| "Believe It or Not, Joe's Walking on Air" | |||
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| Family Guy episode | |||
Joe after a successful leg transplant |
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| Episode no. | Season 6 Episode 3 |
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| Directed by | Julius Wu | ||
| Written by | Andrew Goldberg | ||
| Production code | 5ACX15 | ||
| Original air date | October 7, 2007 | ||
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| Episode chronology | |||
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| Family Guy (season 6) List of Family Guy episodes |
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"Believe It or Not, Joe's Walking on Air" is a season six episode 3 (episode 8 on Netflix) of the FOX animated television series Family Guy, an episode produced for Season 5. Joe Swanson gets the impression that his wife Bonnie is tired of being married to a handicapped person, so he decides to get a leg transplant. Excited about his new ability to walk, Joe dives head first into extreme sports and begins to hang around more active friends. Meanwhile, Peter and the guys are upset at how Joe is acting and decide to teach him a lesson. In doing so, he is re-crippled, and he makes amends with his friends.
The episode was written by Andrew Goldberg and directed by Julius Wu. It received praise from critics for its storyline, and many cultural references. According to Nielsen ratings, it was viewed in 8.4 million homes in its original airing. The episode featured guest performances by Jeff Bergman, Jamie Farr, Phil LaMarr, Wendy Raquel Robinson and Nicole Sullivan, along with several recurring guest voice actors for the series. This is the first episode where Meg was not seen and mentioned.
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When Peter, Cleveland, Joe and Quagmire are at the Drunken Clam, Peter shows his them his new camera phone and he shows them a picture of Lois's poo. Lois, Bernice (Cleveland's first girlfriend since his divorce with Loretta), and Bonnie show up at the bar, Peter and his friends get annoyed. Therefore, Peter suggests that they should build their own bar called "The Quahog Men's Club", which is designated for men only. It take six weeks and $8,000 for them to build it. After building it, Lois wants Peter to get rid of the shed, and Lois tells Peter that he took a layer of the house off.
Many people start to show up at the Quahog's Men's Club, such as Brian, Stewie, Fred Flintstone and Barney Rubble. Lois and her friends start to get annoyed by Peter and his friends being loud in the shed, so they upset them by going in there. Everyone dances, except for Bonnie, because her husband is handicapped. Joe feels self-conscious about his disability, and decides to get new legs. When Joe gets new legs, he invites his friends to go do physical activities such as rock climbing, karate, and dance. Joe starts to not care about his friends and his wife, and finds three new jock friends that share his status. Lois and Peter are worried about Joe, and Lois suggests that Peter should find a new friend to replace him. Meanwhile Joe realizes that he has outgrown Bonnie and leaves her, telling her to "keep the kid". Desperate for their friend back, Peter, Cleveland and Quagmire try to re-cripple Joe, failing miserably until Bonnie comes along with Joe's handgun and shoots (and misses) Joe's spine. Sick of waiting in pain, Joe takes the gun and shoots himself in the spine, re-crippling himself. Later in the episode Joe apologizes to Peter, Cleveland and Quagmire, who play a trick on him by saying "we can all go for a nice long walk".
