Review: Family Guy “Tales of Former Sports Glory”

Overview (Spoilers Below):

In the season 19 finale, Peter and his friends share their athletic accomplishments in their early days. Cleveland played baseball, Quagmire was a famous tennis player, and Peter was an Italian boxer in Philadelphia. 

Our Take:

What a way to cap off another season of Family Guy. By showcasing the feats of sports history made by three adult friends. It’s very fitting to see the show celebrate the return of sports after a brief hiatus due to the pandemic. But was this celebration able to end season 19 on a positive note?

The episode resembled a clip show that certain shows used to give animators a break or signal the end of their run. However, instead of using clips from previous episodes, it has flashbacks of Peter and his comrades fighting to make their sports dreams come true. Clip shows are usually lazy fillers to meet the shows’ episode-count limitations, and while that may be the case here, it became more of a comical filler that reveals the characters’ athletic sides.

The plot consists of three flashbacks that depict the characters’ rise to sports fame. The first one has Cleveland attempting to make it into Major League Baseball after growing up working at a tobacco field. The second focuses on Quagmire’s career as a famous tennis player. As for the third and final flashback, it’s Peter’s version of “Rocky”. That’s all you need to know.

The episode had many opportunities to cleverly riff off several cliches from classic sports movies and provide humorous sports-related jokes. It managed to pull some of those moments off very well. Some of them didn’t hit as hard as Peter Balboa’s punches, while the rest of them scored some chuckle-worthy points, including Cleveland’s Cuba baseball team and Peter’s version of the 1970s boxing classic.

Out of those three flashbacks, I believe the Quagmire flashback was the most amusing in my eyes. The comedy in that flashback had some funny visual gags like Quagmire playing for the Queen, which is Freddie Mercury from the band “Queen”, and his brothers getting their hands cut off by opening ball cans. How was that even possible? Plus, Quagmire’s temper on the court humorously satirized John McEnroe’s on-court behavior. Can you imagine having these two play against each other? That would’ve been one heck of a game. Also, it had an unexpected ending to his career when he accidentally destroyed a plane with his tennis ball. Compared to the endings of the other flashbacks, that conclusion to Quagmire’s tennis dream is truly a “what the heck” moment to behold.

Overall, the sports glory episode featured three consistently entertaining flashbacks combining to form a decent conclusion to the show’s 19th season. It also delivered some clever gags and Peter’s made-up boxing story to compensate for its filler plot. With another season in the books, it’s safe to say that this was a journey that had its viewers encounter many ups and downs in its episode quality and weekly schedule. As we wait for its upcoming 20th season, we can hope that the creators and FOX would fix both of these issues to maintain the show’s staying power.