The Griffin Family (Peter Griffin | Stewie Griffin | Brian Griffin) | The Neighbors (Glenn Quagmire) | Recurring Characters (Pawtucket Brewery | Adam West High School | Quahog 5 News) | Antagonists
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Quahog 5 News
Tom Tucker
Tom Tucker
Voiced by: Seth MacFarlane
Debut: "Death Has a Shadow"
One of the anchors for the local Quahog TV station. He is an egotistical man obsessed with his mustache. Meg briefly had a crush on him.
- Alliterative Name: Tom Tucker.
- Beyond Redemption: Crosses this many times, both professionally and personally, perhaps as a nod to men who are hired more for their looks than actual journalistic skill.
- Callousness Towards Emergency: His reaction to Neil's attempted suicide in "The Kiss Seen Around the World" is telling his camera man to use cartoony sound effects when Neil jumps.
- Delusions of Local Grandeur: He is incredibly pompous with an over-inflated ego from his job as the anchor on the local nightly news.
- Fantastic Racism: It's revealed in "12 and a Half Angry Men" that Tom Tucker is extremely prejudiced against men who don't have mustaches.
- Freudian Excuse: The reason why he hates people without moustaches was because his father hated them.Tom: What happened to me? I've become my father!
- Good Parents: Surprisingly, he loves his son Jake and is proud of him, in spite of the boy's occasional wayward behavior and his upside-down face.
- Green-Eyed Monster: Towards Peter in "Stewie B. Goode". After getting Peter hired to do a rant segment called "You Know What Really Grinds my Gears" at the news station, he grows jealous of Peter's popularity and eventually tries to goad him into screwing up and losing his job. This gets him fired, because The station has a perfect excuse not to put up with his unprofessional behaviour anymore.
- Jerkass: Tom is not one to be politically correct, nor does he take into account the feelings of anyone, including co-anchors Diane Simmons and most recently, Joyce Kinney. He would often make fun of Diane and he suggested to his boss to have Joyce, a young sexy blonde, replace Diane as co-anchor. He doesn't even sugarcoat his distain towards her to her face. He's also become neglectful towards his son (not caring that there's an evil monkey in his closet).
- Kent Brockman News: When he reports the news, he tends to bicker with his co-hosts and, once, interrupted a show with a drunk news report because, he "was having a crap day and knew all of the station passwords to do it".
- Likes Older Women: He briefly dated Peter's mother. But strangely enough, he pushed to get Diane fired because she was too old. Although that's probably an excuse, since he really doesn't like Diane.
- Manly Facial Hair: Subverted. It's a fake moustache (as revealed in "Stewie B. Goode") that belongs to the studio, and Tucker himself is not a particularly manly individual.
- Narcissist: His house is full of pictures of him, including one of him in a wedding dress.
- Porn Stache: Which is actually the property of the network (he has to give it back when he's fired).
- Real-Person Cameo: Tucker is revealed in the episode "Tom Tucker: The Man and His Dream" to be a fictionalized version of actor-stuntman George P. Wilbur, who appears via stock footage from Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers.
- Sharp-Dressed Man: Almost never seen in any other outfit besides a suit
- Small Name, Big Ego"Do you know who I am? I'm Tom Tucker, dammit! I make more in an hour than you make in two hours!"
- Two First Names: "Tucker" is also a common given name.
Diane Simmons (Seidelman)
Diane Simmons (Seidelman)
Voiced by: Lori Alan
Debut: "Death Has a Shadow"
The other anchor for Quahog News and the host of the trashy talk show Diane. She and Tom frequently argue with one another on air, sometimes resorting to physical violence. Early in the show, she played the role of Anna in Peter Griffin's "production" of The King and I.
- Ambiguously Jewish: Her original surname or maiden name Seidelman is a Jewish surname.
