Though this publicity stunt worked well and tricked many fans into vocalizing their support for a character in a show well past its prime, it feels like an indolent con-job.Īs Family Guy’s run continued, three-part episodes became increasingly common. Family Guy takes roughly a year to produce, so regardless of the success of “Life of Brian,” they were always going to bring him back. It wasn’t even a month later that the show brought back Brian. Primetime TV shows often resorted to killing main characters when they needed a publicity boost, but here it’s such a blatant cash-grab. What makes this episode so egregious is how cynical it is. An episode about death can be funny in the South Park episodes "Stanleys' Cup" and "Kenny Dies," the show examines depressing subject matters while also being hilarious. The death of Brian shouldn’t have been why fans were furious, though their anger should have been directed at the episode’s lack of funny jokes. The death of Brian was so controversial that over 127,000 fans petitioned for Family Guy to bring Brian back. In "Life of Brian,” Brian dies when he’s hit by a car. What could be an intriguing experiment is an exercise in frustration and dourness.īefore Season 12, Fox announced that a major character would die in an upcoming episode. “Forget-Me-Not” contains the characters pondering questions aloud to which there’s no answer besides “it was all in their heads.” The influence of The Twilight Zoneand Star Trek: The Next Generation is evident, but Family Guy cheapens out and doesn’t resolve anything. “Forget-Me-Not” is a high concept episode in Season 10, when Family Guy was trying to freshen up their formula, which had long since become stale. To add insult to injury, they find they are the only people left on earth, leaving them to figure out who they are. Family Guy has used this gimmick several times throughout its run, most famously in the episode “Lois Kills Stewie,” but it’s never been so insulting as in “Forget Me Not.” While driving, Peter, Joe ( Patrick Warburton), Quagmire (MacFarlane), and Brian get into an accident, resulting in all of them forgetting who they are. When students take a screenwriting class, the first thing they’ll be taught is to never end a story with “it was all just a dream.” This trope is almost exclusively used when bad writers can’t come up with a satisfying conclusion to their story. Almost every joke is telegraphed a mile away, and there is no point where the show deviates into something fresh or original. Ricky Gervais was making the same observations in his stand-up shows back in 2003, while Monty Python was making far more subversive jokes at the expense of Christianity 50 years ago in their film, Life of Brian. Imitating The Simpsons isn’t the only sin here, “Holly Bibble” is home to some of the most dated jokes about the bible possible. RELATED: 7 Great TV Shows With More Than 10 Seasons The first segment contains Peter and Lois ( Alex Borstein) as Adam and Eve, a replica of The Simpsons episode where Homer and Marge acted the parts. Since its conception, Family Guy has repeatedly been accused of blatantly copying The Simpsons, yet never has it been so apparent in the Season 18 episode “Holly Bibble.” “Holly Bibble” is just a rehash of the season 10 The Simpsons episode “Bible Stories.” Much like “Bible Stories,” “Holly Bibble” features three bible stories, but with the Family Guy cast slotted in as the biblical characters. The only positive is a fun Danny Trejo cameo, but it’s so inconsequential that it can’t save the episode. The B story shows a subplot involving Peter, which simultaneously rips off plots from previous Simpsons and Futurama episodes. The A-story starring Stewie and Brian (MacFarlane) demonstrates Family Guy trying to be touching and dramatic while failing miserably. Though barely over 20 minutes, it feels an hour in length. RELATED: ‘Family Guy’ Unveils Short to Promote COVID-19 Vaccine AwarenessĮven though it's not an offensively lousy episode, what makes “Dog Bites Bear” so unwatchable is how boring it is. “Dog Bites Bear” contains a regurgitated storyline we’ve seen many times before in “Road to Rupert” and “Total Recall” and would continue to see in “Island Adventure” and “Lawyer Guy.” Look no further than how many episodes consist of Stewie (MacFarlane) fighting another version of himself or how frequently Peter gets into a fistfight with the celebrity guest-star of the week. If you’re familiar with late-stage Family Guy, you’re aware of how frequently they recycle the same basic storylines with a few minor changes.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |