Review: Family Guy “80’s Guy”

 

 

Overview (Spoilers Below)

Stewie goes to war with Doug to see who is the more egotistical baby at the day care. At the park, a frisbee makes it’s way on the top of the jungle gym and both Doug and the other children are too afraid to climb to the top to retrieve the stuck toy. Stewie jumps at the chance to prove his superiority and takes on the risky task of saving the frisbee. A couple of days later, Doug challenges Stewie to the big climb up the jungle gym and Stewie wins, but gets stuck at the top while retrieving the frisbee just as a thunderstorm appears to be on it’s way. Stewie gets free and goes after Doug who grabs the frisbee and attempts to take off,but the two agree to settle their differences and win together.

Meanwhile, Chris is exposed to the horror that is 80s romantic comedies and, as such, is failing miserably at wooing a girl. Peter is the cause of this controversy so Lois wants her hubby to knock the eighties act off because you can’t do that shit anymore nineteen seasons. Peter decides  to drop the eighties act and tries out few other decades like the 1910’s and roaring ’20’s, but neither works so he heads to the seventies. Peter gets so depressed that he threatens to jump off a bridge, but the ghost of John Hughes shows up and convinces Peter to live.

Cutaway Gags

Superman, Hanging, Home Depot, Kenny Loggins, Bruce Lee, Movie

Our Take

Family Guy puts together another solid episode this week that both encapsulates the show’s strengths while also building on new ideas that can help the franchise achieve new heights in the future. For the second-time already this season we get an episode with “Doug” voiced by Chris Parnell and I love when he gets together with Stewie as it makes for a very formidable opponent, the likes of which have always served itself well with Stewie with prior iterations like Evil Stewie, Bertram, and Penelope. In fact, most storylines with the babies I enjoy because it allows the producers to be a bit more fantastical and it truly “gets us out of the house” which is always a welcome sight for the show.

Peter’s plot was just as strong, similar to the “self observance” take that South Park did with “Raising the Bar” where the producers, talking through the characters, are acknowledging certain issues that may have been caused by their very own. While South Park was it’s cultural impact on basic cable television, Family Guy is slowly acknowledging the cracks in it’s foundation that was built so long ago by the MacFarlanes, Borsteins, and Wilds of the world, all of whom have long departed the show’s writers’ rooms for greener pastures. The last couple of weeks have seen Family Guy probably going into slightly fresher pastures, no more Quagmire going after women, and fewer references from 80’s pop culture this week. It’s entirely possible the franchise is trying to build a new foundation in which to make the show more successful. Fresh new characters, and new directions for classic characters, are great ways to do that.

What is the effective balance will be the question moving forward. How do you keep old-school fans happy all-the-while attracting new fans? The Simpsons had to wrestle with this for years before they got back on the right track, and like that show, mistakes will be made along the way. Not related, but we did get a few more cutaway gags this week than we have had in week’s prior, which is fine with me, and the Kenny Loggins one was by far the winner. Some jokes didn’t hit all that well tonight, but the pathos of the season is slowly coming into focus, we’ll see where the show goes from here.