Review: Family Guy “‘Family Guy Through the Years”

Three “classic” episodes in one special Family Guy presentation.

Overview:

The Simpsons celebrated their record-breaking 635th episode on Sunday night, and Family Guy seems to have stolen special night right from under their competitor.  Peter opens the episode declaring Family Guy the “longest running show in history” and gives us a look at the show as it has adapted through the generations.

The first short brings us back to 1956 when America was preparing for an inevitable atomic bomb to destroy the world, and television was just becoming popular.  As Elvis is set to make his first TV appearance the Griffin family invest in the new technology.  Unfortunately, to be able to pay for it, Lois does the impossible and gets a job.

A flashback to 1969, the Family Guy intro gets a Partridge Family-style reimagining.  Chris is protesting against his father’s wishes and runs away to attend Woodstock. Peter chases his son to the historic event, but it may be too late as Chris has already been introduced to cannabis and LSD.

In the final short, Quagmire returns to Quahog from a stint in Vietnam.  After hearing his stories, Peter realizes he had made a massive mistake when he sent Chris to enlist in the needless war.  Peter takes the place of his son, and the episode ends with a classic 1970’s musical number.

Our Take:

The rug has been pulled out from under The Simpsons’ noses, and Family Guy pulled off a better milestone episode than their competitors. While The Simpsons failed to give fans anything original for their 635th episode, Family Guy continues to push the boundaries of what primetime animated shows can do.

Watching this three-part episode is a lesson in television history.  From the 1950’s commercial for Post Raisin Bran– which had me in tears- to Griffins’ skipping over the moon landing, this episode covered a lot of important events. The use of settings and styles perfectly encapsulates the timeline this unique episode covers.

Finally, Family Guy seems to have addressed what the deal is with the talking baby.  In the 1969 storyline, they explain that Stewie was given the ability to speak from a wizard.  You have to appreciate how well Family Guy can laugh at itself, especially when they call themselves on the inconsistency of who can understand Stewie talk and when.

While you can appreciate Family Guy’s originality and their slick move of stealing The Simpsons glory, it still seems to be a Band-Aid on the series’ overused formulas.  It doesn’t matter what timeline you put the characters in; if you are reusing old jokes, we can still tell.  There were some great elements to this episode, but it still felt like a familiar old episode.