"The Simpsons Guy" is the one-hour-long premiere ofthirteenth season of the American animated television seriesFamily Guy, and the 232nd overall episode. It is a 44-minute-longcrossover withThe Simpsons, and was written by Patrick Meighan and directed byPeter Shin.[2] It first premiered in the United States onFox on September 28, 2014, where bothThe Simpsons andFamily Guy have been aired since their respective first premieres in both 1989 and 1999, respectively.
In this episode,the Griffins meetthe Simpsons at their house in Springfield, and decide to stay with them in Springfield directly after their car is stolen at the Springfield Gas Station at Springfield; after the Griffins get their car back,Peter is taken to court as a representative of the Pawtucket Patriot Ale brewery, his employer, when it is discovered that its ale is an unauthorized copy ofDuff Beer.
The idea for a crossover episode was suggested byFamily Guy executive producer and formerThe Simpsons writerRichard Appel, and the episode was announced by Fox in July 2013; five of the six main members of the voice cast ofThe Simpsons – with the exception ofHarry Shearer – voiced their characters in the episode; "The Simpsons Guy" received mixed reviews from critics, who had differing opinions on how well the two shows combined.
Peter creates a comic for the Quahog newspaper, but itsmisogynistic humor angers local women. When an attempt to calm them makes things worse,the Griffins flee Quahog. Their car is stolen at a gas station, stranding them outsideSpringfield. At theKwik-E-Mart,Homer Simpson introduces himself.
The Simpsons put up the Griffins in theirhouse.Bart andStewie become friends.Lisa tries findingMeg's talent. When she realizes Meg is a natural at the saxophone, she becomes jealous.Chris andBrian takeSanta's Little Helper for a walk. Brian tries teaching Santa's Little Helper independence, but he runs away.Marge notices Santa's Little Helper is missing, so Chris and Brian fake his presence until he returns. Homer and Peter discover Peter's car in the possession ofHans Moleman when he accidentally runs Peter over.
The men celebrate atMoe's Tavern, but their relationship sours when Peter introduces Homer to Pawtucket Patriot Ale, revealed to be an imitation ofDuff Beer. Duff, represented by theBlue Haired Lawyer, files a lawsuit against Pawtucket Brewery forpatent infringement, with Peter forced to defend the brewery in court in front of similar characters from both shows and presiding judgeFred Flintstone to saveQuahog. Despite declaring that both Pawtucket Patriot Ale and Duff Beer are imitations ofBud Rock, Fred rules in favor of Duff.
The Griffins prepare to return to Quahog. Lisa gives Meg her saxophone, but Peter throws it away. Stewie points out that he took revenge on all of Bart's enemies. Shocked by Stewie's violent tendencies, Bart ends their friendship. Homer tries explaining his actions, but Peter reacts angrily, and the two start an intense fight that gradually escalates, with the two falling into acid at the Springfield Nuclear Power Plant, and temporarily becoming mutants with superpowers, and then going into space, where they end up inKang and Kodos' flying saucer before returning to Earth. With both fathers severely harmed, they admit their admiration for each other while agreeing to keep their distance in the future. Returning home, the Griffins find the heat from Peter's comic has died down, and the Pawtucket Brewery is safe whenLois doubts that the inhabitants of Springfield will visit Quahog to enforce the ruling. Stewie pretends he is over Bart, but in his room writes "I will not think about Bart anymore."
