Inside Family Guy
| "Inside Family Guy" | |
|---|---|
| Family Guy episode | |
| Episode no. |
Season 15 Episode 4 |
| Directed by | Joe Vaux |
| Written by | Andrew Goldberg |
| Production code | DACX20 |
| Original air date | October 23, 2016 |
| Guest appearance(s) | |
|
Lucas Grabeel | |
| Episode chronology | |
"Inside Family Guy" is the fourth episode of the fifteenth season of the animated sitcom Family Guy, and the 273rd episode overall. It aired on Fox in the United States on October 23, 2016, and is written by Andrew Goldberg and directed by Joe Vaux.[1]
Plot
We get a special Family Guy episode where we are taken behind the scenes. Hosted by James Woods, the viewers get to see what happens to the characters when they're off the air. Through interviews, we see the characters acting like how they do when on the show, like Peter acting stupid and Brian acting pretentious. Stewie reveals that he dislikes the show and hosts a pizza commercial that promotes his online crepe delivery website.
As James Woods takes the people through the halls of the production offices, different props are seen like Gary the No-Trash Cougar from "Blind Ambition", the Petoria flag from "E. Peterbus Unum", the Banana Brian suit originally from "The Courtship of Stewie's Father", a cartoon version of Muppet Lois from "Foreign Affairs", a "What Really Grinds My Gears" poster from "Stewie B. Goode", Meg's "Megatron" birth certificate from "A Fistful of Meg", Stewie's ray gun, Stewie's "Die Lois" needlework from "North by North Quahog", a Peter vs. the Giant Chicken fight poster, and artwork from the 2009 Emmy screener DVD. Quagmire is revealed to be a writer on the show as well. Mayor Adam West is shown passing by Chris and Meg during their interview, dressed as Batman, doing the Batclimb from the 1960s' Batman TV show despite Seth MacFarlane's deal with West to not make his Family Guy counterpart be dressed as Batman, as West has gained excessive attention as the 60's Batman.
The characters are interviewed as Lois' dressing room has pictures of Family Guy guest stars Liam Neeson, Ryan Reynolds, and Gene Simmons. Due to Peter's behavior and an anonymous complaint from Stewie, FOX's CEOs Dana Walden and Gary Newman decide to fire him. Peter is oblivious to this. At a table-read, Peter slowly discovers the news when he reads a script that depicts him dying and being replaced by David Spade as a character named Uncle Ricky, and other possibilities in the show that may cause him to return (like Stewie's time machine catching a virus and Chris dreaming) are thrown out of the window. When confronted by Peter about the script mentioning Peter's death, Gary tells him that the network has decided that they can't deal with his attitude anymore. When they give Peter another chance, he acts up again and Gary fires him. When his family backs them up, Peter leaves the studio in a huff, as everyone nods at his departure. As Peter approaches the gate, the gate guard Smitty tells Peter that his penis is out.
At a hotel, Peter tries to find acting work someplace else, along with other interests. Woods introduces what other stuff from the show is like off-air, like the Greased-Up-Deaf Guy can talk normally. After Peter is evicted from the hotel for selling the towels and is thrown out by their Uncle Phil in the style of The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, he decides to stay in an apartment room that has a "Brooks Was Here" carving from The Shawshank Redemption.
Other behind-the-scenes works are shown like:
- The people who handled the Peter-based vehicles, like how the Petercopter was once used by SEAL Team Six to help in their mission to take out Osama bin Laden.
- James the Cameraman (who James Woods misread as James Cameron) is the director of the cutaway scenes.
- David Spade is shown talking to the Greased-Up Deaf Guy (who speaks in a normal voice off-set) as Herbert takes a liking to David Spade.
At the tape night, the Griffins admit that they have trepidation at doing the show without Peter, and Spade is revealed to be needy. At the Chinese theater, Peter's attempt to blend in using an obscure character fails. Upon seeing a bus with a Family Guy logo, he decides to go back to the FOX Studio. Once at FOX Studios, Peter tries to make it past Smitty. He was only admitted after pitching an idea to FOX of a show to Dana Walden and Gary Newman that doesn't make sense and is in its third season.
On the air, Peter storms in and apologizes for his behavior and even gives Chris a t-shirt of Kermit the Frog dressed as a hip-hop star. The Griffin family are able to accept him. When he thinks it's too late since they don't have a script, Lois conveniently takes out a script for a new episode with Peter in it alive. Peter also commented that he got David Spade removed from the show by having "Sofía Vergara deported." It is then shown that David Spade is dressed as Sofía Vergara when working on Modern Family.
In the interviews, it's revealed that the process of Peter being fired was staged and that the script of Peter being fired was fake. Peter has since returned to his old ways soon.
James Woods then closes out the episode by showing moments where Peter was hit in the crotch with a bag full of nickels. That moment was dedicated in memory of Peter's left testicle.
References
- ↑ Snierson, Dan (2016-07-23). "Family Guy spoofs Bill Cosby in season 15 trailer: Comic-Con". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved 2016-07-29.