'Family Guy': Bathroom humor

With three shows all spawned from Seth MacFarlane playing on the same night, you know you’re going to get some similarities: art style, sense of humor, use of the bathroom. I’m not talking about potty humor. I mean literally all three shows had pivotal scenes in the bathroom this week. Almost makes you wonder if it was a conscious choice.

Cleveland spends the night trying to find a friend for his son. After several failed attempts with a tree-licker, a basketball forfeiter, and a lonely guy at a bus stop that misunderstands what he means by playing with Cleveland Jr., Cleveland manages to pair the poor boy up with Ernie, the son of their redneck neighbor Lester. Though no good deed goes unpunished, and Cleveland’s offer for Ernie to come over whenever he wants quickly changes into Ernie coming to live with the Browns along with all his dohickies, watchmathings and his pet opossum (not possum, that’s the Australian version, apparently).

That leads to the first big bathroom scene of the evening, as Cleveland tries to join his new wife in the shower and instead ends up in an all-out brawl with the marsupial (not a rodent, carries it’s babies in a pouch). The scared animal latches onto a… well, an unfortunate location on Cleveland’s body, and he flails around the room trying to punch, pound and burn it off. It’s the final straw before Cleveland calls child services on Ernie and ends up getting him placed in a foster home. I wouldn’t recommend anyone making critical decisions while having a flaming opossum hanging from your genitals. Always count to 10 first.

“Family Guy” starts out with its bathroom scenes. Peter and Lois battle it out to use the loo first thing in the morning, and seeing as Lois made reservations, Peter is stuck running around the block looking for a bathroom to use. Luckily, Cleveland’s old house is still unlocked and becomes Peter’s own personal bathroom until Dan Aykroyd and Chevy Chase move in to make the place their spy headquarters. Apparently Ronald Reagan’s favorite movie was “Spies Like Us,” so he decided to make Dan and Chevy real secret agents.

While Brain and Stewie joined Aykroyd and Chase in rehashing the plot of John Landis' 1985 classic, Peter, Joe and Quagmire decided to prove themselves funnier than the two "SNL" alums in the way people have set out to prove themselves funnier than comedy professionals for centuries: they started an improv group. As a man who’s been in nearly a dozen improv groups in his time, I can say that the end results had me laughing, sad and going bananas.

“American Dad” had a more subdued bathroom scene. Apparently Steve chooses to leave the door open when he uses the facilities. That’s kind of weird, but it did give Stan the coolest entrance, hanging in a robe and pushing the door closed. The location also allowed for Stan to use the trusty porcelain lie detector to find out Steve had played with the drone aircraft controls Stan had in his office. Probably the most bang for your buck in any of the bathroom scenes, but I’ll let you decide which one was your favorite.

All in all, I’d say this week’s episodes were a bit of a lull against what we’ve gotten so far this season. That’s not to say there weren’t a lot of good laughs. A few of the highlights were a lonely trapeze artist with Alzheimer’s, the redneck getting his clothes shot off and then an unexpected bullet through the throat, hunters chasing Chris and his exchange family, the Spy vs. Spy guys making amends, and Barry seeing the drone aircraft and screaming, “We’re gonna get off the island!” But my favorite moment of the night had to be Stewie after the fight sequence with Adam West, unable to set up his own cut away.

Through line – Even though he’s moved from Rhode Island to Virginia, Cleveland still cannot take a bath in peace. He’s been disrupted by a tank, a giraffe, and a hot-air balloon. Tonight the fuselage from the Russian missile Stewie, Brian, Aykroyd and Chase diverted fell all the way into the 8:30 time slot to hit Cleveland’s new house right when he was trying to get clean. Surprised he hasn’t switched to showers.

Plus, the ball in the cup game made its appearance in “American Dad” now. High-stakes version. I’m willing to bet we won’t make it through the first season of “The Cleveland Show” without it popping up there too.

Obscurest reference – I’m tempted to give this to all the references Stewie made of Chevy Chase and Dan Aykroyd movies, but that would involve me admitting that I didn’t recognize any of them. If anyone wants to tell me where they’re from, leave me a comment. Instead I’m going with Meg revealed as another KGB sleeper agent. It gave Mila Kunis, who does the voice of Meg, the chance to speak in her native language. Her family moved from the Ukraine to L.A. when she was 7. Fun little bit of trivia for you there.

Most possibly offensive moment – Wow. After last week’s offense-o-rama episode “Family Goy,” tonight seemed completely tame. The closest moments we had were Ernie referring to “Me casa es su casa” as “janitor language,” Joe’s second toilet “for blood,” and the true story behind Mike Brady’s first marriage. Come on, boys and girls, you can offend me better than that.

-- Andrew Hanson

Photos credit: Fox Television

Comments

[Dave]

Family Guy "art" style... yeah, that's generous. His character designs are ugly and his colors are all over the place.

[grossecaisse]

The three shows you referenced are pure garbage.

[elf]

For Andrew Hanson:

Please don't let the negative comments dissuade you from doing future reviews like this. There are many people who appreciate your efforts here, even if they don't add anything to the converstion. I'm sure there are trackers to let you know how many hits a page receives that will determine whether the pages are being viewed at all. So don't let the attitude of the above posters may anyone at the Times reconsider recapping the MacFarlane shows or anytihng else this column deems worthy of coverage.

The biggest problem with the Internet is that it gives a voice to people who either A) have nothing useful to say or B) may have something constructive to add but would rather just dismiss something at "pure garbage." I'll never understand Internet posters who bluntly proclaim their dislike for something as if they their opinion is the only one that matters. If I see a show I don't like, my course of action is to not watch it, not to go around offering unsolicited inarticulate and unsupported opinions.

Thanks again Andrew and the Times.

[damien]

three cheers for elf!

[Alan]

i second what the person above says, i personally love all three shows and appreciate the article you are writing here. Thank you

[Steve]

Great review! Haven't even seen this week's shows and I'm already lookin' forward to seeing Cleveland get hit with the missile, a la "Lethal Weapon"!

[6goblin66]

Don't you guys understand....? These shows are not meant to offend people! It's pure, and actually very humorous, entertainment. If you don't like the shows, DON'T WATCH THEM! People like you say Seth and his shows are what's wrong with America....I think it's those of you that have no sense of humor and nothing better to do with your time than to criticize other people, T.V. shows, movies, etc. that make alot of the problems today!

[Jason]

Dave and Grossecaise are missing out. Family Guy is the best show on TV right now.

[Richard]

You spelled "Brian" as "Brain". That is Incorrect Grammar my friend.

[Amber B]

I dug the article... and though I'm not a fan of "American Dad," and "The Cleveland Show" has yet to win me over, I still love the "Guy!"

[Friday]

I love Seth and everything he creates (morning poo not included). Thanks for the review of his shows. They're good fun to read and get me prepped for watching my DVR'd version. As for the comments above mine... sounds like jealousy to me. Anyone else on the jealousy boat?

[Seth]

Brian is spelled wrong in the Family Guy recap.

[Tony]

Looks like there was a typo on Brian's name, instead ti was spelled Brain.

[Jeff]

Family Guy is the funniest show on TV. Absolutely love it. I've been trying to like the new Cleveland Show.. watched all the episodes so far, but I'm just not laughing yet. It's definitely lacking. Maybe I'm still bummed that Quagmire didn't get his own show. We'd have never stopped laughing. At any rate, I'll watch a few more times and see if it grows on me. Seth's a great writer though.. without a doubt.

[the wads]

steve had the bathroom door open BECAUSE HE WAS THE ONLY ONE THAT WAS SUPPOSED TO BE HOME AS THE REST OF THE FAMILY LEFT ON A PLANE. that was the part of the episode- the family talking about whether steve was trustworthy enough to be left at home alone.

these similarities are weak at best, there is ALWAYS bathroom scenes in these shows.

the whole premise of the shows being similar is valid, but you should dig a little deeper.

going back to the last couple of seasons, there have been numerous episodes of the simpsons in which family guy was nearly identical and almost every episode of FG and AD had something similar. sometimes the similarities would air the following week. the only one that comes to mind is when bart and millhouse sign up for the army, the VERY NEXT WEEK brian and stewie signed up for the army too. this is just scratching the surface, but there were numerous many others just like it.

cleveland show is awful. i am very disappointed.

venture brothers season premiere is coming soon, maybe this week, i forget...

[Joshua L.]

Hahaha, nice article. Joe's "second toiled" sounds awful! Haha!

[stevo-]

offensive moment? The part where Peter looks for TP and takes Joe's American flag into Cleavland's old house to use the crapper. That my friend IS the offensive moment!

[Kendra]

Its BRIAN not BRAIN

[Viet]

Andrew, you've got nothing to worry about. I am happy that you're here giving us your incite to the shows. It helps me determine why I still continue to watch these shows. I didn't see the parallel universe they share between the three shows. What you presented is helpful to me, now that I start thinking about what I've seen and just read.

Bring On the Bathroom Humor SETH!!!!!

[elf]

Andrew,

Apparently in my post earlier today I forgot to answer your question about the references. The easiest thing to say is to just watch "Spies Like Us," the 1985 spy comedy with Chase and Ackroyd. There were too many references from that film in this episode of FG to recount here. The only thing missing was the Bob Hope cameo. (OK, that and young Vanessa Angel.)

Although if I'm not mistaken in this week's FG at one point Ackroyd uses a scanning device from Ghostbusters, which Chase pointed out that he was not in.

elf