Good to have it back! It's almost like it was never gone...except, of course, for the opening bit clubbing it over our heads (which I didn't mind at all).
Plenty of continuity callbacks for those of us who have seen all the old episodes a zillion times from watching the DVDs and [adult swim]/TBS repeats, too, which was a nice bonus. (I will leave the listing of all of them to the truly obsessed)
And now, the people who hated it before and hate it now may now ask me what the hell I see in the show, and I will (probably) ignore them. HOORAY
Sososo funny. Got to say the GI JOE part with the vodka and "knowing is half the battle" was hands down the best part of the show...Lots of Mel Gibson bashing which was good but has beem done better by South Park.
And like CRZ, I thought the opening was funny plus I didnt think there was that many shows that failed since FOX canceled Family Guy...As for American Dad; eh not that funny. Now if they bring Arrested Development back to Sunday's with FG that would be an hour of funniness only matched by South Park/Chappelle's Show.
I'm so glad they brough back Allie, the weather forecaster. Just that quick voice is excellent.
Excellent episode, the opening bit being well delivered. I'm curious, did any catch the title of the book Brian was reading? It was apparently written by Michael Moore.
Good stuff tonight, they really brought the funny. The best part, IMO, was the Gepetto bit. That was one of those things that was just so, so wrong, but so, so funny. And Stewie and Brian as parents was hilarious as well.
I enjoyed most of it, except the prolonged "Bash Mel Gibson" portion. I will admit though that seeing two Catholics drive after Peter like Lethal Weapon through the mall was funny.
Awesome, and I'm so glad it's back. No Quagmire was a bit of a bummer, but Ollie (Black-u-weather guy) Greased Up Deaf Guy and Evil Closet Monkey were just amazingly funny in their returns.
Funniest part for me was Brian's reaction when Chris told him that he didn't have a soul. The comic book thing had me laughing hard, only because I've done the same damn thing with a newspaper on a long car ride. Thank God for rumble strips.
Originally posted by TorchslasherI enjoyed most of it, except the prolonged "Bash Mel Gibson" portion. I will admit though that seeing two Catholics drive after Peter like Lethal Weapon through the mall was funny.
Wasn't that the Blues Brothers chase scene?
Can you touch a rainbow? Can you put the wind in your pocket? No! Such is Neifi!
Originally posted by TorchslasherI enjoyed most of it, except the prolonged "Bash Mel Gibson" portion. I will admit though that seeing two Catholics drive after Peter like Lethal Weapon through the mall was funny.
Wasn't that the Blues Brothers chase scene?
I was only trying to refer to Mel Gibson driving crazy as a general rule in Lethal Weapon. I didn't mean to say that they were specifically referencing LW.
I did also like the "Watch Bird On A Wire this Tuesday on TBS Superstation" bit as well.
Oh, it was very much a Blues Brothers reference, and damn them for not showing the priests sitting upside down in the spinning car for at least a few seconds.
The tease I would have enjoyed more (Wonderfalls shoutout! Keen Eddie shoutout!) if it hadn't been played at last year's Fox Upfront when they announced the show's return. It's an excellent indictment of Fox Entertainment, though, reinforcing the fact that it isn't a crime that they cancel low-rated shows, it's that they cancel them with nothing better to replace them with. It was a long list of programs, but only six or seven should have ever seen the light of day (and taken time and license fees that could have gone to Family Guy.)
The rest of the ep was okay, if nothing spectacular. It didn't seem out of place with the earlier run, at least; there's no dichotomy like you get with present day Simpsons vs seasons four through eight. We just need to wait until MacFarlane has a Big Idea that gives us a memorable episode (hopefully involving Stewie and hilarity ensuing.)
If nothing else it was a big step above American Dad, which is at 44 minutes so far and has done nothing to impress me.
Originally posted by PeterStorkThe rest of the ep was okay, if nothing spectacular. It didn't seem out of place with the earlier run, at least; there's no dichotomy like you get with present day Simpsons vs seasons four through eight. We just need to wait until MacFarlane has a Big Idea that gives us a memorable episode (hopefully involving Stewie and hilarity ensuing.)
If nothing else it was a big step above American Dad, which is at 44 minutes so far and has done nothing to impress me.
I liked it a lot. I thought it was a nice reintroduction and the "HE GONNA GET IT!" line KILLED me.
Not taking away from the episode (it was funny, really) but I figured American Dad was going to give Seth all the outlet he needed for his political stuff. Guess I was wrong.
Great to be back, but I think "Family Guy" is a show you have to watch a couple of times to really appreciate it- I thought tonight's return was okay, but no better than the two "Simpson" episodes before it (okay, maybe better than the second one). And yes, I also cheer the return of Greased Up Deaf Guy, Ollie and Creepy Old Guy.
As for "American Dad," I was so proud of myself for actualy GETTING the, "Gotta go- my boss is being a 'see you next tuesday'" line.
OK, see, ya gotta understand something: I'm *really* drunk right now (as I was with WM21), so my opinions may be *slightly* biased.
