Season 5 · Episode 17 · First aired 13 May 2007
It Takes a Village Idiot, and I Married One
Episode 17 of Family Guy season 5 (S05E17), the 97th Family Guy episode overall. Written by Alex Borstein and directed by Zac Moncrief. First broadcast on 13 May 2007.
Story
The Griffins take a holiday at Quagmire's cabin and swim in Lake Quahog, where waste from an oil refinery makes their hair fall out. Mayor West admits that he approved the dumping in return for free oil for his hair, so Lois stands against him at the mayoral election. Her detailed policies bore the voters until Brian advises short answers, after which she wins by dropping loaded words into her replies. In office she raises money for the clean up through scare tactics, then takes six hundred dollars of what is left for a handbag. Peter abuses his position by rerouting the town's electricity. Bob Grossbeard offers her a fur coat in return for resuming the dumping. She accepts, then shuts the pipe and resigns. West declares himself mayor again and shoots those who object.
Production and reception
- The first broadcast reached 7.21 million households and took a 3.5 rating and a 9 per cent share among viewers aged 18 to 49, finishing third in its slot behind Desperate Housewives and Survivor: Fiji. Wikipedia, It Takes a Village Idiot, and I Married One
- Cast member Alex Borstein wrote the script under the pen name a.bo, drawing on a one woman show she had written about women and the presidency, and called it her homage to Hillary Clinton. Wikipedia, It Takes a Village Idiot, and I Married One
- Borstein and Cherry Chevapravatdumrong went on to write a novelisation, which Borstein cast as a companion volume poking fun at the Clinton book It Takes a Village. Wikipedia, It Takes a Village Idiot, and I Married One
- The president of 20th Century Fox, Gary Newman, voiced a man in the audience at a press conference. He had been behind the return of the series after its cancellation and had asked for a line. Wikipedia, It Takes a Village Idiot, and I Married One
- Ahsan Haque of IGN gave it 6.8 out of 10 and called the storyline unoriginal, while Brett Love of TV Squad compared it to the second season episode Running Mates. Wikipedia, It Takes a Village Idiot, and I Married One
Voices
| Voice | Characters |
|---|---|
| Seth MacFarlane | Peter Griffin, Brian Griffin, Stewie Griffin |
| Alex Borstein | Lois Griffin, Loretta Brown, Tricia Takanawa |
| Seth Green | Chris Griffin |
| Mila Kunis | Meg Griffin |
| Mike Henry | Cleveland Brown, John Herbert, Wild Bee |
| Lori Alan | Diane Simmons |
| Jeff Bergman | Cow #2 |
| Alexandra Breckenridge | Rape Victim, Salesgirl |
| John G. Brennan | Mort Goldman |
| Gary Cole | Principal Shepherd |
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
- Jeff Bergman
- Gary Cole
- Jackson Douglas as Jason Voorhees
- Keith Ferguson
- Carrie Fisher as Angela
- Masam Holden
- Don Most as himself
- Gary Newman
- Keith Olbermann as Bob Grossbeard
- Fred Tatasciore as Jim Varney
- Adam West as Mayor West, Mayor Adam West
- Patrick Warburton as Joe Swanson
- Lori Alan as Diane Simmons
Season 5: episode 17 of 18
- E1Stewie Loves Lois
- E2Mother Tucker
- E3Hell Comes to Quahog
- E4Saving Private Brian
- E5Whistle While Your Wife Works
- E6Prick Up Your Ears
- E7Chick Cancer
- E8Barely Legal
- E9Road to Rupert
- E10Peter's Two Dads
- E11The Tan Aquatic with Steve Zissou
- E12Airport '07
- E13Bill & Peter's Bogus Journey
- E14No Meals on Wheels
- E15Boys Do Cry
- E16No Chris Left Behind
- E17It Takes a Village Idiot, and I Married OneYou are here
- E18Meet the Quagmires
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
- Data refreshed
- 6 September 2026
- Verification
- Checked against Wikidata and IMDb: title, date, numbering and credits agree
- 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.