Family Guy Thread (Ladies and Gentleman, Mr Conway Twitty!)

[benji]

The pirate stuff was epic, especially the battle involving the cars.

[ixcuincle]

The cutaways stank and were completely random. Out of nowhere Peter referenced 80's answering machine messages and 40's phone calls. In addition , I wasn't a big fan of the pirate stuff in the beginning.

Perhaps manatees really do write Family Guy episodes...

[el badman]

Way better than last week's, but that's not hard to top...

The cutaways stank and were completely random.

Well, that's pretty much what the pacing and humor of the series is based on. At least, they were a bit better than last week's, but I agree that the ones that are not quite as funny appear especially out of place and random.
And I guess than Stewie's sexual orientation is now more obvious than ever...

[Andrew]

I enjoyed it a lot more than the previous ep. The writers actually did a commendable job of avoiding the smugness that has accompanied a lot of the cutaways and pop culture references this season. The ET/Philadelphia reference wasn't the funniest cutaway they've ever done but it's the type I prefer; randomly mashing together a family movie with a serious, dramatic film and then skewering them both in some absurd manner is a lot funnier than a unfunny stab at a random celebrity.

However, the OJ cutaway ran longer than it should have, had it ended about 20 seconds earlier it would have been better. The frog scene ran a bit too long as well but I still found the animation hilarious. The pirate stuff was entertaining and the story was more than decent. It wasn't brilliant by Family Guy standards but I prefer episodes like that compared to last week's abomination.

[[Q]]

I busted up laughing for a solid 20 seconds on the frog scene and maybe 10 seconds on the OJ one and about 5 on the busy business woman one. classic.


I liked the pirate fight scene although Peter's pirate laugh got old pretty quick.

[Andrew]

They didn't really know when to quit on the OJ cutaway. If they'd ended it with Peter leaving, OJ entering the house and screaming "Oh my God!" or something and immediately ended the cutaway I think it would have been better; just a quick, glancing controversial reference. Having him go on about them being his best friends and having a role in their wedding didn't add anything, the moment had passed.

[[Q]]

yeah i guess if they ended it after the "oh my god!" it would've been better. I guess after that happened, I was laughing more at the scenario than what was actually being said by OJ

[cyanide]

That frog scene was so freaking hilarious. I loved how "too long" it was, as it just pushed the hilarity reminiscent of Peter falling down and hurting his knee or the chicken fight. That crazy randomness I really enjoy, but I'm not fond of the adventure scenes like the pirate fight that took place. I can watch... Indiana Jones for that kind of entertainment.

[buzzy]

The frog scene was the best thing of the episode. I laughed my ass off for like 20 seconds. I love when they do those too long scenes, like when Peter hurt his knee, as cy already said.

I also found the conversation between Peter and the parrot at the beginning hilarious.

[Andrew]

Long, drawn out jokes like the frog scene usually work because of the absurdity or randomness of the gag and in this case, the animation as well. I just don't care for the cutaways that bash a show or celebrity for over a minute because you kind of get the point within the first ten seconds and the overall smugness of the bashing is very off-putting.

[Andrew]

Like The Simpsons, Family Guy is also back for another season beginning September 28th. "Love Blactually" is currently listed as the premiere episode, which the production code confirms is a holdover from last year. There's no synopsis at present but I recall reading one that identified the episode as featuring the return of Loretta Brown and a love triangle developing with her, Cleveland and Brian. I was hoping they'd leave Brian out of those plots as they've gone about as far as I'd like to see them go with it but I'll definitely give it a chance.

[Oznogrd]

*sigh* i just cant watch the newer family guys they take about 9 premises for a show and cram them all into one. A:B story setups are fine. But A-E? just give me 1 storyline and try to make it funny.

[bee-boy]

family guy is hilarious. can't wait for the next season

[el badman]

They too have to redeem themselves for the last season, which had IMO some of the worst episodes they ever made (the one with Brian's newfound redneck son was simply unbearable).

[Andrew]

I too thought last season was very ordinary on the whole. I know I've said it before but my biggest gripe is how smug Seth and co are these days, to the point where they spend more time ripping someone else's material than developing any good material of their own, making their swipes look all the more hypocritical. If nothing else, zingers lose their impact if you keep making fun of the same targets.

The cutaways that drag on too long are another problem but a lot of comedies seem to be running with that these days, the whole idea that if something keeps going and going, it becomes hilarious after it's stopped being funny. It's an overused technique though and it seems that no one knows quite when to stop these days. The frog scene however is a noteworthy exception because the animation was impressive and funny with subtle touches like Peter fumbling the box really added to the humour.

