Seth MacFarlane just doesn’t get it sometimes.
“Family Guy” (and its creator) has ingrained itself into our generation’s consciousness by picking on the carrion of “The Simpsons,” whatever reality show happens to be near the peak of the Nielsens, and, of course, a slew of forgettable ’80s TV shows. The comedic Lazarus of the Buffy generation, even cancellation couldn’t keep the show down after its suddenly zealous fans demanded its return to TV.
Even after two sizeable “collections” of episodes (“Family Guy” doesn’t really believe in plot) have already been released on DVD, the third volume of the show still effectively juxtaposes its strong points: an unholy number of pop culture allusions, manic cutaways and pop culture, and a general “fuck you” to reality.
But like Brian the Dog’s drinking or Stewie’s loveable, Stalin-in-diapers plans the show gets lost in its own qualities, spiraling out of control and plummeting into an abyss of nonexistent plot, irony saturated dialogue and blunt, unsubtle sight gags.
You can’t entirely blame this collection of episodes.
“Breaking Out If Hard To Do” not only has Chris Griffin being pulled into the infamous music video A-Ha’s “Take On Me” (probably the best meth-esque frantic cutaway), but also a clean, tidy plot where Lois gets thrown in prison for her newfound kleptomania.
That’s it. Nothing too insane, no anthropomorphized religious figures, nothing that completely distracts the viewer from the plot.
Sadly, most of the other episodes disintegrate into MacFarlane trying to one-up himself, tossing reference upon reference, stretching the viewer’s tolerance for Hall & Oates, retard jokes and Glen Quagmire’s penchant for date rape. Much of the time it feels as if stuff isn’t being tossed at the wall to see if it sticks so much as something is perpetually hitting a fan. The stink gets everywhere.
“Brian The Bachelor” gets lost in a poorly executed jibe against reality television and the slobs who love it. Packing the standard slew of manic allusions and crude dialogue into a loose bundle of “social commentary” is as ineffective as it sounds. When “Family Guy” shoots for the stars and misses (it happens more than fans would like to admit), the show crashes hard and even their self-destructive moments drag on.
The commentary that’s bundled with the DVD set is unimpressive. Entertaining for a small lark, it’s clearly a side dish.
In many ways, this DVD set is a fair appraisal of the show’s strengths – comedy drawn outside the lines, offensive to anyone who listens – and its profound weaknesses A-A– hit-or-miss jokes of the highest order, grating gags that run on for minutes of excess. But the show is never truly bad in the slow parts; a frantic meta-pop gag always breaks the tension before too long. “Family Guy” really is worth at least one shot for anyone with an appetite for the absurd and foul; just don’t be surprised if you wish McFarlane had another visionary by his side to keep him in check. While the show is sometimes a highlight reel of its creator’s wild, imaginative satire, there’s plenty in between that sounds like someone spinning their wheels.
Show: 3 stars out of 5
Picture/Sound: 3 and 1/2 stars out of 5
Features: 3 stars out of 5