The Griffins become a Nielsen family (a family chosen to have their TV watching habits monitored), which Peter sees as an opportunity to make TV more entertaining (for him, not anyone else).
Examples:
- Artifact Title: Peter turning One Tree Hill into this by adding a second tree causes Mayor West to shoot up the house.
- Bowdlerization: The following scenes were cut/altered between the TV version and the DVD version:
- Lois screaming "What the fuck was that?!" after the fire kills a fireman and then itself had "fuck" bleeped out on TV.
- Stewie's line to Brian after Brian suggests the family watches PBS: On TV, Stewie's line goes, "You donated once five years ago and they sent you a mug. And now the mug's so old that the 'P' has been worn off so it just says 'BS'. It's libtards like you that are screwing up our country." On DVD, the last part was changed to "...which is so fucking apt."
- Peter calling Jon Hamm from Mad Men: On TV, Peter's line is, "Did I catch you at a good time or are you and the critics busy sucking each other's butts?" On DVD, the line is, "Did I catch you at a good time or are you and the critics busy yanking each other off right now?"
- When the townspeople complain about how bad TV has become thanks to Peter, the DVD has an extra scene where Bonnie complains that The Lifetime Channel is now all rape, when before there was stuff leading up to the rape.
- The DVD has another extra scene where Bruce (who works as a barber) shaves a penis in the back of Peter's head as revenge for ruining television.
- Comical Overreacting: Everyone in Quahog does this when they get angry over the fact that their favorite TV shows got ruined by Peter.
- Disproportionate Retribution: While everybody is angry at Peter for ruining television, Adam West shoots up all the Nielsen boxes because another tree was added to One Tree Hill.
- Doorstop Baby: At least according to a cutaway gag, Meg was one of these.
- Felony Misdemeanor: Everyone treats having their favorite TV show ridiculously being changed as an unforgivable crime.
- A God Am I: Peter declares himself to be a "Nielsen God" before the mob starts throwing stuff at him.
- Hated by All: Peter earns the ire of everyone in Quahog when he makes the shows more ridiculous.
- Here We Go Again!: After Peter fixes every television show and is forgiven by everyone in Quahog, Herbert comes across the Griffins' Neilsen boxes that Mayor West destroyed and starts using them after they're fixed up. Once Herbert starts watching The Suite Life of Zack & Cody on Disney Channel, he then calls the channel and asks if they can have Zack and Cody in their underwear for the sake of being funnier.
- Idea Bulb: After the Neilson boxes get destroyed by Mayor West, one pops up as Peter comes up with the idea to save television by going to the networks directly, only to get shards of bulb in his face and forget it as he gets up to execute it and completely forgetting said idea in the process. The moment he gets it again, another bulb pops up just in time to get smashed into his face.
- It's Been Done: At one point, Homer Simpson shows up and confesses to breaking television with his Nielsen ratings, and needs help to fix it. Peter then remarks that, for once, his show beat Homer's show to a plot.
- Murder-Suicide: Committed by a sentient fire of all things, which shoots the fireman trying to put it out, then itself. Even Lois is unable to comprehend any of it.
- Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: When Peter influences the shows, they end up becoming utterly ludicrous to other viewers.
- Pandering to the Base: In-Universe, the networks are too concerned with Peter's influence over the Neilsen ratings and blindly implement all of his bad ideas without any consideration. This is ultimately lampshaded by Brian after Quahog turns on Peter because his changes ultimately ruin television, with him telling Peter that the networks - as the ones who actually control the shows Peter influenced - are the ones truly at fault for the state of television, because they were too concerned with appealing to a vocal minority instead of making quality television.
- Parental Abandonment: The very first cutaway features Peter and Lois abandoning an infant Meg at a fire station.note
- Shout-Out:
- The garbage can being thrown against the Griffin's window is said to be a reference to the famous scene in the Spike Lee film Do the Right Thing where a trash can is hurled at Sal's Pizzeria during a race riot.
- Quagmire calls TV "a vast wasteland" and mentions he read it in a book. The original quote comes from the so-called "Wasteland Speech" by Newton N. Minow, a former chairman of the FCC.
- Skewed Priorities: Of all the heinous acts Peter has committed upon the residents of Quahog, ruining TV is treated as the one truly unforgivable crime against them. His friends disown him, Horace bans him from the Clam and assaults him, with Dr Hartman refusing to treat the wounds, while Mayor West even instigates a Heel–Face Door-Slam by destroying all his Nielsen boxes when Peter tries to use them to fix TV. Peter is forgiven in the end, but only after he takes the more manual approach to mending the network.
- Take That!:
- The episode can be seen as one to the Nielsen ratings system and networks putting too much stock in their figures, which doesn't consider actual viewership but only the viewing habits of the fraction of the population that have a superfluous box installed in their home.
- Peter orders Dick Wolf to "make the same Law & Order six times."
- World of Jerkass: Everyone in Quahog except the Griffins and Herbert over the fact that their favorite TV shows were ruined by Peter.
- You Monster!: Quagmire calls Peter this after he makes every show ridiculous.
