Ah, the tasteless joke - ever increasingly a staple of the world of humour. Nothing seems to get these kids today off quite like jokes that the previous generation would find horribly distasteful, for better or worse. Now, I consider myself to be someone who, if not quite a fan of the art of the tasteless joke, at least has a thick skin and generally won't bat an eye at this sort of thing. That being said, last Sunday's otherwise fairly good Family Guy found a way to make me bat the hell out of my eye. It made me bat my eye out of the fucking park like it was some sort of generic baseball player, presumably on steroids, as they always are, according to Comedy.
Peter Griffin is a cartoon character, and as per the Cartoon Character Wardrobe Act of 1920, he can only ever wear one specific outfit. Apparently he only owns two identical white shirts, and this episode gets its start when, much to his horror, the local Asian dry cleaner* loses one of them. The first act of the episode centres on Peter's squabbles with the establishment's proprietor, the horribly named Mr. Washee-Washee. Even more clunkily than usual, we then segue into this week's real plot: Quagmire apparently teaches a class on picking up women, which Brian ends up enrolling in. Using Quagmire's techniques of douchebaggery, Brian somehow manages to land a date with the famous Cheryl Tiegs - the only living being that Quagmire is really capable of loving, to any degree. Quagmire returns the favour by dating Brian's old flame, the generic bimbo Jillian, who keeps returning despite not really being funny, per se. Jealous hijinx ensue. There's our stereotypical sitcom plot of the week.
Most of this episode actually held together in ways that, well, they just usually can't anymore. Peter's petty arguing with Mr. Washee-Washee actually has its moments, including a Street Fighter II sequence that is hilarious for reasons I can't even quite put my finger on. (Jim reports that some of those pesky Internet kids are hoping that Washee-Washee becomes "the next giant chicken". Really? Do you really want two versions of the same running gag that loses its lustre in a big hurry?) And given that he's been perhaps the most consistently cartoonish character in this series throughout its run, it's always nice when Quagmire gets at least a slight touch of character depth. Also a pleasant surprise: a callback to the episode "Deep Throats", five full seasons prior. There was a lot to like here, as opposed to having a lot to regard with passive disinterest. BUT....
The first cutaway of this episode is an extended Michael J. Fox bash. Not just a quick throwaway bit of tastelessness - we're forced to invest some actual time into this, nearly two minutes by my own potentially fallible estimation. Jim loved this gag; I was far less enthusiastic. There's definitely a point where a tasteless joke goes on for too long to just be a chuckle-worthy cheap shot, and becomes more akin to, say, watching a mugger wail away on a little old lady even long after she already handed over her purse. But regardless of you feelings about the gag at hand, you really have to ask yourself the same question that Family Guy makes you ask far too often: was this actually worth the significant chunk of time we just spent on this?
In summary and in conclusion, I suppose this was a pretty good episode that simply got off to a really, really lousy start, and I suppose that's preferable to the norm for this season, that being thoroughly mediocre episodes with one similarly long and painful gag. That one gag's just as bad but the material around it at least works better, y'know? I'd prefer an episode that was completely devoid of painfully unfunny moments, but improvements are improvements, I suppose.
*A dry cleaner very near the apartment here has the delightful moniker of "Honor Cleaners". Encountering stereotypes in real life is always a little awkward.
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