Baby Not on Board

"Baby Not on Board"

"Baby Not on Board" is the fourth episode of the seventh season of the animated television series Family Guy. It premiered on Fox in the United States on November 2, 2008. The episode features Stewie after he is accidentally left at home when the Griffins head for the Grand Canyon. The family soon notice his absence, and they rush home. Meanwhile, Stewie realizes how much he depends on his family while he is alone.

The episode was written by Mark Hentemann and directed by Julius Wu. The episode received mixed reviews from critics for its storyline and cultural references. According to Nielsen ratings, it was viewed in 9.97 million homes in its original airing. The episode featured a guest performance by H. Jon Benjamin, along with several recurring guest voice actors for the series. "Baby Not on Board" was released on DVD along with eight other episodes from the season on June 16, 2009.

Plot

Peter visits the Quahog Mini-Mart where Chris works after a visit to the local spa. After he threatens to sue the store for Chris' "sexual remarks", Peter is given an unlimited gas coupon for a year by Carl. Peter begins to take advantage of the card, even taking a trip into space, until Lois suggests that the family travel to the Grand Canyon. They leave early the next morning but inadvertently leave Stewie behind at home, only realizing that when they visit the World Trade Center site. They first contact Joe but cannot get a hold of him. They then contact Cleveland and Quagmire to look after Stewie. After not receiving any calls from either of them, Lois insists that the family return home to Stewie. While driving the car, Peter somehow enters the car next to them, causing the Griffins' car to crash. When the family attempts to ride a train home, Peter spends the last of the money that they saved on curtain rings. Lois becomes angered and blames all their misfortunes on Peter's stupidity, only to feel ashamed when he informs her that everyone else respects him for who he is. Eventually, Brian is able to get the family a ride in a pickup truck bound for Quahog.

Meanwhile, Stewie finds out that he has been left alone, and takes his solitude to his advantage. When Cleveland and Quagmire arrive, Stewie believes that they are intruders and sprays tear gas all around them to knock them out. Stewie realizes his mistake, however, and he chains them to the Griffins' basement wall of his house. When Stewie consumes all of the food in the house, he applies for a job at McBurgertown, but is fired for eating and vomiting food which is meant for the customers. Eventually, Stewie realizes how much he depends on his family and is thrilled to see them return. At this point, Cleveland and Quagmire are still in the basement, reciting everything that is being said on television in unison; at that time, Cleveland mentions to Quagmire that he is getting a spin-off, which is called The Cleveland Show.

Production

Series writer Mark Hentemann wrote "Baby Not on Board".

"Baby Not on Board" was written by series writer Mark Hentemann and directed by series director Peter Shin. The episode marked the first time since the show's creation that celebrities do not spawn wide, circular eyes. The staff wanted to make the celebrities look more realistic; the first example of this is with Patrick Swayze. The Standards and Practices had a problem with Peter saying "masturbate", so staff writers edited it to "rub one out".

"Baby Not on Board", along with the first eight episodes of the seventh season were released on DVD by 20th Century Fox in the United States and Canada on June 16, 2009, one month after it had completed broadcast on television. The "Volume 7" DVD release features bonus material including deleted scenes, animatics, and commentaries for every episode.

Cultural references

"Baby Not on Board" makes several media references. At the Quahog Day Spa, Peter mentions that he needs the sauna's treatment after a stressful morning; the scene cuts to a non-sequitur that parodies the opening scene of Back to the Future Another scene in the spa shows a reference to Ghost with representations of Patrick Swayze and Demi Moore as their characters from the film on top of Peter's back giving him a massage. Joe's dictation about how much he depends on his wheelchair refers to the Rifleman's Creed. After Lois chastises Peter, he recites the speech John Candy made in Planes, Trains, and Automobiles nearly verbatim. When the family returns home to Stewie, the music that is played is similar to that in Home Alone. When driving to the Grand Canyon, the family sings Bette Midler's "The Rose". When Stewie chains Cleveland and Quagmire to the basement wall, he forces them to watch the DirecTV help channel. When the Griffins return home to Stewie, the background music is an instrumental of Somewhere In My Memory by John Williams, which scores a similar scene in Home Alone.

Reception

In its original broadcast in the United States on November 2, 2008, "Baby Not on Board" was watched by 9.97 million homes and acquired a 5.0 Nielsen rating/11% share, making it the highest rated episode of the season.

The episode received mixed to negative reviews from television sources and critics. Steve Heisler of The A.V. Club gave the episode a C, calling it "without a doubt, the most meta episode I've seen in quite some time" and said that "if Family Guy wants to make the show itself the butt of every joke, it needs to ramp up the conflict and tone down on the flights of fancy–most of those are funny for a bit, but excess can ruin just about anything." Another complaint of the episode were the Back to the Future references and the storyline.

Ahsan Haque of IGN gave the episode a much more negative review, calling it "definitely one of the worst Family Guy episodes in years". He criticized the jokes, calling some pointless and most of them tasteless, citing in particular the Back to the Future reference, a performance of "The Rose", Stewie's employment at a fast food restaurant, a cutaway gag featuring Aquaman and a Ground Zero joke, but he did comment positively to some jokes such as the fight scene early in the episode, Stewie's capture of Quagmire and Cleveland and Stewie's reaction to an issue of Hustler under Chris' bed. Robin Pierson of The TV Critic also gave the episode a negative review, calling it "pointless television", but said that the best joke in the episode was a satirical reference to Lord of the Rings.

External links

• "Baby Not on Board" at IMDb
• Template:Tv.com episode

Preceded by "Road to Germany"

Family Guy (season 7)

Succeeded by "The Man with Two Brians"