Daniel Irvin "Dan" Rather, Jr. (born October 31, 1931) is an American journalist who is the former news anchor for the CBS Evening News, where he was succeeded by Katie Couric. He is now managing editor and anchor of a television news magazine, Dan Rather Reports, on the cable channel HDNet. Rather was anchor of the CBS Evening News for 24 years, from March 9, 1981, to March 9, 2005. He also contributed to CBS' 60 Minutes. Rather became embroiled in controversy about a disputed news report involving the 2004 U.S. Presidential Election and subsequently left CBS Evening News in 2005 and left the network altogether after 43 years in 2006.
In "Brian in Love", after Peter Griffin says that crazy people have had normal, successful lives, a picture of Rather appears on-screen.
In "Lethal Weapons", Peter, trying to scare of the leafers from New York, says that he had eaten Rather. Peter then throws a picture of him taped to a broom on the ground.
In "The Kiss Seen Around the World", Rather is mentioned during the struggle between the Mass Media Murderer and Hugh Downs.
In "Petarded", he whistles when he says "s" sounds doing a news report on the CBS Evening News. He comically uses alliteration to describe a situation between Saudi Arabia and Iraq. Then he starts whistling loudly, while steam starts to come out of his ears, as if he were a tea kettle. A repairman comes over and moves him to another chair and he finishes by saying who he is.