The Simpsons Guy

"The Simpsons Guy" is the first episode of the thirteenth season of the animated television series Family Guy, and the 232nd overall episode. "The Simpsons Guy" is a 45-minute-long crossover with The Simpsons, and was written by Patrick Meighan and directed by Peter Shin.^[2] It originally aired in the United States on September 28, 2014 on Fox, where both The Simpsons and Family Guy have both aired since their respective debuts. In the episode the Griffins stay with the Simpsons after their car is stolen just outside of Springfield. The Griffins eventually get their car back; however, Peter is soon after taken to court as a representative of Pawtucket Patriot after it is revealed to be an infringement of Duff Beer.

Plot

Peter makes a comic called "For Pete's Sake" which angers local women, so he drives the Griffin family out of Quahog. When they stop at a gas station, their car is stolen, leaving them stranded outside Springfield. At the Kwik-E-Mart, Homer Simpson introduces himself to the Griffins and takes them to the Springfield Police Department, where they are turned away by Chief Wiggum since they did not contribute to the Policeman's Ball.

The Simpson family puts up the Griffin family in their home until things improve. Bart Simpson shows Stewie his slingshot, and teaches him how to skateboard, but is then bullied by Nelson Muntz, so Stewie takes revenge by kidnapping and torturing Nelson. Meanwhile Lisa tries to find something Meg is good at, finds that she is a natural at the saxophone, but downplays her talent out of jealousy. Chris and Brian take the Simpsons' dog Santa's Little Helper for a walk, with Brian trying to teach Santa's Little Helper independence, but he runs off when freed, leading them on a chase through town until he gets lost. Marge notices Santa's Little Helper missing and Chris and Brian try to fake his presence, but he eventually returns. Homer and Peter try different plans to find Peter's car, each one backfiring, until they discover that Peter's car was taken by Hans Moleman by mistake, after he runs Peter over.

The men celebrate at Moe's Tavern, but things go bad when Peter tries to introduce Homer to Pawtucket Patriot and the ale is revealed to be a knock-off of Duff Beer. This results in the Blue Haired Lawyer filing a lawsuit against Pawtucket Brewery for patent infringement with Peter forced to defend the brewery to save Quahog as the brewery is the town's largest employer. Fred Flintstone is the judge who presides over the case. During the trial, similar characters from both shows interact with each other, including both shows' versions of James Woods. Fred finds in favor of Duff Beer, but declares that both Pawtucket Patriot Beer and Duff Beer are imitations of his own favorite beer Bud Rock.

The family prepares to return to Quahog where Peter faces the prospect of finding a new job. Lisa gives Meg her saxophone, but Peter throws it away, as there is no room for any more luggage. Stewie points out that he took revenge on all of Bart's enemies; Bart is sickened by this and bids him goodbye. Homer tries to explain his actions, but Peter reacts angrily and the two end up having a chicken fight style brawl all through Springfield, crashing into the Springfield Nuclear Power Plant where they gain superpowers after falling into the reactor. They end up in Kang and Kodos' spaceship, and lose their powers before landing in Springfield Gorge. Peter and Homer stop fighting and admit their respect and admiration for each other while agreeing to stay away from each other. Returning home, the Griffins find things have blown over and the Pawtucket Brewery safe. Stewie tries to pretend he is over Bart, but goes to his room crying while writing "I will not think about Bart anymore" several times on a chalkboard.

Production

Five of the six main voice actors from The Simpsons reprised their roles in this episode. From left to right: Nancy Cartwright, Yeardley Smith, Dan Castellaneta and Julie Kavner. Hank Azaria is not pictured.

The episode was first announced by Fox in July 2013 to premiere in the fall of 2014.^[3] In May 2014, Fox presented two clips from the episode at their annual upfront presentation.^[4] In an interview with Entertainment Weekly about the episode, Seth 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.”^[5] Matt 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 idea of a crossover with The Simpsons was first suggested while the thirteenth season of Family Guy was being planned out. Executive producer Richard Appel received MacFarlane's blessing and input after brainstorming ideas. Groening, James L. Brooks and Al Jean also gave their approval since Appel had been a writer-producer on The Simpsons for four seasons. Dan Castellaneta, Julie Kavner, Nancy Cartwright, Yeardley Smith and Hank Azaria guest star as their Simpsons characters, but Harry Shearer, the final main cast member of The Simpsons, was unavailable. Asked how he felt about the crossover, Shearer replied, "Matter and anti-matter."^[6] When Appel expressed his concern about the length of the episode after the table read, MacFarlane said that Fox would be happy to make it an hour long. Supervising director Peter Shin, a former layout artist on The Simpsons, spent time adjusting the Griffins to the specifications of Springfield – such as 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 a sequel to the episode, but stated that "by season 43 of The Simpsons and season 27 of Family Guy, someone who's looking at a blank board is going to say, 'Well, the Griffins went to Springfield... what if the Simpsons went to Quahog?' And more heads will explode at Fox."^[1]

