Family Guy, Volume Nine

Volumes 7 and 8 of the Family Guy DVD series were disappointments for me. The quality of the episodes declined so significantly I almost gave up on the show. The series righted itself, however, with Volume 9; in fact, it is my favorite Family Guy Volume except for maybe Volume 6 with its brilliant "Stewie Kills Lois"/"Lois Kills Stewie" two-parter. Almost every episode is excellent save for "April in Quahog" which I think is rather weak. It also has many laugh-out-loud moments. The scenes where Stewie gets punched (once by Brian and another time by Peter) are hilarious. When I first saw the title "Class Holes," I think I laughed for a full minute. The double-length season nine debut "And Then There Were Fewer" is one of the best FG episodes ever. I also like the episode where Meg finally gets her revenge on those who've demeaned her (which is, pretty much, every character on the show). Disc 1: "Business Guy"--Peter throws father-in-law Mr. Pewterschmidt a belated bachelor party which causes him to have a heart attack and slip into a coma. Peter takes over the Pewterschmidt company with predictable results. When Mr. Pewterschmidt recovers, Peter will not relinquish his position. The swamp monster/Scooby-Doo ending was lame, but it is still a good episode. Peter to the intercom: "Peggy, that fart I had at three, can you push that up to now?" "Big Man On Hippocampus"--The Griffins are on Family Feud and Peter is knocked out by Richard Dawson (it was bound to happen) and develops amnesia. He has to be re-taught everything and, when Lois teaches him how to make love, he decides he can do it with anyone he wants. When Lois leaves the unfaithful Peter, Quagmire tries to move in. "Dial Meg For Murder"--Brian is writing an article on the average teenage girl for Teen People and follows Meg around and discovers she is dating a convict. When she hides her boyfriend from the cops after he escapes, she goes to jail herself and returns a bada$$: "I'm home, you're all my b!#@#es now." "Extra Large Medium"--Stewie and Chris get lost in the woods and a psychic gives Lois comfort they will be found (curiously, she never specified "alive," but Lois takes the prediction in a positive way). Lois then depends on the psychic and Brian tries to convince her the medium is a fake, but nothing convinces Lois more than when Peter decides he has psychic powers. Meanwhile, Chris tries to date a girl with Downs Syndrome who bosses him around. She is terrible, but the ending is hilarious. "Go, Stewie, Go"--Stewie wants to be in his favorite kid's television show "Jolly Farm," but to get a part he needs to pretend he is a girl. He then falls in love with his female co-star. Meanwhile, Lois is getting tired of Peter putting her down and desires Meg's compliment-throwing boyfriend. Disc 2: "Peter-Assment"--Peter's boss, Angela, hasn't had "it" in years and , when Peter comes to work without glasses, she becomes attracted to him and threatens to fire him if he doesn't satisfy her desires. Peter actually shows a compassionate side in this episode. As for the school play at the beginning: Terri Schiavo was an odd news story to revive (so to speak). "Brian Griffin's House of Payne"--Stewie digs out an old script written by "H. Brian Griffin." Lois uses her father's television connections to get Brian a TV pilot, but the television execs make changes to Brian's story, for example, hiring James Woods to play the lead, changing the plot to a father and 18 year-old daughter in college together, and changing the title from "What I Learned on Jefferson Street" to "Class Holes." I laughed out loud so many times to this episode. "April in Quahog"--The Griffins, along with the rest of Quahog, await the end of the world only to learn it was an April Fool's joke by the news team. When they thought it was the end, Peter let it be known he hates being around the kids. When they survive, he has some explaining to do. This is the weakest episode of this volume and the ending was rushed. "Brian and Stewie"--As lame as the preceding episode was, this one is actually very heavy although there are many hilarious moments, too. Brian and Stewie get locked in a bank vault for the weekend and battle, laugh, compromise, and share very serious feelings. This may be the only episode that only has two characters in it. "Quagmire's Dad"--Quagmire builds up his dad's reputation as being a lady killer and becomes horrified when he learns his war hero father is going to have a sex change operation. If that were not enough humiliation for Quagmire, he finds out his "he-she father" slept with his mortal enemy: Brian. "The Splendid Source"--Quagmire tells Peter and Joe a dirty joke and they go on a quest to find its source. Their travels take them to Virginia to be reunited with Cleveland and then to Washington D.C. where they make an astounding discovery: the Obama Memorial (ha, ha, just kidding). The dirty joke is told at the end; it is nasty. Disc 3: "And Then There Were Fewer"--This is one of my favorite FG episodes. It brings in all the prominent characters, including the hilarious airhead Jillian. Quahog citizens are invited to a dinner party hosted by James Woods. He wants to apologize to everyone, but then there is a murder, and then another one, and then another one. Who is responsible? This double-length who-done-it, it very well-done and clever and, graphically, it looks like a movie. "Excellence in Broadcasting"--Rush Limbaugh comes to Quahog for a book-signing and an angry Brian goes to confront him. Leaving the book signing, Brian is inexplicably attacked by a gang and is saved by Limbaugh. In return, Brian agrees to read his book and turns into a hardcore conservative. Brian seems at his least articulate at the beginning of this episode. Maybe his anger was clouding his thoughts. The show was very kind to Limbaugh and even had him morph into an eagle at the end. "Welcome Back Carter"--Peter catches Mr. Pewterschmidt cheating on his wife. Good episode, but, what I don't understand about this one and also the episode in another volume where Brian is dating a 50 year old is, how old do they think these people are? The back story of Carter and Babs Pewterschmidt would make them in their 80s at the youngest and more like 90s or 100s! The song "Jeepers Creepers" came out in 1938. Extras include deleted scenes which were best kept deleted, commentary on select episodes, a comic-style phone conversation for "Brian and Stewie," "The Making Of 'And Then There Were Fewer'," Comic-Con 2010, "The History of the World According to FG," etc.

