[Play it Again, Brian]

[classicswim]

 Something possessed me to flip this episode on tonight. It’s been years and when I’ve had myself write some words for the new stuff on AD, I sometimes just wanted to talk about the older Family Guy episodes.

 

“Play it Again, Brian” was a several year retread on “Brian in Love.” 

It was also the show where they wanted to legitimately confront the dynamic of Brian & Lois. 

 

The dog was my #1 fav on the show, despite being aware of how often they wrote him as the loser.

I resonated with the dry and sarcastic mutt who always knew how to properly deadpan something like Peter wanting to sneak out in a pantomime horse suit. It wasn’t that complicated. Brian was just a naturally appealing character way back when, and all the ancient episodes that painted him as decent were always only a plus.

 

Most would argue that Brian’s easily had more meaningful episodes after this, but this one feels almost finite. 

Wouldn’t even dare call this perfect (easily detestable for some!), and yet I got way more out of this than “Brian & Stewie.” As uncomfortable as this can get.

Brian pouncing on Lois was something they clearly played for laughs, but all the cringey and overbearingly soapy shit he says to her before that point was grating in its own right.

 

Every other fuckup Brian’s had prior just doesn’t compare with the show taking down the one fair enough quality he’s ever had. His friendship with Lois was a fairly well balanced thing in the earlier episodes, even with the throwaway “he wants to bang her” jokes. And now they just don’t have that anymore lol. They had him attack the only character they wrote to earnestly believe in him, and now in the modern episodes she’s just quick to call him an idiot or a trash/shit pile.

 

Peter vs Brian in the ep is still a ridiculous highlight. If not for Brian smashing a fucking bottle across Peter’s face whilst being strangled, blinding him.

It’s weird because there are things in the episode that simply play awful, but I still find much of it funny.

I gotta agree with the ending being shit on separate levels. Between making Lois throw a pity curveball and them not even letting what Brian wrote actually be from Brian all along. Neither of which being that strong of a laugh.


I’ve said before that ‘09 onwards is when the show starts to turn completely different gears, but plenty of stuff leading up to that era got people to start riffing more as well.

Conway Twitty! Peter blowing up a children’s hospital! Whatever the fuck “Not All Dogs Go to Heaven” was.

People have torched this all to death already, and I gotta admit that it still does something to hold you over. I can’t explain it efficiently enough. Almost every year of Family Guy is interesting besides the past ten.
 

Comments

[matt_zimmer]

Usually the jokes are funnier for what they leave out.

One of the most spectacularly inappropriate Family Guy jokes of all time that I am ashamed to laugh at is during "April In Quahog". Peter declares he's gonna go down to Harlem and say the "You Know What Word". The resolution to the joke is so sick and stupid only a white writer would EVER think of it. It speaks deeply of the writers' deep psychological hang-ups about race.

And yet, since I AM a dumb white guy, I laugh at the joke every single time. Except when I saw it on DVD. There Peter says he's gonna say "the n-word" and it's suddenly not funny at all. It's weird how often these "treats" of uncensored material make legit funny stuff just... not.

[classicswim]

I agreed with your point in your review of the last anthology episode about how “oh we can’t do that now” is just really pathetic after they’ve had years worth of the material that you’re describing.

The show is so autopilot right now that I doubt there’s enough effort in place for there to be any unseen alternate cuts. I can’t completely romanticize the box sets but I bought them every year at Walmart fresh off the shelf until season 12. Sad whimper.

[matt_zimmer]

DVDs are awesome. Family Guy DVDs are a mixed bag. If every set included the Adult Swim cut, we'd be in business. It's saucier than the Fox stuff but not as over the line as the uncensored versions. Adult Swim hit the comedy sweet spot for the show. Losing it has been a REAL loss for Family Guy in a way it has not been for the other acquired Fox shows on Adult Swim.