| "Brian Goes Back to College" | |||
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| Family Guy episode | |||
Brian studies for his exams, while Stewie enjoys college life. |
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| Episode no. | Season 4 Episode 15 |
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| Directed by | Greg Colton | ||
| Written by | Matt Fleckenstein | ||
| Production code | 4ACX18 | ||
| Original air date | November 13, 2005 | ||
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| Episode chronology | |||
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| Family Guy (season 4) List of Family Guy episodes |
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"Brian Goes Back to College" is the fifteenth episode of Family Guy 's fourth season. The episode originally aired on Sunday November 13, 2005. Guest stars on the show were Ralph Garman, Mark Hentemann and Phil LaMarr.[1] The episode was described by show creator Seth MacFarlane to be "a real treat for The A-Team fans".[2] The episode contained several connections with The New Yorker; in response, they wrote a friendly article about the episode.[3] The plot consists of Peter, Joe, Cleveland and Quagmire winning a costume contest dressed as characters from The A-Team, and deciding to improve their community by continuing to act like the characters of the show. Brian is hired by The New Yorker, but is later dismissed as he did not complete college, so he returns to finish his education.[4] It was rated TV-14-D.
Contents |
Peter, Joe, Cleveland, and Quagmire win a costume contest as characters from The A-Team (because they had an actual black guy as B. A. Baracus). Peter and his friends find Brian, who is writing a report for the local newspaper. When Peter and his friends win the costume contest, Brian writes a report about it, and is later telephoned by a member of The New Yorker, who tell him they would like him to work for their magazine. Brian is initially given a warm welcome by the staff, but he is immediately fired after he informs them he never graduated from college. Meanwhile, disappointed at no longer being able to be The A-Team, Peter decides to become an unofficial A-Team alongside Joe, Cleveland, and Quagmire, and decide to help their local community. Peter designs a replica of the van used by The A-Team.
After encouragement from Lois, Brian decides to return to Brown University in order to complete his education so he can return to The New Yorker. Stewie, unknowing to Brian, returns to college with him. Brian's new teacher takes an instant disliking to him, but his opinion of Brian quickly changes after he cheats on a test and gets a high mark. Brian goes to tell his teacher that he cheated, but is interrupted, as the teacher tells him Brian has inspired him, and he was so depressed that he was planning to commit suicide. Meanwhile, Peter becomes very satisfied with his A-Team's actions, but the team fails a mission to save a local park from demolition by becoming "side-tracked by idle conversation" with the builders. The guility A-Team disbands afterwards. Brian eventually cracks under the pressure of a final test and knowing he will only pass if he cheats, he decides to return home with Stewie. A shocked Lois attempts to encourage him to go back and finish the test, and eventually chases him away with a vacuum cleaner.
Brian ends up exercising for hours with the help of Stewie, parodying Rocky Balboa in the movie Rocky IV, but realises his test is only a few hours away. He becomes stressed at being late for his exam, so Lois persuades Peter to revive The A-Team and drive Brian to his test, which is successful, and Brian arrives on time. He fails his test, but remains proud of himself for not cheating, much to the dismay of the family, who tell him that he probably should have cheated.
Several people who were involved in the production of the original A-Team worked with show producers for this episode. Ron Jones wrote the music during the scene of Peter and his friends helping the man in the bar, Jones had also written music for the actual The A-Team series in the 1980s.[2] This episode marks the third appearance of Brian's wheelchair-using teacher; he originally appears in "Ready, Willing, and Disabled" and "Brian the Bachelor" when playing in the Special Olympics during the former episode and attempting to become a candidate for The Bachelorette in the latter episode. The professor's and his wife's voices were not played by a real person; they were made from a generic computer system in the studio.[2] A deleted scene was animated which showed the professor informing Brian that he once had a student who was identical to him, but instead took human form and had a mustache. David Goodman commented this as being a pretty strange gag.[2][5] Several viewers contacted Greg Colton, a Family Guy director, asking him if Roger Williams Park (a real public park in Rhode Island) was due to be demolished. He commented that one couple were extremely worried, because they were due to have their wedding there.[6] The title of the episode was originally meant to be "Brian Goes Back to College and Stewie Goes With Him for Obvious Comedic Reasons", but it was deemed too long.[7]
The episode is based on the 1980s American drama series The A-Team.[2] When the introduction sequence of The A-Team was made for the episode, it took the writers and producers several attempts to animate it correctly. The background images used were real images used from The A-Team's intro sequence.[2] When Brian is shown to be exercising heavily at a ski resort under the supervision of Stewie, he climbs the mountain then shouts from the top, this complete scene is a reference to Rocky IV.[2] At the football game the names up on the board were Brown and The Board of Education, a reference to the Brown vs The Board of Education hearings. When Brian is kicked out of the offices of the New Yorker, the episode is referencing Snoopy being kicked out of public buildings or transportation in the Peanuts movie, Snoopy Come Home. Brian's teacher is most likely a parody of Stephen Hawking, a theoretical physicist that is also disabled and communicates through a machine on his wheelchair. One cutaway gag featured Ashlee Simpson preparing to sing a song, only for "Ol' Man River" from the musical Showboat to begin playing, revealing she was lip-synching (much like her 2005 Saturday Night Live incident). At the end of the show before Peter and his friends take Brian to take his test, Peter says he feels as useless as the nude playboy spread of Debbie Gibson saying "Its like yea shes naked but who gives a shit."
This episode did not receive much reception from its creators or third parties; however, The New Yorker wrote a friendly response article to this episode, as they were the main subject. The New Yorker appeared to take no offense at the episode, and did not retaliate.[2] Ryan J. Budke of TV Squad praised The A Team parody in the episode, stating that the "30 second recreation of the A-Team opening had me about as excited as anything else on TV".[8]
| Preceded by PTV |
Family Guy (season 4) | Succeeded by The Courtship of Stewie's Father |