Review: Family Guy “Chris Has Got a Date, Date, Date, Date, Date”

Are jokes about Taylor Swift still funny? Find out here…

Spoilers Below

This week’s new Family Guy episode entitled “Chris Has Got a Date, Date, Date, Date, Date” was a nice change of pace from what I’ve felt has been a series of relatively lame, dud episodes the last few weeks. We’re now partway through the 15th season of Family Guy, and I feel like the show has finally returned to form. The writers really manage to present two solidly funny stories.

Chris is having a difficult time finding a date for his school dance. Stewie feels like Chris should try contacting a celebrity to go to the dance with him, and discovers Chris doesn’t know who Taylor Swift is. Stewie of course, is a huge Taylor fan, and he’s progressed as a character since in the first few seasons, he seemed really out of touch with “what the kids like these days.” Stewie helps Chris make a REALLY funny video to send to Taylor, but Chris makes and sends his own.

Meanwhile, Peter becomes an Uber driver- quite by accident, really. Family Guy lampoons everything hilarious about the recent rise of the Uber/Lyft phenomenon- from how easy it is to become a driver to what cabbies might think of them. Insanely funny stuff.

Tayor Swift claims to like Chris but then puts out a video that suggests otherwise- so the boys go pay her a visit. There are some really funny scenes of what happens at her concert when she tries to debut a new song. The way everything between Taylor and Chris ends up is really unique. I feel like the Family Guy folks dealt with Taylor Swift’s problems in a really interesting way, and it really makes the viewer think about the consequences of fame– how celebrities are pigeonholed into being a one-trick ponies to maintain their brand.

I just wish it had actually been Taylor Swift herself providing the voice to her own character. I feel like the times the writers poked fun of Taylor in this episode were all done in a relatively tasteful fashion, and she could’ve went along with it, like how SNL pokes fun at celebs sometimes. Maybe there were scheduling conflicts. Something else of note is the episode’s ending– done in a strange late-night talk show style.

I felt like this was a really good, solid and overall funny episode of Family Guy tonight. It was reminiscent of the episodes they used to make, even recently. I honestly hope for more Family Guy episodes like this one as this season progresses. I hope there are no more weak gimmicks, like what I considered “Inside Family Guy” to be or anything else like that. Even tonight, with a celebrity-based storyline, they managed to make it work. More like these!

 

SCORE
9/10