Brian: Portrait of a Dog
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| Family Guy Episode | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| "Brian: Portait of a Dog" | |||
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| Episode no.: | 7 | ||
| Prod. code: | 1ACX07 | ||
| Airdate: | May 9, 1999 | ||
| Writer(s): | Gary Janetti | ||
| Director: | Michael Dante DiMartino | ||
| Guest star(s): | Dick Van Patten | ||
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"Brian: Portait of a Dog" is an episode of Family Guy from Season One. Guest starring Dick Van Patten as Tom Bradford. This is the last episode of the first season, the first episode of the next season is "Peter, Peter, Caviar Eater."
[edit] Plot summary
A record heat wave hits Quahog and the Griffins desperately want an air conditioner, but cannot afford one. When Peter learns that the Rhode Island Dog Show Championship is being held in town with a top prize of $500, he pressures Brian to enter. Brian finds the idea demeaning but reluctantly agrees. When he is asked to beg for a treat during the show, he angrily leaves. Brian finds that life is hard for a dog on his own: he is unwelcome at restaurants and shunned for drinking from a "people" water fountain. Soon he is reduced to begging for change on the streets and arrested, just as Peter realizes how much Brian means to the family. Brian is scheduled to be put to sleep and the family asks for an appeal before the city council. Brian mounts a persuasive argument, but the council refuses to listen to a mere dog; Peter resolves the situation by giving an inspirational speech and later offering each member $20.
[edit] Note
This episode introduces Stewie's teddy bear Rupert and Tom Tucker's upside-down face son.
[edit] Cultural references
- After Meg says the temperature is hot, the rest of the family says "How hot is it?", a la the audience on Match Game, a '70s game show.
- In the 1979 movie All That Jazz, where a director struggles with life, drugs and sex, etc. and before a show, he would use eye drops, take a deep breath, and say "Showtime!" This is what Brian does before he participates in the dog show.
- In the dog show, Brian is introduced as "Brain", the opposite of what occurs when Brain from Pinky and the Brain appear on Gyp-Parody.
- When Brian is kicked out of the Sicilian restaurant, he comes across the dogs from the Lady and the Tramp, in a parody of the famous spaghetti scene.
- When Brian is hiding from the cops (a scene which parodies Raiders of the Lost Ark), he finds Joyce DeWitt, who played Janet Wood on Three's Company.
- During Brian's parole hearing, he references the court case Plessy v. Ferguson, a famous U. S. Supreme Court case that approved segregation.
- The final scene, in which Brian drinks from the "people" water fountain, is a reference to the ending of the novel and TV movie, The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman, in which the title character, a black woman in the segregated South, does the same at a "white" water fountain.
- When Brian got out of the car, Lois was singing the song "Anything Goes" from the Cole Porter musical of the same name
[edit] References
- Callaghan, Steve. "Brian: Portrait of a Dog." Family Guy: The Official Episode Guide Seasons 1-3. New York: HarperCollins, 2005. 38 - 41.
- Delarte, Alonso. "Nitpicking Family Guy: Season 1." Bob's Poetry Magazine March 2005: 15. http://bobspoetry.com/Bobs02Mr.pdf
| Preceded by: "The Son Also Draws" |
Family Guy Episodes | Followed by: "Peter, Peter, Caviar Eater" |
