I Never Met the Dead Man (The Smiths)

I Never Met the Dead Man is the third episode of the first season of Adult Swim's The Smiths. The episode follows Homer as he teaches Summer how to drive. Due to his horrible advice they crash into a satellite dish, knocking out Quahog's cable. Homer begins to suffer from television withdrawal but finds new life in outdoor activities, driving his family to exhaustion. Meanwhile, Stewie plots to destroy the world's supply of broccoli with a weather control device so Marge cannot force him to eat the vegetable. The episode guest stars William Shatner as himself.

Plot
Annoyed that Homer spends more time watching television than with his own family, Francine suggests he teach Summer something. Homer reluctantly agrees, deciding teach her how to drive, and unwittingly gives Summer a series of bad driving tips, including instructing her to "rev" her engine twice at stop lights and challenge other drivers to a race, which causes her to ultimately fail her driving test. As Homer drives them home from the DMV he notices that a show he wanted to watch is on television in a nearby house. Distracted by the show, he crashes the car into the main cable television transmitter, knocking out reception for the whole entire town of Quahog. Panicking, Homer makes a promise to Summer so that if she takes the blame for knocking down the cable transmitter, she would get a new convertible when she finally gets her licence. Once they arrive home with the transmitter still attached to the car, Francine becomes furious with Homer for placing the blame on his own daughter. Summer, of course, is blamed, and is about to admit the truth, but then decides to keep quiet, reflecting with an inner voice, a reference to The Wonder Years, at school. This shows an incredible lack of good judgment and morals by Homer. Meanwhile, Stewie, (seeing the opportunity of the dish attached to car), steals the satellite dish in a plan to create a weather control device capable of destroying the world's supply of broccoli, since Marge had forced him to eat the vegetable earlier that day.

Suffering withdrawal syndrome from the lack of cable, Homer straps a television-sized cardboard cutout to himself, making it appear as though his whole world is actually a television program. When Summer can no longer deal with the public scorn, she reveals that her father is really responsible for Quahog's loss of television, causing the town to turn against him. In an attempt to save Homer from further scorn and verbal attacks, Francine gives a heartfelt speech to the community about how television has kept them all from enjoying one another. Inspired by the speech, Homer drags the family to one outdoor activity after another, which quickly exhausts them. Once the family can no longer keep up with him, Homer decides to go off with William Shatner, who has appeared on the Smith family doorstep after experiencing a flat tire, to a nearby festival. Meanwhile, Stewie's weather machine creates a huge rainstorm. The storm's lightning strike destroys Stewie's weather machine and blows Stewie off the roof and on the ground. While Morty is practicing driving with Francine, the storm causes them to accidentally hit Shatner and Homer, killing Shatner and hospitalizing Homer. As her father recovers, in a full-body cast, he is forced to watch television, causing him to become addicted once again, much to his family's relief.

During the credits, Stewie tries (and fails) to make believe he is eating his broccoli by pouring it onto Brian's plate.

Cast

 * Dan Castellaneta as Homer Smith, Barney Gumble, Krusty the Clown
 * Wendy Schaal as Francine Smith, Patty Bouvier, Selma Bouvier
 * Spencer Gramer as Summer Smith
 * Justin Roiland as Morty Smith
 * Seth MacFarlane as Stewie Smith, Brian Smith, Glenn Quagmire
 * Mike Henry as Cleveland Brown, Mr. Herbert
 * Hank Azaria as Moe Szyslak, Apu Nahasapeemapetilon
 * William Shatner as Himself
 * Frank Welker as Fred Jones
 * Erik Estrada as Officer Ponch