It also includes cameo appearances by Roger of American Dad!, Bob Belcher of Bob's Burgers and Fred Flintstone of The 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 have hepatitis, while Homer refers to the Griffin family as "our albino visitors."^[7]

Reception

The episode was watched by 8.45 million people. Compared to the other shows in its timeslot, this was slightly more than the season premiere of Resurrection on ABC but less than The Good Wife on CBS. The earlier premiere of the twenty-sixth season of The Simpsons was watched by 8.53 million.^[8]

"The Simpsons Guy" received mixed reviews. Writing in USA Today, Mike Foss gave the episode a positive review, but criticized how the episode was written by Family Guy staff and thus lacked elements of The Simpsons‍ '​ humor.^[9] Jason Hughes of The Wrap was also generally in praise of the episode, but felt that scenes including Peter and Homer's fight, and their erotic car wash, were "squeamish" and out of place for The Simpsons. He however acknowledged that Bart's disgust at Stewie's behavior was "a good statement" of the difference between the two shows.^[10] On the other hand, some reviews were more negative; Newsday said "As suspected, the "Family Guy" crossover - "The Simpsons Guy" - was just another one of those flagrant, impudent, unashamed, wanton crossovers into the land of corporate logrolling, or that craven place where I-scratch-your-back-you-scratch-mine serves both parties".^[11]

Palatinate, the newspaper of the University of Durham, said "The episode is good. It ticks all the boxes for what a crossover episode should do far more capably than previous offerings in US Television. By no means is it the best episode of Family Guy I have ever seen, or The Simpsons for that matter. Nevertheless, it was an enjoyable novelty that proved that both of these comedy giants are not dead yet and now have the opportunity to perhaps recapture past glories."^[12] Den of Geek rated the episode 1.5/5 stars, writing "It has a couple of moments, but nothing that makes me want to recommend this episode. If it was more Simpsons than Family Guy, maybe we would have had something to write home about."^[13] The Escapist gave it 2.5/5 stars, and commented " "The Simpsons Guy" doesn't, on its own, measure up to the best of either series (though it would be much lower on a ranked list of Simpsons episodes than it will be as a Family Guy episode) but as a television "stunt" crossover it'll do alright."^[14] The article by Vulture critiquing the episode was entitled "The Creators of Family Guy Must Have a Major Inferiority Complex When It Comes to The Simpsons".^[15]

IGN rated the episode 7 out of 10, commenting "Family Guy‍ '​s crossover with The Simpsons doesn't live up to its full potential, but proves entertaining regardless".^[16] International Business Times said: "The Family Guy-Simpsons crossover episode was long overdue, but it managed to hit the right chord."^[17] VOX wrote "What could be expected here was mostly just a weird mediocrity, a blip of a footnote in both shows' histories. What nobody could have expected was a blight on humanity itself. But that's what we got."^[18] TVLine wrote " I found the Griffins’ visit to Springfield to be a bizarre-yet-perfect marriage, one that taught us all a valuable lesson: Despite their inherent similarities, it’s OK to love both shows for (very) different reasons"^[19] Standard-Examiner described it as a "monumental animation event".^[20]

The A.V. Club named the episode among the "The worst TV of 2014" under "Worst crossover", writing "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—set to Kelis’ “Milkshake” [sic]—is its most successful look-away gag".^[21]

Controversy

This episode of Family Guy caused controversy before it even aired on Fox. Tim Winter, the President of the Parents Television Council, a socially conservative media monitoring organization and longtime critic of Family Guy, wrote to Matt Groening, Seth MacFarlane and Fox about a joke seen in the trailer for the episode. In it, after Bart's prank call to Moe asking for a man with an innuendo name, Stewie makes his own call and tells Moe that his sister is being raped. Winter felt that jokes about rape make it "less outrageous in real life", and that people who watch The Simpsons but not Family Guy would be unfamiliar with the latter show's brand of humor.^[22] A Fox spokeswoman declined to comment on the joke. MacFarlane, interviewed by Entertainment Weekly, said that although he would be attacked for stating it as such, the joke was "pretty funny... in context". A spokeswoman from the Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network said "I think the show is making it clear that rape is not funny by how they are positioning the joke."^[23]

The Parents Television Council declared the episode worst show of the week, saying that it was significantly distasteful to involve The Simpsons because although that series is rated PG, Family Guy aims "to reach the most extreme and outlandish conclusion of any joke, no matter how harsh the punchline may be. For subjecting viewers to jokes about rape, cartoon nudity, and disturbing acts of violence, Fox’s Family Guy will remain the Worst TV Show of the Week".^[24]

References

External links

• "The Simpsons Guy" at TV.com
• "The Simpsons Guy" at the Internet Movie Database