Road to Rhode Island

"Road to Rhode Island"
Family Guy episode
Brian and Stewie with Brian's dead, stuffed mother.
Episode no.	Season 2 Episode 13
Written by	Gary Janetti
Directed by	Dan Povenmire
Production no.	2ACX12
Original airdate	May 30, 2000
Guest stars
Sam Waterson as Dr. Kaplan Brian Doyle-Murray as Luke Victoria Principal Dr. Amanda Rebecca Danny Smith as various characters Wally Wingert as various characters
Episode chronology ← Previous Next → "Fifteen Minutes of Shame" "Let's Go to the Hop"
Family Guy (season 2) List of Family Guy episodes

"Road to Rhode Island" is an episode from the second season of the FOX animated series Family Guy. Brian volunteers to bring Stewie home from his grandparents' house in California, but the two miss their plane and must travel on foot for a cross-country journey back home. Meanwhile, Peter becomes addicted to watching a collection of marriage counseling videos hosted by a porn star.

The episode was directed by Dan Povenmire and was written by Gary Janetti. It guest starred Victoria Principal as Dr. Amanda Rebecca, Brian Doyle-Murray as Luke, and Danny Smith and Wally Wingert as various characters. Series creator Seth MacFarlane conceived the idea for this episode, and was inspired by the Road to comedy films. Since airing, the episode has received generally positive reviews from television critics. It was nominated for an Emmy Award for Outstanding Animated Program (For Programming less than One Hour), but lost to The Simpsons episode "Behind the Laughter".

Plot summary

The episode begins with a flashback set 7 years ago, where it is revealed that Brian was born in a puppy mill and the circumstances under which he was taken from his mother. We cut to the present, with Brian telling his psychiatrist about this. Afterwards, Brian volunteers to pick up Stewie from his vacation at his grandparents' summer home in Palm Springs, California, where Stewie frames a maid for stealing to amuse himself at dinner. At the airport bar, Brian gets very drunk and when Stewie comes to retrieve him their plane tickets are stolen. They stop at a rundown motel, where Stewie tries calling home, but fails because he believes his phone number is 867-5309. During the middle of the night, Stewie can't get any sleep because of a gang meeting going on in the other room. Annoyed, Stewie yells, "He's wearing a wire", and one of the gang members shoots the other man. The next day, they have to escape and hotwire a car because their credit card was rejected. To get home Stewie and Brian masquerade as crop dusters to steal a plane, which they immediately wreck. As the pair continue hitchhiking back to Quahog, they pass by a puppy mill near Austin, Texas, Brian's birthplace. Upon arrival they discover that Brian's mother was taxidermied and turned into a table by the puppy mill owners as a memorial. With Stewie's reluctant help, Brian gives his mother a proper burial. While eulogizing Brian's mother, Stewie gives an unusual retelling of the Biblical story of Abraham and Isaac. The pair eventually complete their journey home by riding in an open boxcar, where they perform a musical duet.

Meanwhile, Lois urges Peter to watch relationship videos with her, but the videos turn out to be pornography hosted by Dr. Amanda Rebecca, who strips after asking the women to leave the room. Peter is initially reluctant but later becomes addicted to the videos, much to Lois' chagrin. She gets herself on the end of one of the tapes in black lingerie and entices Peter. While kissing, Peter rewinds the tape, playing the part of Lois taking her robe off over and over.

When Stewie and Brian return home, Brian is thankful to Stewie for all he's done, and asks Stewie if there's anything he can do to repay him. At first it appears that Stewie wishes to make him his servant by providing an example with an episode of The Brady Bunch, although it turns out that Stewie wants Brian to tape that episode for him.^[1]

Production

"Road to Rhode Island" was the first episode of Family Guy to be directed by Dan Povenmire.

"Road to Rhode Island" was directed by Dan Povenmire and was written by Gary Janetti.^[2] It featured guest appearances from Victoria Principal as Dr. Amanda Rebecca, Brian Doyle-Murray as Luke, and Danny Smith and Wally Wingert as various characters.^[2] This was the first episode directed by Povenmire.^[3] Family Guy creator Seth MacFarlane granted Povenmire substantial creative freedom for directing episodes. Povenmire recalled that MacFarlane would tell him "We've got two minutes to fill. Give me some visual gags. Do whatever you want. I trust you." Povenmire praised MacFarlane's management style for letting him "have [...] fun."^[4]

This is the first episode of the "Road to" episodes of the series which air through various seasons of the show. Povenmire has directed this and two other "Road to" episodes before he left the show to create his own series, entitled Phineas and Ferb, a series which has since been nominated for three Emmy Awards.^[5][6] The episodes are a parody of the seven "Road to" comedy films starring Bing Crosby, Bob Hope, and Dorothy Lamour.^[7] MacFarlane, a fan of the film series, came up with the idea. The musical number in the episode is sang to the tune of "(We're off on the) Road to Morocco" from the film Road to Morocco.^[7]

Reception

In his 2009 review, Ahsan Haque of IGN praised the episode, saying: "Great writing, hilarious jokes, a catchy musical, and a story that's both hilarious and touching at the same time - Family Guy doesn't get much better than this."^[8] The episode was nominated for an Emmy Award for Outstanding Animated Program (For Programming less than One Hour), but lost to The Simpsons episode Behind the Laughter.^[8][9]

References

General

• Callaghan, Steve (2005). Family Guy: The Official Episode Guide, Seasons 1–3. HarperCollins. ISBN 006083305X.

Specific

External links

• Road to Rhode Island on Family Guy Wiki, an external wiki
• Road to Rhode Island at the Internet Movie Database
• "Road to Rhode Island" at TV.com