Season 11 · Episode 2 · First aired 7 October 2012

Ratings Guy

Episode 2 of Family Guy season 11 (S11E02), the 190th Family Guy episode overall. Written by Dave Ihlenfeld and David Wright and directed by James Purdum. First broadcast on 7 October 2012.

Story

A letter from the Nielsen Company tells the Griffins that their viewing is to be measured. Tom Tucker asks Peter for suggestions and puts them on air, which irritates Joe and Quagmire, so Peter steals a batch of Nielsen boxes to widen his reach. Programme after programme is altered at his direction until a crowd turns on him and Mayor Adam West destroys the boxes by shooting them. Peter then goes to the Television Producers Guild, admits what he has done and instructs the producers gathered there, among them Kelsey Grammer, Jon Hamm, Dick Wolf, Mark Burnett and J. J. Abrams, to make the programmes he wants. Television settles back to normal, but Herbert has mended the boxes and starts making demands of his own.

Production and reception

Dave Ihlenfeld and David Wright, freelance writers who had not worked on the series before, wrote it as their second script together after "Grumpy Old Man". Wikipedia, Ratings Guy
It is the sixth title to play on the name of the series, after "Family Gay", "Family Goy", "Business Guy", "German Guy" and "Amish Guy". Wikipedia, Ratings Guy
Writing staff who follow One Tree Hill wanted the scene in which Peter adds a tree to it cut, and Seth MacFarlane at one point agreed, but the animators liked the gag and argued successfully for keeping it. Wikipedia, Ratings Guy
J. J. Abrams, who watches the series, rang the production staff to ask whether he might help make an episode, and appeared as a version of himself. Wikipedia, Ratings Guy
Sandra Bernhard agreed to appear as herself on condition that the character reflected her own career and life; animators worked from a photograph she sent and gave the drawing a tooth gap, a larger chin and more lines under the eyes. Wikipedia, Ratings Guy

Voices

Voice	Characters
Seth MacFarlane	Peter Griffin, Brian Griffin, Stewie Griffin
Alex Borstein	Lois Griffin
Seth Green	Chris Griffin
Mila Kunis	Meg Griffin
Mike Henry	Bruce the Performance Artist, John Herbert
J.J. Abrams	J.J. Abrams
Sandra Bernhard	Sandra Bernhard
John G. Brennan	Mort Goldman, Horace
Mark Burnett	Mark Burnett
Dan Castellaneta	Homer Simpson

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

J. J. Abrams as himself
Sandra Bernhard as herself, Sandra Bernhard
Mark Burnett as himself, Mark Burnett
Dan Castellaneta as Homer Simpson
Michael Clarke Duncan as guy in cowboy boots
Billy Gardell as Mike Biggs
Jon Hamm as himself, Jon Hamm
Kadeem Hardison as NBA player
Dick Wolf as himself, Dick Wolf
Patrick Warburton as Joe Swanson
Adam West as Mayor Adam West
Mike Henry as Herbert
J.J. Abrams as J.J. Abrams
John Viener as Nielsen Rep

Season 11: episode 2 of 22

Season hub with air dates and credits for all 22 episodes

SourceFacts from Wikipedia: Family Guy season 11 and the episode's article (CC BY-SA 4.0). Spotted an error? See corrections.

Provenance

Facts only

Sources: Wikipedia: Ratings Guy
Wikidata Q6100644
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.