"Love, Blactually" is the first episode in the
seventh season of the American animated television series ''
Family Guy''. It originally aired on
Fox
Foxes are small to medium-sized, omnivorous mammals belonging to several genera of the family Canidae. They have a flattened skull, upright, triangular ears, a pointed, slightly upturned snout, and a long bushy tail (or ''brush'').
Twelve sp ...
in the United States on September 28, 2008. The episode features
anthropomorphic dog
Brian
Brian (sometimes spelled Bryan in English) is a male given name of Irish and Breton origin, as well as a surname of Occitan origin. It is common in the English-speaking world.
It is possible that the name is derived from an Old Celtic word me ...
as he meets a fellow
atheist named Carolyn (
Kat Foster) at a book store, and the two begin dating. Heeding advice from
Stewie (also voiced by MacFarlane), Brian decides not to have sex with her. Carolyn is led to believe that Brian does not want a substantive relationship, so she begins to date
Cleveland
Cleveland ( ), officially the City of Cleveland, is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County. Located in the northeastern part of the state, it is situated along the southern shore of Lake Erie, across the U.S. ...
(
Mike Henry). The episode was originally slated to air during season six on March 2, 2008, but was replaced with "
Play It Again, Brian" for unknown reasons.
The episode was written by Henry, and directed by
Cyndi Tang. It received generally positive reviews from critics for its storyline. According to
Nielsen ratings, it was watched by 9.2 million viewers in its original airing. The episode featured guest performances by Foster, along with several recurring voice actors from the series. "Love, Blactually" was released on DVD along with eight other episodes from the season on June 16, 2009.
Plot
During a
costume party
A costume party (American English) or fancy dress party (other varieties of English) is a type of party, common in contemporary Western culture, in which many of the guests are dressed in costume, usually depicting a fictional or stock chara ...
,
Lois suggests
Brian
Brian (sometimes spelled Bryan in English) is a male given name of Irish and Breton origin, as well as a surname of Occitan origin. It is common in the English-speaking world.
It is possible that the name is derived from an Old Celtic word me ...
to find a girlfriend. After going to the bookstore to buy ''
The God Delusion'', Brian meets an
atheist named Carolyn, who happens to be looking for the same book. Brian becomes interested in Carolyn, and the two begin to date. When she invites him to her house,
Stewie apprehends Brian and tells him that his relationships fail because he has sex with his girlfriends immediately when they meet. Brian realizes that Stewie is right and decides to listen to his advice. However, he finds out that Carolyn has begun to date
Cleveland
Cleveland ( ), officially the City of Cleveland, is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County. Located in the northeastern part of the state, it is situated along the southern shore of Lake Erie, across the U.S. ...
, since Brian did not want to have sex for the three weeks they have dated, and assumed he just wanted to be friends. A heartbroken Brian tries to deal with his loss, but keeps running into Cleveland and Carolyn having sex in various locations. Blaming Stewie for his advice that cost him a relationship with Carolyn, Brian is about ready to give up on love. Apologizing for his botched attempt to help him out, Stewie suggests that he can convince Cleveland's ex-wife, Loretta, to reconcile with him.
The two visit Loretta in her own home and find out that she feels guilty for
cheating on him with
Quagmire, and believes she can never go back to Cleveland. Later, Cleveland visits Brian to clear any negative feeling he has against him and Carolyn, as they are at "a point of great soreness", but then Cleveland announces to Brian that he plans to elope with Carolyn in
Hawaii
Hawaii ( ; haw, Hawaii or ) is a state in the Western United States, located in the Pacific Ocean about from the U.S. mainland. It is the only U.S. state outside North America, the only state that is an archipelago, and the only state ...