- Ax-Crazy: In the season 9 premiere, Diane orchestrates an elaborate scheme to murder James Woods. When her plans don't play out as expected, she has to adapt to the new circumstances and ends up going on a killing spree to silence anyone who could interfere on her plans. By the end of the episode, she has killed Muriel Goldman, Derek Wilcox, Priscilla and Stephanie in cold blood.
- Big Bad: She is the serial killer who antagonizes the entire cast in the Season 9 premiere.
- Disney Villain Death: She is shot and killed by Stewie, falling off of a cliff to her death.
- Face–Heel Turn: Diane was a largely benign character in the first eight seasons, but, during the ninth season premiere, she is the main antagonist and murders several secondary characters as part of an elaborate scheme to get back at the people who ruined her life.
- He Knows Too Much: Diane didn't originally plan to murder Priscilla and Muriel Goldman, but does so because they had witnessed her killing other people.
- Hidden Villain: Diane turns out to be the mysterious murderer from the season 9 premiere.
- Kent Brockman News: With Tom, where they often bickered and, in one episode (P-TV), engaged in a lewd act before being reminded that the cameras were on.
- The Killer Becomes the Killed: Succesfully framed Tom for her crime and would have killed Lois, who discovered that she was the killer, had Stewie not sniped her off from the tower of the mansion.
- Killed Off for Real: Diane is killed by Stewie in the season 9 premiere. In a message on his Twitter account, Seth MacFarlane confirmed that Diane and the other deceased characters were not coming back.
- Knight of Cerebus: Unlike previous antagonists like Carter and Ernie, Diane's crimes are not comedic in nature, and she is played very seriously in the Season 9 premiere.
- Older Than They Look: When Diane told of her plan to murder her ex-boyfriend and frame Tom Tucker for it to Lois, the latter replies "Oh My God... you're forty?"
- Psychotic Smirk: Diane turns her head, squints her eyes and grins when Lois figures out she's the killer.
- Revenge: The reason why Diane murdered James Wood and framed Tom Tucker is because the former dumped her and the latter planned to have her fired and replaced with a younger, more attractive reporter.
- The Reveal: It turns out that she snapped after Tom Tucker and her lover James Woods turned against her. The former had her replaced with a younger host and the latter left her because she turned forty.
- Walking Spoiler: The reason why Diane stops showing up after season 9 is a massive spoiler.
- Woman Scorned: She was dumped by James Woods, which drove her to come up with a complex murder plot and frame Tom Tucker, who wanted her replaced.
- Woobie, Destroyer of Worlds: Her personal and professional life crashed down around her at once, driving her to commit several murders.
Joyce Kinney (Chevapravatdumrong)
Joyce Kinney (Chevapravatdumrong)
Voiced by: Christine Lakin
Debut: "Excellence in Broadcasting"
A new team member of the Quahog 5 News, replacing Diane Simmons in season 9.
- Accuser of the Brethren: Still holds a grudge against Lois for her prank years ago, and gets back at her by airing her dirty laundry. When the people forgive Lois for this by episode's end, Joyce does not take it well.
- Characterization Marches On: She started as an antagonist, set on making Lois' life miserable as revenge for a cruel prank the latter pulled when they were in high school. Later episodes imply she's overcome her grudge and befriended Lois.
- The Dog Bites Back: She antagonizes Lois during her debut as revenge for a prank the latter pulled 20 years ago.
- Everyone Went to School Together: Revealed to have went to the same high school as Lois after Joyce revealed why she aired her secret of her doing porn.
- Formerly Fat: She used to be chubby in high school.
- He Who Fights Monsters: Lois may have been cruel to her in the past, but Joyce humiliates Lois in public and gives her as good as she got.
- Leaning on the Fourth Wall: Joyce changed her surname from "Chevapravatdumrong" to "Kinney" because "nobody would allow that name on television". One of the long-time writers of the show has the last name of Chevapravatdumrong and it frequently appears in the credits.
- Out of Focus: Since her debut, she hasn't had any major roles, and only appears at least once a season if lucky.