I suppose I'll just have to get used to the smug tone they've adopted but hopefully they at least come up with some more entertaining episode ideas. I do have high hopes for the follow up to Blue Harvest, Something Something Something Dark Side, but apparently that will close the season.

[Andrew]

Love Blactually

I have to say, I was pleasantly surprised by the season premiere. I think they've gone about as far as I'd like with Brian dating human women plots so I was kind of dreading it but it actually turned out alright with perhaps the most well done and coherent Family Guy story in a long time. The cutaways weren't too long and for the most part were pretty funny but best of all, they avoided the smugly bashing someone or something. There were a couple of references like that (the Robin Williams one for example) but they were fleeting and didn't drag out in an embarrassing "Look how cool we are, everyone else sucks" diatribe.

[Fitzy]

i just watched that episode, and i honestly didnt enjoy it that much. It wasnt very funny, but i dont mind a bit more serious story line

[el badman]

I thought it was pretty good, much better that some other "Brian dating humans" episodes as Andrew pointed out. Cleveland being at times his good ol' self, and at times a real prick was pretty hilarious. And any episode can be saved by Quagmire taking his clothes off in a fraction of a second anyway...

[Andrew]

I was amazed they got through the scene with Cleveland and Loretta without feeling the need to lighten the moment. I don't think Family Guy needs to become a deep show with serious plots all the time but it was a nice change and a much better balance of plot, surreal humour and cutaways. I'd like to see them move away from Brian dating human women for a while while retaining the good things they did in this episode.

[benji]

Like the pirate episode, another one that proves Family Guy should limited to ten minutes.

[el badman]

That's how I felt about it too. Just when the first part of the episode was starting to be annoying and overly repetitive, that's when it started to be funny again (when Stewie and Brian are miserable on the couch). But it was all downhill from that point, nothing really unexpected or exciting about the Jesus part (the Leno was really not good), very predictable stuff, and very similar to the episode when Peter helps Joe win the special olympics and Joe starts neglecting and ignoring him.
This one had some brilliant moments, but it ultimately fell short for me.

[ixcuincle]

Don't you know about the bird?

Didn't like the episode too much

[BIG GREEN]

That episode came off like it was written by an annoying 5 year old child. The kinds of crap I'd do to annoy people when I was 5 - 10 years old and bored. The season premier was good though. They are featuring Cleveland alot this season ...I guess to play up his new show

[Andrew]

They sure ran the "Surfin' Bird" schtick into the ground. It was alright at times, the first time was suitably random and I liked Peter manipulating Brian into setting him up to burst into song again and the callback at the end was decent, if not obvious from the moment Jesus asked Peter to hold out his hands. That of course leads us into the rest of the story which had its moments but man, they're really reaching for ideas now.

The shot at Jay Leno was pretty lame, partly because they've taken a shot at him before and lampooning Jay Leno has become a bit passe (though I like Conan's "impression" on Late Night), especially in the very lazy "Let's take a couple of his traits and play them really over the top so everyone knows how stupid and lame we think he is" approach. Instead of making Leno look silly, it just showed how Family Guy often struggles to fill 22 minutes.

Not "The Former Life of Brian" awful but very ordinary to say the least.

[Andrew]

Glancing at the upcoming episodes:

Road to Germany
Mort Goldman accidentally steps into Stewie's time machine and goes back in time, and Brian and Stewie follow to retrieve him. When they discover that they've ended up in 1939 Poland, Stewie and Brian must make a perilous journey to Nazi Germany to save him, as well as find a way back to the present.

I guess it might have some funny moments but they're really scraping the bottom of the barrel with that plot. I'm expecting a fair helping of offensive for the sake of being offensive gags broken up every now and again by a swipe at a show or celebrity (something like "Nazi Germany is no laughing matter. Kinda like Scrubs!").

Baby Not On Board
Peter gets a lasting supply of gasoline for the year, so the family decides to use it to take a road trip to the Grand Canyon. They pack up and hit the road, but it takes them a while to realize that they had forgotten to bring Stewie with them; when they do, they must make their way home posthaste.

Sounds alright. I'm guessing Stewie's part of the plot will heavily reference Home Alone.

The Man with Two Brians
When Brian gets injured during a take of Peter's version of Jackass, the Griffins realize that Brian may be getting too old, so Peter brings home a new dog, prompting Brian to leave. Everyone else, however, loves the "new Brian" until he crosses the line and humps Stewie's favorite toy.

Sounds alright, though I wonder if there'll be anything more to it than that or whether Brian will return abruptly to restore the status quo. Perhaps the third act will involve the Griffins trying to find him and convince him to come home.