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Brian the Bachelor

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"Brian the Bachelor"

"Brian the Bachelor" is the seventh episode from the fourth season of Family Guy. It originally broadcast on June 26, 2005 and was written by Mark Hentemann and directed by Dan Povenmire. The episode sees Brian becoming a contestant on The Bachelorette and falling in love with the bachelorette, only to be let down by her ignoring him off–camera. Meanwile, Chris discovers his pimple, "Doug," can talk, and the pair cause mischief across the city.[1] Overall, the episode was received with mixed comments by critics and news sources.

Plot

Peter, Joe, and Quagmire take Cleveland to a bar in an attempt to get him to meet women after his break-up with Loretta. After this attempt fails, Peter takes Cleveland to auditions of The Bachelorette, which is looking for contestants in Quahog. Cleveland becomes nervous about the audition and ends up being embarrassed in front of the judges when Peter tries to calm him down by removing his clothes, and then his own. Brian, who accompanied the pair, goes to apologize to the judges. After meeting him, they decide to make Brian a contestant and, despite his earlier shown hate of the show, he signs up for the free alcohol and food. Once there, he quickly falls in love with Brooke, the bachelorette.

Meanwhile, Chris discovers a pimple on his face which he names "Doug". Chris discovers the pimple can talk, and it tells him to engage in mischief and threatens Chris if he does not do what it says. Unaware it can talk, Lois becomes concerned with Chris's negative behavior. Chris sets a bag full of feces alight outside Joe's door, as well as graffiting on the Quahog Mini-Mart. Lois confronts Chris, who tells her that Doug told him to do the bad things, much to her shock. Outraged, Lois and Peter visit Goldman's Pharmacy the next day, where they discover somebody has vandalized the store and destroyed the stock of acne medication, arousing the suspicion of Lois.

That night, Brooke visits the family for dinner in order to meet them, but chaos ensues when Chris lifts-up Brooke's shirt under instructions of Doug, and Joe informs the Griffins that the police know he vandalised the pharmacy. After the chaos makes Lois cry, Chris decides he will no longer listen to Doug and visits a dermatology clinic the next day. Doug discovers he is at the clinic and holds a pistol to Chris' head, threatening to kill him, but Chris is quickly able to reach the medicine and "kill" Doug. Meanwhile, Brian wins Brooke's heart and is given the final rose, but Brooke turns cold to him once the cameras are turned off. Despite attempting to contact Brooke and being ignored, Brian gets the hint when Brooke throws an answering machine with his messages to her on it off his head. Brian confides in Stewie, who resorts to telling him this story could be a theme for Brian's long-term novel project.

Production

When this episode was being produced, The Bachelorette was a bigger and more prolific program than when this episode was originally broadcast.[2] In addition, ABC was not doing very well at the time of this episode's production.[3][4] The production staff encountered some trouble when deciding what Peter would be doing in the lobby with Cleveland during his Bachelorette audition; although the series could never come up with ideas they deemed to be suitable,[2][3] they intended for Peter to put his buttocks in an aquarium tank in order to embarrass Cleveland and make him want to leave.[3][5] This scene was not used, and the production staff used a scene of Peter putting his naked buttocks on Cleveland's naked buttocks; they also shortened this more detailed version and used the less-detailed current version.[2][4][5]

During Cleveland's audition for The Bachelorette, an unused scene was created that showed both Peter and Cleveland naked, with Peter sitting on top of Cleveland and bouncing up and down, as if he and Cleveland were engaging in anal sex, but broadcasting standards prohibited the scene.[4] Show creator Seth MacFarlane comments in the DVD commentary that Walter Murphy, who composes a lot of the music for Family Guy, goes back and forth from standard Family Guy music to Bachelorette-style music during the episode.[3] During the sequence where Brian and Brooke are talking in the barn, originally, the two horses in the background were intended to begin mating, but the sketch was never used.[4][5] Nancy Cartwright, voice actor of Bart Simpson on The Simpsons, and Michael Bell provided their voices for the Snorks reference.[3] The name of Quagmire's cat was originally "pussy", but broadcasting standards objected.[3][4] The episode was also originally due to feature a sequence showing Chris breaking entry into Goldman's Pharmacy in order to destroy the acne medication wearing a Balaclava, but the scene was never shown.[3]

Cultural references

The first scene takes place at a bar called "The Hot Spot". A sign underneath reads "Not Affiliated With The Don Johnson Movie", referring to the 1990 movie of the same name. Chris' talking pimple is a reference to Little Shop of Horrors.[2] Chris shown waving his shirt above his head and being watched by Herbert through the window is a reference to 1978 comedy film National Lampoon's Animal House.[3] He-Man from the Masters of the Universe media franchise is shown at the ranch during Brian's time on The Bachelorette.[3] The sequence of Peter and Lois at Mort Goldman's pharmacy after the store vandalism is a reference to Fast Times at Ridgemont High.[5] Brian's phone call to Brooke after she makes it clear she does not wish to speak to him makes references to Billy Vera.[2].

Reception

In a review of Family Guy, volume 3, Dan MacIntosh of PopMatters praised the performance of Chris in the episode, writing "Chris' best scenes occur during "Brian The Bachelor", where he is shown developing an unlikely friendship with one of his facial zits".[6] In his review of Family Guy, volume 3, Francis Rizzo III of DVD Talk reviewed the episode negatively, writing "Among the more frustrating trends in the series is its willingness to stretch an unfunny joke to its very limits. When Stewie berated Brian for not finishing his novel for nearly two minutes, not once, but twice, in "Brian the Bachelor," it tested my patience severely, and didn't even make me smile."[7]

References

  1. ^ "Brian the Bachelor". British Broadcasting Corporation. Retrieved 2008-10-17.
  2. ^ a b c d e Goodman, David (2006). Family Guy season 4 DVD commentary for the episode "Brian the Bachelor" (DVD). 20th Century Fox. {{cite AV media}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |1= (help)
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i MacFarlane, Seth (2006). Family Guy season 4 DVD commentary for the episode "Brian the Bachelor" (DVD). 20th Century Fox. {{cite AV media}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |1= (help)
  4. ^ a b c d e Sheridan, Chris (2006). Family Guy season 4 DVD commentary for the episode "Brian the Bachelor" (DVD). 20th Century Fox. {{cite AV media}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |1= (help)
  5. ^ a b c d Hentemann, Mark (2006). Family Guy season 4 DVD commentary for the episode "Brian the Bachelor" (DVD). 20th Century Fox. {{cite AV media}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |1= (help)
  6. ^ MacIntosh, Dan (January 6, 2006). "FAMILY GUY, VOLUME 3". PopMatters. Retrieved 2008-08-04. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  7. ^ Rizzo, Francis III (November 29, 2005). "Family Guy Volume 3". DVD Talk.com. Retrieved 2008-10-10. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
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