Family Guy

A Hero Sits Next Door

Season 1, Episode 5, Aired 5/2/99

Episode Summary

When the Griffin Family gets new neighbors that move in next door, Lois quickly becomes friends with Bonnie, Meg soon becomes attracted to their son, Kevin, and Peter becomes annoyed by the entire situation. After Peter injures the best player on his company's baseball team, Mr. Weed forces him to find a replacement, so Peter quickly changes his mind about his neighbors and invites Joe to play. When Joe shows up at the game, Peter learns that he is in a wheelchair. Joe ends up being the star of the game, which makes Peter jealous, as he wants to be a hero too. Peter ends up trying to stop a bank robbery to prove his value, but ends up getting caught up in the whole situation.moreless

8.3

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Cast & Crew

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Seth Green

Chris (and various)
Alex Borstein

Lois (and various)
Lacey Chabert

Meg (season 1) [uncredited]

Fan Episode Reviews (28)

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Superb episode

9.0

"Superb"

By fsaenz0125, Jan 01, 2012 Report Abuse

I thought this episode was superb. The plot to it was very interesting and I liked the introduction of Joe, Bonnie, and Kevin. My only problem was the way Peter acted to Joe when he first saw that he is handicapped. There is nothing else to say about this episode, so I'll put what the episode is about. When the Griffin Family gets new neighbors that move in next door, Lois quickly becomes friends with Bonnie, Meg soon becomes attracted to their son, Kevin, and Peter becomes annoyed by the entire situation. After Peter injures the best player on his company's baseball team, Mr. Weed forces him to find a replacement, so Peter quickly changes his mind about his neighbors and invites Joe to play. When Joe shows up at the game, Peter learns that he is in a wheelchair. Joe ends up being the star of the game, which makes Peter jealous, as he wants to be a hero too. Peter ends up trying to stop a bank robbery to prove his value, but ends up getting caught up in the whole situation. Some funny moments include the very beginning, the Wheel of Fortune part, "the holy crap, he's a cripple" line, Joe's flashback of how he got handicapped, and a few more. Overall, this episode was superb. 9/10moreless

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A Hero Sits Next Door

10

"Perfect"

By futuramarama, Dec 17, 2011 Report Abuse

What I liked- Joe's story about why he is crippled, "Holy crip he's a crapple!", the ending with Peter not caring about that lady's purse being stolen, Peter trying to save the people in the bank, Peter being jealous that his family seemingly likes Joe a lot, amongst other things.

Great episode and a really good introduction to Joe Swanson. A+

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The introduction of Joe Swanson and his wife Bonnie Swanson

9.0

"Superb"

By tigerdude22, Dec 16, 2011 Report Abuse

When the Griffin Family gets new neighbors that move in next door, Lois quickly becomes friends with Bonnie, Meg soon becomes attracted to their son, Kevin, and Peter becomes annoyed by the entire situation. After Peter injures the best player on his company's baseball team, Mr. Weed forces him to find a replacement, so Peter quickly changes his mind about his neighbors and invites Joe to play. When Joe shows up at the game, Peter learns that he is in a wheelchair. Joe ends up being the star of the game, which makes Peter jealous, as he wants to be a hero too. Peter ends up trying to stop a bank robbery to prove his value, but ends up getting caught up in the whole situation. I thought that this was a superb episode of "Family Guy". Not the episode from Season 1 and it could have been a little better but it was still enjoyable to watch. The introduction of Joe Swanson and his wife Bonnie Swanson begins in this episode "A Hero Sits Next Door". It was a nice introduction but I didn't like Peter's first impression of Joe by being jealous and making judgemental and offensive comments about crippled people plus a couple of parts were a little boring so that lowered my score. Stewie thinking that Joe is a cyborg because of his wheelchair was hilarious. Joe telling his story on how he became crippled was very good and his story about him trying to stop the Grinch was hilarious. The bank robbery dude saying "Look, she was very brave on her first robbery... everyone give her applause" (or something like that) was funny. The very ending of the episode was funny as well. It was also nice that the family told Peter that he was their real hero. Overall, not the best episode of Season 1 but it was still a superb episode of "Family Guy". 9/10moreless

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Not as good as the other ones, but still another great episode.

8.5

"Great"

By jmbsonic555, Sep 30, 2011 Report Abuse

When the Griffin Family gets new neighbors that move in next door, Lois quickly becomes friends with Bonnie, Meg soon becomes attracted to their son, Kevin, and Peter becomes annoyed by the entire situation. After Peter injures the best player on his company's baseball team, Mr. Weed forces him to find a replacement, so Peter quickly changes his mind about his neighbors and invites Joe to play. When Joe shows up at the game, Peter learns that he is in a wheelchair. Joe ends up being the star of the game, which makes Peter jealous, as he wants to be a hero too. Peter ends up trying to stop a bank robbery to prove his value, but ends up getting caught up in the whole situation.

What I like- Stewie thinking Joe was cyborg, the glasses, the cutaway with Peter singing in church, the roleplaying.

Overall, an okay episode.

8.5/10moreless

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this was a good ep

9.0

"Superb"

By cube2k8, May 24, 2010 Report Abuse

in this ep of the show family guy peters company is having a baseball team and so when the griffens get new neibors peter does not like the situation but when he has to come and pick the replacement he goes and asks joe to come and when joe shows up in a wheelchair he becomes the star player becasuse he is good .and peter gets jelious and he wants to become like a hero so he goes and trys to stop the bankrobers he gets caught in the middle of it and it was a good ep i thougt and it had some funny moments.moreless

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Trivia, Notes, Quotes and Allusions

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Trivia
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- In the scene where Peter's family is seen waving at him in the bleachers, Brian is seen with little white circles on the bottom of his feet. Edit
- The sign outside of the orphanage reads: Lucky's Orphanage No One Knows You're Here Edit
- After Peter jumps into the pool, his hair is wet. When he is sitting in the chair on the porch, his hair is dry. When he is talking to Joe and Mr. Weed it is wet again. Edit
Notes
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- The TV airings of this episode cuts a scene where a policeman shoots the head off of a JFK Pez dispenser while trying to shoot at the robber. Edit
- This is the first episode in the series where the title does not make a reference to old radio mysteries that have some variation of "death" or "murder" in the title. Edit
Quotes
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- Peter: Where am I gonna find a ringer as strong as Guillermo? One time, I walked into the locker room; I swear he was bench-pressing Mr. Weed. Edit
- Meg: Mom, what do you do when you like a boy, but he doesn't even notice you? Chris: Meg loves Kevin! Meg: Shut up, you big sack of dog vomit! Edit
- Old Woman: Help! Someone just stole my purse! Peter: Who cares, I don't even know you. Edit
Allusions
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- When Peter visits Joe's house and after he asks him to play in the ball game, His head transforms into Mickey Mouse the cartoon character created by Walt Disney, as he says "Ho ho, see you at the game Joe, ho ho." using the same voice as Mickey. Edit
- When Peter, Brian, and Chris are shown watching tv in the living room, The game show they are watching resembles Wheel of Fortune, a tv game show where 3 contestants spin a wheel to solve a puzzle and win prizes. Edit
- Peter: Sheesh, first he takes my friends then he takes my job, and the way I wear my hat... no no, he can't take that away from me. The last part of Peter's sentence "the way I wear my hat... no no, he can't take that away from me," is a reference to the musical Crazy for You. The musical has a song called "They Can't Take That Away From Me" where the two protagonists mull over the memories they have of each other. One of the lines in that song is "The way you wear your hat, The way you sip your tea, The mem'ry of all that -- No, no! They can't take that away from me!" Edit