Came early and all disk's work

It's Family Guy, can't go wrong! Heads-up to parents: These are uncut, and some episodes do contain adult language.

Arrived in perfect shape. Plays clearly.

Bought as a gift and I loved it

I'll save another breakdown of the episodes and details of those. Family Guy is hilarious and fun to watch over and over, commercial free. Sure you can catch some episodes on Netflix as they rotate the seasons out, and maybe on some other services, but you can't always watch that exact episode or whole season that you want to. That's why you should buy this. Watch your favorites whenever you want and laugh until you cry.

Volume nine of Family Guy contains 11 episodes from Season 8 and 3 episodes from season 9. It does not include the episodes "Something, Something, Dark Side" (The Empire Strikes Back parody) or the season eight finale "Partial Terms of Endearment" which was released separately on DVD (for some reason). The show continues to follow the story (or stories) of the week format, so you really don't need to have seen prior episodes to get what is going on in a particular episode. Although, the show does make callbacks to old jokes every so often, which make more sense if you are a regular viewer. The DVD extras include commentary tracks on some, but not all, episodes. It has a bunch of deleted scenes, several making-of featurettes, an excerpt from the 2010 Comic-Con panel, and an episode of The Cleveland Show that was a spin-off of Family Guy that ran for a handful of seasons. A good amount of material for people who like watching the bonus content. Overall, the show follows the same format that it has for many seasons. By now people know if they like it or hate it. If you hate it, this will not change your mind. The DVD releases continue to be a pain with not releasing full seasons of the show in a single set and omitting episodes. But, if you prefer the physical discs over streaming if nothing else to get the uncensored episodes and the bonus content, it is your only option unless a complete series set is ever released once the show ends its run.

I have been a fan of Family Guy since the beginning and I have to say this is the best season since the debut season, and the first episode where Stewie uttered "The broccoli must die"! Seth MacFarland and the whole Family Guy family have not lost that formula that's made them so successful that it lead to a viewer campaign to bring it back on the air. My favorite installment of this recent volume is the episode titled "Stewie and Brian" the 150th episode it's one of the few episodes that have dealt with a serious topic of depression and suicide and not handled it with their trademark no holds bar comedy, sarcasm and just plan political incorrectness, and to me that shows that they have grown and gone to a place in the history of the Family Guy franchise that allows them the freedom and range to do almost anything.