Believe It or Not, Joe's Walking on Air, is a season six episode of the FOX animated television series Family Guy. It was written by Andrew Goldberg, this episode being his first time working for the show.[1] The writing process began when Goldberg was creator Seth MacFarlane's assistant and was given a freelance episode.[2] He wrote the episode, and executive producer David A. Goodman thought he did a "fantastic job".[2] He would later go on to write the season seven episode The Juice is Loose.[2] The episode was directed by Julius Wu, who had written before The Tan Aquatic with Steve Zissou.[1] Directors Peter Shin and James Purdun acted as supervising directors.[1] Cherry Chevapravatdumrong and Patrick Meighan worked as executive story editors, while John Viener, Lawrence Broch, Mike Gandolfi, David Raether, and William Lucas Walker worked as story editors.[1][3]
Believe It or Not, Joe's Walking on Air, along The remaining five episodes of the fifth season, along with the rest first six of the sixth season, were also released under the title "Volume 6" by 20th Century Fox in the United States and Canada on October 21, 2008, five months after they had completed broadcast on television.[4] The DVD release also features bonus material including deleted scenes, commentaries, and a 'making of' feature.[4]
In addition to the regular cast, actor Jeff Bergman, voice actor Phil LaMarr, actor Jamie Farr and actress Wendy Raquel Robinson guest started in the episode. Recurring guest voice actors Steve Callaghan, actor Ralph Garman, writer Danny Smith, writer Alec Sulkin, and writer John Viener made minor appearances.[1][3] Recurring guest voice actors Jennifer Tilly and Patrick Warburton reprise their roles of Bonnie and Joe Swanson respectively.
The episode makes several references to pop culture referencing films, music and media. Peter remembers a movie he watched with actor Jack Black in it.[5] The episode's title is a reference to the theme song from the cult classic early '80s superhero show, The Greatest American Hero.[5] When rock climbing Cleveland is saved from a fall by Spider-Man.[5] Joe makes Cleveland, Quagmire and Peter sing and dance Good Morning from the film Singin' in the Rain.[5] The long fight sequence at the end is a reference to beat-'em-up video games Double Dragon and Final Fight, which featured a similar style of fighting.
The episode makes references to Family Guy itself. When Bonnie, Lois and Cleveland's new girlfriend come to dance at The Drunken Clam, they state that they would like to make the bar their place to hang out, were after Peter grabs Joe's gun and kills himself. It turns out that this was only Peter's imagination as he snaps out of it when Joe starts talking to him; Peter answers that he was having a Scrubs fantasy moment.[5] Quagmire responds to Peter's moment by stating that "Scrubs" is the best show people are not watching. Cleveland replies that he hates shows that leave the story for a gag or joke, referring to the numerous cutaways Scrubs and Family Guy contain.[5] While in the hospital Peter realizes that Mr. Pewterschmidt and Dr. Hartman have a similar voice, then Mr. Pewterschmidt comes in to the room and they both start talking about how there voices sound alike, this is a reference to the show's creator Seth MacFarlane as he voices both characters.[5][6]
The episode also makes references to history. In the following cutaway Adolf Hitler is shown juggling three fish while riding a unicycle. After a while the same cutaway reappears, but this time Peter shows up and knocks Hitler off the unicycle and punches him in the face and breaks the fourth wall by saying "See. We had a plan for that all along".[5] When Lois suggests that Peter finds a new friend, she tells him to find a kindred spirit like Judas found in Pontius Pilate.[5]
At the Quahog Men's Club, Stewie complains of a headache. He asks Brian for some Anacin. Brian exhibits surprise that the medicine is still available, as it "seems like sort of a 70s medication."
This episode drew 8.4 million viewers on its first airing (4.9/7). Also, a repeat of the episode on the Fox network December 16, 2007[7] was #29 of 94 programs listed by Nielsen Media Research for the week of December 10 to December 16, 2007.[8]
The episode received positive reviews from critics. Ahsan Haque of IGN gave the episode a positive review, writing that it "brings back memories how groundbreaking and fantastic this show once was, and how great the show can be when the writers put their minds to it". He graded "Believe it Or Not, Joe's Walking On Air" 9.3 out of 10.[5] Brad Trechak of TV Squad also praised the episode, stating "Family Guy is starting to stick to what it does best", though he called the ending "somewhat predictable".[9] Genevieve Koski of The A.V. Club wrote that the episode had "a fairly interesting storyline", but she was distracted by the absence of Joe's son, Kevin. She graded "Believe it Or Not, Joe's Walking On Air" B.[6]
| Preceded by Movin' Out (Brian's Song) |
Family Guy (season 6) | Succeeded by Stewie Kills Lois/Lois Kills Stewie |
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