- Rejected Apology: An understandable case in which she rejects Lois' apology after the latter humiliated her in high school. It is mentally unhealthy for Joyce to hold year-long grudges, but when people do unprovoked, hateful things towards you, it's hard to let it go and she doesn't owe it to Lois. Though considering that she was one of the people at Lois' book club in "Follow the Money", it would seem as though she's finally been able to bury the hatchet between them.
- Revenge: Lois wasn't very kind to her in high school embarrassing her in front of the whole student body. She still carried the grudge into her career and used Lois newfound stargaze of her to get any scandalous information and air it on the news.
Ollie Williams
Ollie Williams
Voiced by: Phil LaMarr
Debut: "Mr. Saturday Knight"
Weatherman for the local news station with a loud and quick voice. Go here for his self-demonstrating page.
- No Indoor Voice: Ollie only speaks by shouting brief sentences. Except when he got high off weed, causing him to talk in a normal toned voice.
- Terse Talker: He mostly yells in utterances.Tom: We now go to our Black-U weather forecaster, Ollie Williams. Ollie?Ollie: It's go'n rain!Tom: Thanks, Ollie.
- Token Minority: Was often referred to as the "Black-U weather forecaster".
Tricia Takanawa
Tricia Takanawa
Voiced by: Alex Borstein
Debut: "Da Boom"
The Asian reporter.
- Abusive Parents: It turns out Irene, her mother, has basically treated her like crap since she was a child, and continues to do so.
- Alliterative Name: Tricia Takanawa.
- Butt-Monkey: Heavily implied to be this among the news team: in addition to always being announced by her ethnicity (with escalating levels of mockery for it), Quahog 5 is not above sending her out into potentially dangerous situations and she's even forced to report the news while she's fighting the flu live from her bathroom (including a moment where she vomits mid-sentence). Tom and Diane also kill and eat her in "Da Boom", though the events of that episode are just a dream.
- Celeb Crush: On David Bowie, as revealed in "Stewie Griffin: The Untold Story". Upon seeing him, her stoic demeanor disappears and she fangirls over him, professing her adoration for him and dry-humping his leg.
- Character Catchphrase: "Tom, I am standing here at [name of location that is usually relevant to that episode]..."
- A Day in the Limelight: She is one of the least prominent characters, but gets a major role in "Carter and Tricia", in which she seduces Carter as part of a scheme to get him to confess to his crimes.
- Deadline News: Poor Tricia is often given the most dangerous assignments, which she covers apparently without complaint. For example, in "Seahorse Seashell Party," she is assigned to cover a hurricane and asked to report during the brunt of the storm. During her live report, a car is blown onto her.
- Flat Character: She gets very little characterization and has no real function beyond reporting and the occasional gag.
- Insistent Terminology: She's always referred to as "Asian reporter Tricia Takanawa."
- Ms. Exposition: Talks about locations and events in Boring, but Practical manner.
- No Celebrities Were Harmed: A parody of famous Asian reporter Connie Chung.
- Not So Stoic: She looks at the ground in despair after being berated by her abusive stage mom.
- Punny Name: Her surname, Takanawa, sounds like "talk an hour", which is a pun on her tendency to dish out exposition.
- The Stoic: Reports on events with a total lack of emotion. Even the sight of dozens of black people shedding white people disguises and singing "A Brand New Day" didn't phase her in the least. Subverted in "Stewie Griffin: The Untold Story", where she initially appears as her stoic self, but totally loses it over David Bowie, humping his leg and begging him to make love to her.
- Sex for Services: She isn't above using sex to do her job such as having sex with a random stranger (Quagmire) to get an undercover story about anonymous sex. She later slept with Carter to get a confession that he was going to use toxic materials to make beer cans and said she was going to sleep with the Papa Johns guy to find out if he dyes his eyebrows.
- Token Minority: Including almost always being addressed as "Asian reporter Tricia Takanawa."
- Wicked Stepmother: Becomes this to Peter after marrying Carter (despite technically being his mother-in-law), enforcing strict rules on him as a parody of a stereotypical Asian upbringing.
