Season 5 · Episode 11 · First aired 18 February 2007

The Tan Aquatic with Steve Zissou

Episode 11 of Family Guy season 5 (S05E11), the 91st Family Guy episode overall. Written by Mark Hentemann and directed by Julius Wu. First broadcast on 18 February 2007.

Story

Peter takes Stewie along to a full day of golf and Stewie comes home with a tan. He takes to it, installs a tanning bed in his room and holds a party for tanned guests only. Brian is meant to wake him after fifteen minutes but sleeps for over six hours, leaving Stewie badly burnt. As the skin peels Brian spots a mole, and Stewie, convinced it is skin cancer, makes Brian help him work through a list of last wishes, among them a visit to the Art Institute of Chicago. Dr Hartman later confirms he is not ill and Stewie gives up tanning. Meanwhile Chris is bullied by Kyle, a rival paper boy. Peter beats Kyle up, then takes to bullying his own family and friends, and Chris stops him as he is about to attack Randy Fulcher.

Production and reception

Nielsen figures put the first broadcast at 8.53 million homes, with a 3.0 rating among viewers aged 18 to 49. Wikipedia, The Tan Aquatic with Steve Zissou
Samm Levine was first cast as Kyle, but the part was recast after Seth MacFarlane decided the beating played better with a younger and less able child. Wikipedia, The Tan Aquatic with Steve Zissou
David Goodman said on the commentary that a storyline involving Herbert is always awkward to pitch to the network. Wikipedia, The Tan Aquatic with Steve Zissou
Ahsan Haque of IGN scored it 7.4 out of 10 and objected to the use of the Muppets and Tony the Tiger as material for gags. Wikipedia, The Tan Aquatic with Steve Zissou
The trip to the Art Institute of Chicago refers to Ferris Bueller's Day Off, and Stewie's party for tanned guests to a scene in Annie Hall. Wikipedia, The Tan Aquatic with Steve Zissou

Voices

Voice	Characters
Seth MacFarlane	Peter Griffin, Brian Griffin, Stewie Griffin
Alex Borstein	Lois Griffin, Fran Drescher, Wisconsin Nymphomaniac
Seth Green	Chris Griffin, Italian Man in Line
Mila Kunis	Meg Griffin
Mike Henry	Cleveland Brown, John Herbert
Mike Barker	Devon
Jeff Bergman	Martin Landau
Chris Cox	Randy Fulcher
Michael Clarke Duncan	Fozzie Bear
Keir Gilchrist	Kyle

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

Credited:
Mike Barker as Devon
Jeff Bergman as Martin Landau
Chris Cox as Randy Fulcher
Michael Clarke Duncan as Fozzie Bear
Keir Gilchrist as Kyle
Beth Littleford as Kyle's Mom
Rachael MacFarlane as Britney Spears
Uncredited:
Alex Breckenridge as Misty Fogbank (deleted scenes)
Patrick Warburton as Joe Swanson
Mike Henry as Herbert
Kevin Michael Richardson as Fozzy

Season 5: episode 11 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: The Tan Aquatic with Steve Zissou
Wikidata Q428080
IMDb
TVmaze
Data refreshed: 6 September 2026
Verification: Checked against Wikidata and IMDb: title, date, numbering and credits agree
This page as: Markdown, JSON-LD, or request it with Accept: text/markdown
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.