The idea of acrossover withThe Simpsons was first suggested while thethirteenth season ofFamily Guy was being planned out. Executive producerRichard Appel receivedFamily Guy creatorSeth MacFarlane's approval and input after brainstorming ideas. Appel then asked for permission fromThe Simpsons executive producersMatt Groening,James L. Brooks andAl Jean to use their characters. This was approved; Appel was previously a writer-producer onThe Simpsons for four seasons and retained his former colleagues' trust.[1]Dan Castellaneta,Julie Kavner,Nancy Cartwright,Yeardley Smith andHank Azaria guest star as theirSimpsons characters, butHarry Shearer, the final main cast member ofThe Simpsons, was unavailable due to scheduling conflicts. When asked about how he felt about the crossover, Shearer replied, "Matter and anti-matter".[3]
Family Guy writerspitched several storylines for the crossover, including one in which the Griffins stay withLenny and Carl and never meet the Simpsons and another one in which their whole series is revealed to be a figment ofRalph Wiggum's imagination.[1] When the final script was read to the show's staff, Appel expressed his concern about the length of the episode. MacFarlane said that Fox would be happy to make it an hour long. Supervising directorPeter Shin, a former layout artist onThe Simpsons, spent time adjusting the Griffins to the specifications ofSpringfield—changes included dimming the whites of their eyeballs so they would not look too bright—and animating the eight-minute fight between Peter and Homer. Appel said there are no plans to do asequel to the episode, but stated that "by season 43 ofThe Simpsons and season 27 ofFamily Guy, someone who's looking at a blank board is going to say, 'Well, the Griffins went to Springfield... what if the Simpsons went toQuahog?' And more heads will explode atFox".[1]
The episode was first announced by Fox in July 2013 to premiere in the fall of 2014.[4] In May 2014, the network presented two clips from the episode at their annualupfront presentation.[5] In an interview withEntertainment Weekly about the episode, MacFarlane stated that the key to a good crossover episode is "really about the character interaction. People want to see Peter interact with Homer. They want to see Bart interact with Stewie. In a way, the story in a crossover episode, while it has to be there, is never quite as important as how the characters interact with each other".[6]The Simpsons creator Groening added, "In this case, it's two really vivid shows and seeing what they can do together. You want to see them having a good time and you want to see Peter and Homer duke it out".[1]
"The Simpsons Guy" includescameo appearances byRoger ofAmerican Dad!,Bob Belcher ofBob's Burgers andFred Flintstone ofThe Flintstones.[7] The episode also pokes fun at the different characters' skin colors; upon entering Springfield, Peter warns the family not to drink the water because all the citizens appear to havehepatitis, while Homer refers to the Griffin family as "ouralbino visitors".[7] The Springfield Gorge scene in Homer and Peter's fight sequence is a reference to theseason finale of theseason two episode "Bart the Daredevil" in which Homer inadvertently ends up jumping the Gorge on Bart's skateboard.[8]
The episode was watched by 8.45 million viewers in its original American broadcast, earning a 4.5 rating/12% share in the 18–49 demographics. This was slightly more than thesecond season premiere ofResurrection onABC but less thanThe Good Wife onCBS, both shows in the same timeslot. "Clown in the Dumps", the earlier premiere of thetwenty-sixth season ofThe Simpsons, was watched by 8.53 million and received a 3.9 rating/11% share in the 18–49 demographics.[9]
"The Simpsons Guy" received mixed reviews. Writing inUSA Today, Mike Foss gave the episode a positive review, but criticized how the episode was written byFamily Guy staff and thus lacked elements ofThe Simpsons' humor.[10] Jason Hughes ofTheWrap was also generally in praise of the episode, but felt that certain scenes—including both Peter and Homer's fight and an erotic car wash sequence—were "squeamish" and out of place forThe Simpsons. He, however, acknowledged that Bart's disgust at Stewie's behavior was "a good statement" of the difference between the two shows.[11] Positive reviews of the crossover also came fromIGN,[12] theInternational Business Times,[13] theStandard-Examiner,[14] andTVLine.[15]
Other critics responded negatively. Scott Meslow, ofThe Week, pointed out his disappointment that the episode parodied a scene in "Bart the Daredevil", as that episode dealt with Homer and Bart's relationship, but "The Simpsons Guy" used it as a joke in a violent sequence.[8] Emily VanDerWerff wrote onVox that while she expected the episode to be mediocre, it actually ended up a "blight on humanity itself". She listed nine reasons for this statement, including her dissatisfaction with the car wash and fight scenes, and the use of sexist jokes which had lost theirshock value.[16] After the episode aired in the United Kingdom in July 2015, Ellen E. Jones, ofThe Independent, criticized the episode's rape jokes and violence, and theorized that with the poor box-office performance of his latest filmTed 2, audiences were growing tired of MacFarlane's humor.[17] Ed Power ofThe Daily Telegraph, however, wrote thatFamily Guy's usual objectionable content was restrained in the episode, as if it had been "infected" by recent seasons ofThe Simpsons.[18]
The A.V. Club named the episode among "The worst TV of 2014" under "Worst crossover", writing that "for no real reason, Homer and Peter find themselves in an interminable 'sexy car wash' montage, sudsing and squirting each other in tied-off tees and denim cutoffs.Family Guy prides itself on cutaway gags, but the car-wash scene... is its most successful look-away gag".[19]
| Season 13 | |
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| Season 26 |
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