Review: Family Guy “American Gigg-olo”

Rob Schneider nowhere to be found.

Spoilers Below

This week’s new Family Guy episode “American Gigg-olo” is a really weird one. It’s so hit and miss. I’d even say it’s one of the most hit and miss episodes of Family Guy I’ve seen in a long time. There’s so many random things in it.

First, we have Quagmire being a gigolo. The storyline is really funny in spots. Plus, there’s some really gross out moments in other spots. Which is also a plus. I mean REALLY good gross out moments. Nasty women, weird sex– pimps, other hookers, it’s got it all.

The other storyline is Brian needing insurance, which inspires him to get a job. The Brian storyline is just awful. It’s like every chance they get, the Family Guy writers want to see how douchey and pretentious Brian can become. And believe me, he gets REALLY douchey. It’s not funny, and never really is funny when they do these kinds of stories. I don’t really get why they keep coming back to things like this. However, Stewie’s parts in it are pretty good.

There is a lengthy Peter portion early on in the episode with him being in the Access Hollywood bus interviewing Donald Trump like Billy Bush did. The premise seems funny, but I felt like it was written poorly– lazily. The chance for Peter to have a great reaction at the end of Trump’s awful rant was lost, he just says “oh my” in an anti-climactic kind of way. And he uses the same line later, for some reason- I’m just not sure why.

Another really random thing that’s just inserted is Meg’s concert– not sure why they use that one either. It’s just kind of sad, and not really funny. I notice Family Guy does this– they go for these weird random tragic type gags without any real point- just strange. Random is fine, but I feel like the randomness should be for a laugh, not just a half-chuckle or a “huh”.

The ending of the episode was kind of weak too- just an all around strange vibe on the episode tonight. Even after a week without an episode. Not Family Guy‘s worst, but not its best either. Probably not a rewatcher for me. And many Family Guy episodes are. Every season has duds. Maybe we’ll have a  better one next week.