Family Guy: Episodes 7-9

Quality went up in episodes 7 and 9. #8 must have been written by the ghost of Michael O'Donoghue. Episode 7, Brian The Bachelor, had a lot going for it, mixing plot-lines and avoiding creator Seth McFarlane's personal agendas. The cow kite and dejected angry monkey scenes were good, but not as great as Stewie's taunt of Brian:

"How you uh, how you comin' on that novel you're working on? Huh? Gotta a big, uh, big stack of papers there? Gotta, gotta nice litte story you're working on there? Your big novel you've been working on for 3 years? Huh? Gotta, gotta compelling protagonist? Yeah? Gotta obstacle for him to overcome? Huh? Gotta story brewing there? Working on, working on that for quite some time? Huh? (voice getting higher pitched) Yea, talking about that 3 years ago. Been working on that the whole time? Nice little narrative? Beginning, middle, and end? Some friends become enemies, some enemies become friends? At the end your main character is richer from the experience? Yeah? Yeah? (voice returns to normal) No, no, you deserve some time off."

Episode 9, Breaking Out Is Hard To Do, was a little more hit or miss but it had what might be the best Stewie bit of all time when he drags a doodie-filled diaper behind him into the living room, pleading he can't eat because the diaper can't hold any more. "Who Else But Quagmire?" was also funny. The Blob and Haunted House bits fell flat.

Episode 8, 8 Simple Rules For Buying My Teenage Daughter, was spiteful and didn't know the characters well. Brian's at the bowling alley? Lois gets naked and dry humps 16 year old geek Neil? Written by Patrick Meighan, it's probably the worst episode this season. The Grand Gignol vomit scene was done just to cross it off the list of what the censors used to cut before Family Guy came back by mandate. It's not new. That type of humor was done nicely by Monty Python (Tennis, Anyone?) and then internalized and made into a career by National Lampoon and SNL writer Michael O'Donoghue. I'm not a fan of O'Donoghue. His "genius" seems to have been in setting up scenes of rigid conformity and then destroying it with shock value. As a person he seems to have been a snobbish prick with endless hatreds and affectations. Avoid this book, which the author makes unreadable by making it about his own pretentiousness.