, which makes their friendship tense. Just as Cleveland leaves, Loretta appears out of nowhere. Loretta apologizes to Cleveland for her affair with Quagmire, she then announces that she wants to get their family back together and promises she'll never betray him again. Cleveland goes to
Peter
Peter may refer to:
People
* List of people named Peter, a list of people and fictional characters with the given name
* Peter (given name)
** Saint Peter (died 60s), apostle of Jesus, leader of the early Christian Church
* Peter (surname), a sur ...
and Lois for advice on what should be done. Peter and Lois think Cleveland shouldn't go back to Loretta, but Brian (seeing this as his only chance at getting back with Carolyn) says Cleveland should "forgive and forget", and points out Loretta's good qualities (which he's obviously lying, as his nose starts to grow). Peter suspects that Brian is lying and points out that she can't be trusted after what she did. Cleveland decides to talk to Loretta tomorrow to see how he feels about getting back together with her. Thinking Loretta hasn't changed and suspecting that Brian was using her to sabotage his chances to be with Carolyn, Peter recruits
Quagmire to have sex with Loretta again so Cleveland can see she hasn't changed. Quagmire meets her at the hotel she's staying in, but this time, Loretta resists his advances and tells him to beat it after smashing him in the face with an iron. When Cleveland shows up to her hotel room, Cleveland forgives her, but insists that it is time for the both of them to move on while Loretta lives her life as amazing and wonderful as she can. Cleveland finally leaves as Loretta tearfully watches on. When Cleveland visits Carolyn, he finds her and Quagmire having sex, apparently the same way it happened to Brian. Since both Brian and Cleveland have been cheated on by the same woman, Cleveland apologizes to him for stealing Carolyn and they make amends, with the former revealing himself to have received a
genital wart
Genital warts are a sexually transmitted infection caused by certain types of human papillomavirus (HPV). They are generally pink in color and project out from the surface of the skin. Usually they cause few symptoms, but can occasionally be pai ...
.
Production
![Mike Henry by Gage Skidmore 3](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/17/Mike_Henry_by_Gage_Skidmore_3.jpg)
"Love, Blactually" is the season premiere of the seventh season of ''Family Guy''. It was written by one of the show's main voice actors,
Mike Henry, in his first episode of the season.
The episode dealt a lot with the character of Cleveland Brown, which is one of the characters for which Henry provides the voice.
[ The episode was directed by Cyndi Tang, who has been with the show since its fifth season.][ Series regulars ]Peter Shin
Peter Shin is an American animator, director, and producer who served as supervising director of '' Stewie Griffin: The Untold Story'', the director of '' Big Bug Man'', the director of '' Family Guy'' episodes "Death Has a Shadow" (the series prem ...
and James Purdum served as supervising directors for the episode.[ The episode is one of the last to concentrate on the character of Cleveland, since he would be moved to '']The Cleveland Show
''The Cleveland Show'' is an American animated sitcom created by Seth MacFarlane, Richard Appel, and Mike Henry for the Fox Broadcasting Company. A spin-off of ''Family Guy'', the series centers on Cleveland Brown, his new wife Donna Tubbs, and ...
'' (which Henry co-created).
"Love, Blactually", along with the first eight episodes of the seventh season were released on DVD by 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment
20th Century Studios Home Entertainment (commonly referred to as 20th Home Video, or 20th Home Entertainment, formerly known as 20th Century-Fox Video, CBS/Fox Video, Fox Video, and 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment) is a home video label of Wa ...
in the United States and Canada on June 16, 2009, one month after it had completed broadcast on television. The "Volume 7" DVD release features bonus material including deleted scene
A deleted scene is footage that has been removed from the final version of a film or television show. There are various reasons why these scenes are deleted, which include time constraints, relevance, quality or a dropped story thread. A similar o ...
s, animatics
A storyboard is a graphic organizer that consists of illustrations or images displayed in sequence for the purpose of pre-visualizing a motion picture, animation, motion graphic or interactive media sequence. The storyboarding process, in t ...
, and commentaries for every episode.
In addition to the regular cast, actress Kat Foster portrayed the voice of Carolyn. Recurring voice actors Ralph Garman, writer Danny Smith, writer Alec Sulkin, and writer John Viener
Jonathan David Viener (; born July 10, 1972) is an American actor, comedian, writer, and producer.
Early life
Viener was born in New York City, New York.
Career
He is a writer and producer on the television series '' Family Guy'', where he al ...
also made minor appearances. Then-series writer and regular voice actress Alex Borstein portrayed the voice of Loretta Brown.[
]
Cultural references
The episode begins with a costume party, where Brian and Stewie are both dressed as Snoopy
Snoopy is an anthropomorphic beagle in the comic strip ''Peanuts'' by Charles M. Schulz. He can also be found in all of the ''Peanuts'' films and television specials. Since his debut on October 4, 1950, Snoopy has become one of the most recog ...
from ''Peanuts
''Peanuts'' is a syndicated daily and Sunday American comic strip written and illustrated by Charles M. Schulz. The strip's original run extended from 1950 to 2000, continuing in reruns afterward. ''Peanuts'' is among the most popular and infl ...
