Family Guy: Season 8 Episode 1

Women don’t seem to get Family Guy, which isn’t that surprising given the puerile humour, cartoon nudity and random violence that characterise most episodes. But that alone isn’t enough to explain the huge popularity of the show with a male audience either. Its success is down to the hilarity and absurdity of the cleverly crafted gags fired at the audience every few seconds, containing some of the sharpest cultural, political and historical references you’ll see on TV, all played out by a family that make The Simpsons look like The Waltons.

Existing in its own timeless universe where no-one ever ages or learns means that it’s never too late to get on board with Family Guy, with this opening episode of Season 8 (actually Season 7 in the US) as good a place to start as any. The plot of most episodes is fairly incidental, it’s the genius of the observations, the bizarre character interplays and the trademark extended cutaways that keep you laughing to yourself long after the credits have finished rolling.

In this episode, Brian thinks he’s met the girl of his dreams only for her to be stolen away by friend and neighbour Cleveland, leading to a scheme being hatched to break them up and win her back. Hardly original by any standards, but that really doesn’t matter when it’s simply an excuse to string together a series of joyous gags thrown at you at such an incredible pace that it’s virtually impossible to catch every one in a single viewing.

This isn’t the best episode you’ll ever see, but even an average 20 minutes of Family Guy contains more laugh-out-loud moments than most comedies will manage in their entire existence.

If you’re new to the show, the disorientation of coming to terms with a group of characters that include a talking dog and a homicidal baby soon passes and from that point on, it just keeps getting better.



Airs at 10:00pm on Thursday 4th November 2010 on FX.

> Buy the Season 8 DVD boxset on Amazon.

Reviewed by Lee Robson.