"Family Guy" 420 (2009)

User Rating:

7.9/10   

Director:

Julius Wu

Writers:

Seth MacFarlane (creator)
Seth MacFarlane (developer) ...

TV Series:

"Family Guy" (1999)

Original Air Date:

19 April 2009 (Season 7, Episode 12)

Genre:

Animation | Comedy

Plot:

Brian becomes the leading proponent for legalization of marijuana in Quahog. |

Plot Keywords:

Marijuana | Hypocrisy | Drug Bust | Cat | Double Standard

Cast

Seth MacFarlane	...	Peter Griffin / Brian Griffin / Stewie Griffin / Glen Quagmire / Tom Tucker / Carter Pewterschmidt / Additional Voices (voice)
Alex Borstein	...	Lois Griffin / Additional Voices (voice)
Seth Green	...	Chris Griffin / Additional Voices (voice)
Mila Kunis	...	Meg Griffin (voice)
Mike Henry	...	Cleveland (voice)
Lori Alan	...	Diane Simmons (voice)
Chris Cox	...	Various (voice)
Ralph Garman	...	Various (voice)
Phil LaMarr	...	Ollie Williams (voice)
Kerrigan Mahan	...	Various (voice)
Danny Smith	...	Various (voice)
Alec Sulkin	...	Various (voice)
John Viener	...	Various (voice)
Patrick Warburton	...	Joe Swanson (voice)
Adam West	...	Mayor Adam West (voice)

Goofs:

Revealing mistakes: Peter puts a VHS tape into the VCR upside down. Him and his father-in-law then watch the tape that Peter had edited together.

Quotes:

[Brian has to take a drug test but has just smoked pot]
Brian Griffin: Quick, Stewie! I need your urine!
Stewie Griffin: [gasps, ecstatic] Really?

Movie Connections:

References Harold & Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay (2008)

Soundtrack:

A Bag of Weed

It's understandable to use your characters as mouthpieces, but this was seriously preachy!

When you have writers, they are obviously going to be people with opinions. Most shows, especially those that serve as social commentary (Family Guy, South Park, The Simpsons) are going to express those opinions loud and clear, but, rarely are they as preachy as this, Seth MacFarlane's rationale of why marijuana should be legalized. It's as preachy as one of those old after school specials, but with the morals reversed.

Quagmire gets a new cat, and it changes him. Peter, Cleaveland, Joe and Brian go in to pull a prank on Quagmire's cat, but Peter ends up killing it. On the way back from disposing the cat, Peter is pulled over and Brian is caught with weed. Brian preaches to the man, and with Stewie's help gets pot legalized. Peter and Lois's dad Carter try to make an anti-pot campaign meanwhile. Mediocrity ensues.

Brian in recent years seems to have become, more than any other character, the mouthpiece for the writers. Brian makes some valid points, but every episode where Brian fights for or against something just seems like the writers hiding behind this character. Unlike in South Park, there is no cleverness involved in proving a point. Instead, it's as though someone is just telling us why something should be, and never is the opposite viewpoint given. This show, especially this episode, are becoming like Michael Moore documentaries. They have the passion behind them, but never any opposite views, and this episode just isn't very funny anyway.

"Family Guy" is a one sided show, and this episode shows how one sided it really is. Whether or not you're for the legalization of marijuana, you can still see how preachy this episode is. Maybe Mr. MacFarlane should release a documentary on why this issue is important to him instead of putting fans of his series through episodes like this.

My rating: * 1/2 out of ****. 30 mins. TV14