Family Guy Talk

Rawr!I have been seeing a lot of Seth McFarlane's Priceline ads on Hulu lately.  It's funny how, if you watch his shows, you don't necessarily think of his animation style as being distinct.  But the first time I laid eyes on the Priceline ad, I knew it was a Family Guy thing somehow.

I must say, the animated version of William Shatner is looking pretty good!  Shatner still voices the ads, and I don't care what anyone says, William Shatner is cool.

Seth McFarlane and Priceline have become friendly chums lately.  Priceline has taken over sponsorship of "Seth McFarlane's Cavalcade of Cartoon Comedy," which is a series of web-based animated shorts.  (They're okay, I guess.)
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I bet she liked this episode

When I first arrived at the lavish Toronto hotel where Sarah Palin was staying I was greeted by a short Dominican woman who had been hired to occupy me and perform various other tasks for the former governor. I knew all of this, her job description and her ethnicity, because she explicitly told me so. That, too, was part of her job. Apparently Palin was running late because of an impromptu mani-pedi. I didn't much care. If it had been a Motel 6 maybe I'd have been a bit miffed, but this was the Windsor Arms. I sat back in a chair softer than the pads on the Dominican girl's shoulders and waited for my subject to arrive.

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I liked this episode more than I've liked an episode of Family Guy in a very long time.  It combines two of my favorite things: pointing out that psychics and mediums are full of crap, and pointing out that developmentally disabled people are just like everyone else.  Add in a musical number (something we haven't seen in a while) and what's not to like?

Best of all, the cut-aways were kept to a minimum of randomness, which I always appreciate.  And fortunately the most random cut-away was memorably bizarre: Peter's version of "Starlight Express," which entails Peter roller skating around in a circle on stage yelling "Starlight Express!" while wearing a Tron outfit.
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Once again we have the silly Simpsons style construction, where the events in Act 1 randomly kick off the main plot.  This is such a convention of animated shows that it never strikes the audience as odd, even though it really is.  From the perspective of dramatic narrative, you're supposed to start with, you know, the story.  Not a throwaway little pre-story that ends when it nudges the actual story into action, and is never referenced again.

Anyway, where was I?  Oh yes, there's a sale at the DVD store, "because DVDs are outdated, just like white track stars."  (I'm not actually sure what DVDs are being replaced in favor of, although maybe that's a silly question, given that I watched this episode on Hulu.)  Every DVD is only a dollar!  
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Dial Meg for MurderIf "Business Guy" was one of the season's least random episodes, then "Dial Meg for Murder" has to be its most random so far.  The show even opens up with a throwaway gag, a montage of the news show's chopper pilot "Drunk Billy" on his drunk helicopter escapades.  Has Family Guy ever opened an episode with the news casters?  I don't think so.  And having seen "Dial Meg for Murder," I can see why.

"Dial Meg for Murder" also follows the classic Simpsons story arc, where the events of the first act randomly kick off the second and third acts, but are never mentioned again.  In this case, Peter decides to become a rodeo star.  
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Business GuyThis is one of those episodes that surprises me with how funny it is, and suckers me into watching Family Guy all over again.  Unfortunately, episodes of this quality only happen about once a season, and the rest of the time we're treated to an endless supply of cut-away jokes and Meg bashing.

Business Guy features a truly stellar cast, including Hugh Laurie, Nana Visitor, and the two guys from The Big Bang Theory.  I don't know why they pulled out all the stops for an episode buried 3/4ths of the way through the season, but there you have it.  
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The most recent Family Guy episode "Big Man On Hippocampus" (season 8 episode 10 original air date 1/03/10) explores territory that even I never thought it would stoop to: Peter gets hit on the head, and comes down with a nasty case of amnesia.  Really!  

If it's wrong to nitpick the medical inaccuracies of Family Guy, then I don't want to be right.

Peter appears to have lost everything out of his head (I mean, what little was in there in the first place).  At one point, Lois has to tell him what a knife is.  (Thus leading us into a Crocodile Dundee joke which was both inevitable and staler than the half a tube of Saltine crackers sitting in the back of my cupboard right now.  But to give the writers credit, they half pulled that gag out of its nose dive with Peter's musing "I want to see that guy everywhere, and then never again.")
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Brian has always been one of my favorite Family Guy characters. I’m not much of a dog person, but if I had a dog I would probably want him to be a martini-drinking liberal who walks on two legs.

Though he always appears to be this intellectual, forward-thinking dog who scoffs at (or pants after) other mutts, Brian has definitely showed his dark, and perhaps stupid, side on occasion. For example… Read more

it's not bad enough that these people suffered already, but you are making fun of them?!!! You're going way to far seth Mcfarlane. 

Yesterday, while we were out bowling, I saw the most extraordinary thing: Bruce in real life!

If you’ve read my post on Bruce from Family Guy, you know he’s my all-time favorite character. He’s the funny little “token gay guy” on the show who always says, “Hey, y’all” in a drawl that never ceases to make me laugh.

So I saw a guy who looked and acted just like Bruce. He had the same haircut, the same facial hair, the same drawl, and even some of the same mannerisms. The only thing he was missing was the earring—but for all I know, he may have simply left it at home. Read more