Season 5 · Episode 2 · First aired 17 September 2006

Mother Tucker

Episode 2 of Family Guy season 5 (S05E02), the 82nd Family Guy episode overall. Written by Tom Devanney and directed by James Purdum. First broadcast on 17 September 2006.

Story

Peter's mother Thelma arrives and announces she has left his father Francis. Lois takes her to a singles meeting, where she meets news anchor Tom Tucker and they begin dating. Peter tries to wreck the relationship until Tom convinces him that Thelma deserves happiness, and the two men grow close. Thelma then ends the relationship without warning, and Peter blames himself. He later urges Tom to pay more attention to his son Jake. Meanwhile a radio producer likes Brian's voice and gives him a talk show on WQHG. Stewie disrupts it with prank calls, the producer enjoys them, and Stewie is made co-host. He turns the programme into a crude shock show called Dingo and the Baby. Brian goes along with it once it proves popular, but quits in shame after Gore Vidal, whom he had booked, walks out. Cleveland and Quagmire take over the slot.

Production and reception

Nielsen figures put the first US airing at 9.23 million homes, with a 3.3 rating among adults 18 to 49, slightly ahead of The Simpsons and American Dad!. Wikipedia, Mother Tucker (Family Guy)
Guest voices included Phyllis Diller as Thelma, Gore Vidal as himself, and Tamera Mowry in her third appearance on the series. Wikipedia, Mother Tucker (Family Guy)
A line of Thelma's containing a word Fox usually forbids was broadcast anyway and, according to the DVD commentary, angered the mental health community. Wikipedia, Mother Tucker (Family Guy)
A cut scene would have revealed the origin of Jake Tucker's upside-down face, and the Peanuts reunion gag was moved here from the season four episode "Patriot Games". Wikipedia, Mother Tucker (Family Guy)
Dan Iverson of IGN reviewed it positively and Brett Love of TV Squad less so; both singled out the radio storyline as the strongest part. Wikipedia, Mother Tucker (Family Guy)

Voices

Voice	Characters
Seth MacFarlane	Peter Griffin, Brian Griffin, Stewie Griffin
Alex Borstein	Lois Griffin, Sindy
Seth Green	Chris Griffin
Mila Kunis	Meg Griffin, Meg Griffin
Anne-Michelle Barrett	Wife, Karen
H. Jon Benjamin	Carl
Max Burkholder	Billy
Chris Cox	Charlie Brown
Phyllis Diller	Thelma Griffin
Ralph Garman	Pirate Crew Member

Principal voice credits as recorded by IMDb, which lists up to ten credits per episode, so recurring characters can be missing here. Guest voices below come from Wikipedia and TVmaze.

Guest voices

Jon Benjamin as Carl Graves
Max Burkholder as Child
Phyllis Diller as Thelma Griffin
Phil LaMarr as Ollie Williams
Joe Lomonaco as Weenie
Tamera Mowry
Anne-Michelle Seiler
Tara Strong as Amy Grant and Rachel Keller
Nicole Sullivan
Gore Vidal as himself
Gedde Watanabe
Wally Wingert
Seth MacFarlane as Tom Tucker

Season 5: episode 2 of 18

Season hub with air dates and credits for all 18 episodes

SourceFacts from Wikipedia: Family Guy season 5 and the episode's article (CC BY-SA 4.0). Spotted an error? See corrections.

Provenance

Facts only

Sources: Wikipedia: Mother Tucker (Family Guy)
Wikidata Q31413
IMDb
TVmaze
Data refreshed: 6 September 2026
Verification: Checked against Wikidata and IMDb: title, date, numbering and credits agree
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Licence: Facts are not copyrightable. Source text on Wikipedia is CC BY-SA 4.0; Wikidata is CC0; IMDb data is used for verification under its non-commercial terms.
Note: The story summary and notes were written for this site from the sources listed, by Claude in Claude Code on 2026-09-08, awaiting editorial review. Facts only; no dialogue is reproduced. Voice credits: Information courtesy of IMDb (https://www.imdb.com). Used with permission. Guest cast data from TVmaze (https://www.tvmaze.com), CC BY-SA.