the United States on December 13, 2011.

The sets include brief audio commentaries by various crew and cast members for several episodes, a collection of deleted scenes and animatics, a special mini-feature which discussed the process behind animating "And Then There Were Fewer", a mini-feature entitled "The Comical Adventures of Family Guy – Brian & Stewie: The Lost Phone Call", and footage of the Family Guy panel at the 2010 San Diego Comic-Con.

In one scene Stewie refers to Meg as "one of those crazy chicks, who hooks up with an even crazier guy," with a photograph of Jenny McCarthy and Jim Carrey then being shown.

[9] The 52nd Grammy Awards and the Pro Bowl aired simultaneously to the Animation Domination block, resulting in lower than usual ratings.

"[11] Ahsan Haque of IGN also praised the episode, saying that "the fact that the writers chose to focus on a coherent storyline that relied mostly on contextual humor always helps," calling the ending "somewhat touching.

Club criticized the storyline much more harshly, however, saying that it "relied too heavily on the show's old fallbacks of politically incorrect humor, and ostensibly funny violence.