'', Quagmire dresses up as Napoleon Dynamite
''Napoleon Dynamite'' is a 2004 American comedy film produced by Jeremy Coon, Chris Wyatt and Sean Covel, written by Jared and Jerusha Hess and directed by Jared Hess. The film stars Jon Heder in the role of the titular character, a nerdy ...
, Peter as Laura Bush, Lois as Michael Dutton Douglas, Joe as Mark Spitz
Mark Andrew Spitz (born February 10, 1950) is an American former competitive swimmer and nine-time Olympic champion. He was the most successful athlete at the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich, winning seven gold medals, each in world-record ti ...
(although people believe he is a crippled Thomas Magnum
Thomas Sullivan Magnum IV is a fictional character on the American television series '' Magnum, P.I.''. As the title suggests, the character Magnum is a private investigator. In the original series, Magnum was portrayed by Tom Selleck. Jay Hern ...
), and Cleveland as Charlie Chaplin. Woodstock
Woodstock Music and Art Fair, commonly referred to as Woodstock, was a music festival held during August 15–18, 1969, on Max Yasgur's dairy farm in Bethel, New York, United States, southwest of the town of Woodstock. Billed as "an Aq ...
, another character from ''Peanuts'' also makes a cameo appearance
A cameo role, also called a cameo appearance and often shortened to just cameo (), is a brief appearance of a well-known person in a work of the performing arts. These roles are generally small, many of them non-speaking ones, and are commonly ei ...
. The popular conversation between Stewie and Brian which draws attention to a hard "h" consonant sound is directly sourced from dialogue within the film '' Hot Rod''. Stewie finds a book entitled ''Horton Hears Domestic Violence in the Next Apartment and Doesn't Call 911!'', a parody of ''Horton Hears a Who!
''Horton Hears a Who!'' is a children's book written and illustrated by Theodor Seuss Geisel under the pen name Dr. Seuss. It was published in 1954 by Random House. This book tells the story of Horton the Elephant and his adventures saving Whovi ...
'' Cleveland's deadpan exclamation of "...and boom goes the dynamite" is a reference to the popular catchphrase which became an Internet sensation. Cleveland and Carolyn meet at a Starbucks. Peter doesn't remember the name of Cleveland's ex-wife (Loretta) and he guesses that it's Jennifer Hudson
Jennifer Kate Hudson (born September 12, 1981), also known by her nickname J.Hud, is an American singer, actress, and talk show host. Throughout her career, she has received various accolades for her works in recorded music, film, televisio ...
.
Reception
The episode was watched by 9.2 million viewers, compared to 9.3 million that tuned in to ''The Simpsons'' and 7 million that watched ''King of the Hill
''King of the Hill'' is an American animated sitcom created by Mike Judge and Greg Daniels for the Fox Broadcasting Company. It aired its original non-syndicated run from January 12, 1997, to September 13, 2009, and centers on the Hills, an Am ...
'' for their season openers on Fox. The episode received positive reviews. Ahsan Haque of IGN
''IGN'' (formerly ''Imagine Games Network'') is an American video game and entertainment media website operated by IGN Entertainment Inc., a subsidiary of Ziff Davis, Inc. The company's headquarters is located in San Francisco's SoMa distri ...
praised "Love, Blactually", writing that it had "many memorable scenes, quote-worthy dialogue, politically incorrect references, and great storyline". He graded the episode 8.9 out of 10. Steve Heisler of The A.V. Club
''The A.V. Club'' is an American online newspaper and entertainment website featuring reviews, interviews, and other articles that examine films, music, television, books, games, and other elements of pop-culture media. ''The A.V. Club'' was cre ...
wrote that the episode was "pretty funny overall" with "some great meta-commentary", and graded it B+. In contrast Robin Pierson of The TV Critic gave the episode a negative review, saying that ''Family Guy'' has become like the shows it mocked in its earlier seasons and he ended his review by stating that it has become "predictable, stale and irritating to watch" and he gave it a 29 out of a possible 100.
References
External links
*
{{Family Guy (season 7)
Family Guy (season 7) episodes
2008 American television episodes