It's been "Family Guy Mania" for me for the past month. This past week alone saw several things: a) the release of the "Family Guy Live in Vegas" album, b) the release of the "Stewie's Guide to World Domination" book, and c) the "Family Guy Live" show at Town Hall, right here in New York City!
The first thought here is that the Fox/Family Guy merchandising machine is in full force. I understand that with Family Guy coming back, that Fox would be pulling out all the stops to make every red cent they could off this. For the most part, I didn't mind spending money on these things, except for a gripe with the Vegas album.
a) the "Family Guy Live in Vegas" album: let me say this...Seth MacFarlane is *the* most talented entertainer in the world. Please, folks, listen to this album - it is FANTASTIC, especially the "TV Medley," performed by Stewie & Brian (both voiced by MacFarlane, for the uninitiated). My beef with the album is this: even though the music and singing are beautiful, some of the jokes are juvenile. I counted at least five or six fart jokes on the album, wheareas I counted a maximum of 3 fart jokes in 50 episodes of the TV series. Also, there is a LOT of gratuitous cursing...kinda gives you the idea that the demos of the fanbase skew very young. And...I, personally, would much rather hear Joyce DeWitt made fun of (which hooked me on the show in the first place), as opposed to Justin Timberlake.
b) "Stewie's Guide to World Domination"...Not much I can say about this, since I haven't really read it. I did get this signed by Mr. MacFarlane, though. I'll read it later.
c) "Family Guy Live"...OH...MY...GOD...what a fuckin awesome show. *Everybody* was there. Seth MacFarlane was sitting about 10 feet away from my 3rd row seat. I did a scan of the audience before the show...it was about 50/50 college kids/thirtysomethings, which I kinda figured after listening to the Vegas album. The entire cast did a reading of the "To Live And Die In Dixie" episode - which is apparently the most popular episode of all time...wouldn't be my pick, personally, but to hear MacFarlane sing Stewie's "My Fat Baby Loves To Eat" song, in person, is absolutely fabulous. The script reading was followed by a live performance by MacFarlane and Alex Borstein of one of the "Live in Vegas" tracks, then by a screening of the first act of the season premiere, then by a Q&A with the audience. It took about an hour to do a script reading of "To Live And Die In Dixie," mostly because of audience heckling. Every guy in the place wanted to tell Mila Kunis that he loved her - up until the point that Alex Borstein got fed up with it and exclaimed "Hey! Fuck all of you - She's not the only woman here!" By the way, everybody was drunk - Seth Green brought out a bottle of wine, while writer Steve Callaghan brought out two bottles of Miller Lite. Oh, and that Mike Henry is the most popular voice actor ever (he voices Herbert, the pedophile - who is the most popular character ever). And, the people LOVE the evil monkey, so expect to see him a lot.
Oh, yeah - the premiere of Family Guy tonight (last night) - I'll be honest with you...I laughed non-stop for the entire episode (I might attribute that to my bias), even though I may not have known what I was laughing at...BUT, the cold open was AWESOME, and the appearance of all of the minor characters (including Herbert & the greased-up deaf guy & the evil monkey & Ollie, to name four) were also awesome. The plot, however, was stupid, but whatever. I'm sorry I can't make more intelligent judgments about the ep than that - I'll watch it again about 5 more times tonight, and maybe 5 more times tomorrow, before "24." I'm just so overjoyed about the return of the show.
Originally posted by PeterStorkIt's an excellent indictment of Fox Entertainment, though, reinforcing the fact that it isn't a crime that they cancel low-rated shows, it's that they cancel them with nothing better to replace them with. It was a long list of programs, but only six or seven should have ever seen the light of day
"Dark Angel", "FreakyLinks", "Andy Richter Controls the Universe" ... That's all I got.
Oh, and a great return to network TV for "Family Guy" ... There were even two back-to-back funny episodes of "The Simpsons"; a good night for animation comedy all around!
For those that dont know, the Tiger Mask character was based on a Japanese cartoon, so Misawa stepping out of that and becoming the best wrestler in his country would be kind of like Chris Benoit doing a Darkwing Duck gimmick and then becoming the Chris Benoit we all mark over. - AWC
I watched it and thought it was pretty funny. I had only seen snippets of any previous episodes, despite how everyone here has been touting its awesomeness. Obviously, I was missing some of the "in-jokes," but I probably will watch again. I was amazed the Gepetto scene made it through censors. I also enjoyed the "North by Northwest" and "Blues Brothers" scenes. So, yeah, I will probably watch it again.
It had a few good lines and moments, but really didn't do anything for me. The whole episode seemed to try to beat me over the head with, "We were gone, but now we're back!" which didn't really work for me because they were only gone from FOX and I'd rather watch Family Guy on [adult swim] than on FOX.
After watching the below average Family Guy, American Dad at least got a few chuckles from me this time. Still not a very good show, but if I decide to catch Family Guy again next week I'll probably watch American Dad as well.
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