This Is Even Better Than That Time I Reviewed A Family Guy DVD
This week we’re taking a look at Family Guy: The Freakin’ Sweet Collection. I received this DVD one year as a birthday present. Yeah, it’s not much, but since my birthday is so close to Christmas, my family usually saves all the big presents for then. I’ve gotten used to it. Except when they bought me a dog for my birthday and decided to hide it with all the other presents in the attic.
These days, though, I’ve stopped watching Family Guy because it’s gotten terrible. It may have been saved from cancellation, but the team behind that rescue mission forgot to throw quality a life preserver. This DVD came out before it came back, though, and it does have a decent episode or two. But now the question is this: do these episodes still hold up from when I originally watched the show? We’ll see if they’re cut from the right cloth, and not just the stuff they used for Lady Gaga’s fire bra.
Open the DVD up and you get the disc (which is hopefully a standard feature of DVDs) and a simple flyer. Static picture of the Family Guys on front, episode descriptions on back. I’m surprised they even sprung for a piece of paper in this thing. I mean, the show had tons of fans after its cancellation. They could’ve thrown anything in there and fans would’ve bought it, even a Post-It that said “IOU 1 More Season”.
The DVD has an attractive and colorful menu, and offers special features for each of the five episodes, handpicked by Seth MacFarlene as his favorites. One episode, “Road to Rhode Island”, even features Seth in-character as Brian and Stewie doing commentary. It’s a good touch. And for 15 bucks, you could do a lot worse. Here’s a hint: go to Amazon.com and type in “rob schneider”.
But enough about that. Let’s take a look at the episodes themselves.
When You Wish Upon A Weinstein
After Peter realizes that he’s bad with money, he gets a Jewish man named Max Weinstein to help him out. Noticing how successful Weinstein is, Peter decides to make Chris Jewish on the hopes that he’ll become successful, too. This episode was unique at the time because it hadn’t aired on TV due to how it mocked the Jewish faith. The fact that Peter wishes for his own Jew doesn’t help, either. Look, Peter, you’ll have to be creative to get a Jew. This isn’t World War II. There are no more one-stop shops for your Jewish needs.
Road To Rhode Island
Brian flies out to Palm Springs to take Stewie home from a visit to his grandmother. When they lose their luggage and flight tickets, they have to travel across America to get back to Rhode Island. This is a parody of those old “Road” movies with Bing Crosby and Bob Hope, and it’s actually pretty funny and well-written. Not sure who’s supposed to be Crosby and who’s supposed to be Hope, though. Let’s see…does Stewie comes out holding a golf club or does he take it to beat family members with?
To Love And Die In Dixie
Chris IDs an armed robber who breaks out of jail. To make sure he doesn’t get to Chris, the family moves down south as part of the Witness Protection Program. By this time in Family Guy history, the offensive train has rolled in – Southeners are portrayed as hillbillies who put on a play where the Confederacy wins the Civil War. Me, I’m more offended that they’re still using the tired hillbilly gag. Still, I’m willing to forgive them and bury the hatchet…preferably in the organ they use to pee.
I Am Peter, Hear Me Roar
Peter is forced to go to a women’s retreat after making sexual comments at work. Unfortunately, he gets in touch with his feminine side too well and becomes a prancing man wuss. Only a catfight between Lois and another woman gets him to snap back to normal. Again, there’s nothing inventive about making Peter act like a prissy woman, though there’s a disgusting bit or two to throw you off. I just wish the cat fight was more interesting. Personally, I want to see two women fight with mixed martial arts. They’ll still be moaning, but only because it’ll take months for that arm to look normal again in a long-sleeved shirt.
Lethal Weapons
Peter makes Lois feel useless, so she takes up Tae-Jitsu to become stronger. This brings anger into the household, so the family tries anger management to calm down. It fails and the family beats the crap out of each other near the end. This is all very tasteful, I said with dripping sarcasm. “Lethal Weapons” would be the worst episode on this disc if it didn’t have a few great scenes, like Brain and Stewie’s exchange during anger management. So it’s like you’re eating ice cream full of syringes. Mmmmm! Ben and Jerry’s “Tetanus Sea Salt”!
And now we return to the question I asked earlier: did these episodes hold up NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO.
Most of these episodes are terrible. “Road to Rhode Island” is the best, and even “Weinstein” manages to pass, but the other three just suck. It’s amazing that, even this early in Family Guy‘s life, it was already sliding downhill into a big pile of I Am Not Trying Anymore. The Simpsons might be running out of steam now with over twenty seasons, but even some of their worst episodes DESTROY the stuff on this disc. And The Simpsons is a franchise where they decided to flash Bart Simpson’s penis, even though his little general had clearly never won a battle.
Now, with the advent of free episodes online, there’s no reason to buy this DVD for a taste of Family Guy. But assuming you saw this in Best Buy and you had no idea what the show was about, is this a good introduction? Well, yes, it is if you think your life is too positive and could use some misery to balance out the equation. Besides that, you’d get the same effect if they ever came out with a DVD made of physical hate.
The Freakin’ Sweet Collection is anything but. If you enjoy wasting money on DVDs, at least buy a used copy of this. Otherwise, save your money to waste on something more important. Like a charity fund that someone loses between the cushions of a couch.
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Sad thing is that in my area,they take these episodes and repeat them over and over and over again.These days I only turn my T.V on thursdays just to watch South Park. -_-
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