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Family Guy: No Chris Left Behind
(S05E16) After watching this episode the first thing that came to mind was the scene from the season four episode "Jungle Love" where Stewie traveled across the country to slap Will Ferrell. I'm starting to get the feeling that Seth MacFarlane, or someone at Family Guy central, could use some Griffin family negative reinforcement. I'm speaking of the chicken fight scene. Well, scene isn't really appropriate. Segment would be more apt I suppose. I'm generally one that enjoys when shows reference back to things they have done in the past. Things like Chris' roommate at Morningwood being the son of James Bottomtooth from "Brian Goes Back To College" are great. But there are only 22 minutes per episode. Taking a quarter of that for the chicken fight is just ridiculous.
Really, the one thing I enjoyed about that entire mess was the Indiana Jones bit. And when one three second cut of a five minute chunk of the show is the only thing it has going for it, there is a problem with the episode. That's unfortunate, because had someone cut about four minutes out of the chicken sketch, they did have the makings of a really good episode in there.
I liked the opening with the ballet. Peter and Quagmire text messaging across the theater was pretty funny. That's the dumb Peter that I like. Dumb enough to be funny, but not so dumb that you wonder how he can remember to breathe. Brian taking off with Meg because she has a pot connection was interesting, and I would have liked to see more of that.
The No Child Left Behind Act leading to Chris being expelled was actually a rather timely reference for the show. The act is up for possible reauthorization this year, and this was a funny way to reference what some believe are some of its shortcomings. It also led to what was probably the best part of the episode, his time at Morningwood Academy.
Of course, Lois only went to Carter after her first two choices didn't really pan out. The Quahog School for the Deaf and the Quahog Maritime School were both very funny. "Men. Just men. For many days at a time." and "...a certain kind of pirate." were great lines. And Stewie topped it off with his sudden interest in the school.
Once at Morningwood, there were a number of good scenes. As I mentioned earlier, I liked that they brought out James Bottomtooth IV. The Full Metal Jacket blanket party was also good. And I liked Carter inviting Chris to join the Skull and Bones club. Although, that one suffered from two different things. First, I would have liked to see a little more of Chris and Carter bonding over Skull and Bones adventures. Again, a quarter of the episode was burned on the chicken fight. And second, what the hell is the deal with Herbert? The character is one joke. Why does he end up in every episode? At this point I'd rather see Bonnie than Herbert.
As to the cutaways this week, it was a pretty good collection. The average was helped greatly by the How I Met Your Father bit, which was fantastic. Not only did they get Neil Patrick Harris and Josh Radnor to voice the roles, the "Suit up!" punch line was perfect. Along with that, I thought that the horse turning the gun on the trainer, Lois and Meg as hookers, and King Friday were all very good. The only one that I thought really failed was the slave ship. 
Overall, it's a hard one to score. The episode had its moments, but the chicken fight and my growing resentment of having Herbert shoehorned into every episode are marks against it. Including a bonus point for my favorite cutaway of the season, I'll give it a 4, out of 7.
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