Family Guy began with a several minute Star Wars-esque space battle as Stewie and his co-pilot, Rupert, attempted to take down the evil Peter spaceship.  We're not sure if this was just a scene that got cut from the season finale or an excuse to show off their animation skills, but it served little more than a waste of screen time and an excuse to send Stewie into the basement.

From there, the episode split into two story lines.  Stewie discovered one of Brian's old scripts in the basement, which eventually led to Brian getting his own CBS pilot.  The story served as a pretty funny, albeit tame satire of television.

Some of our favorite moments from the Brian story line included the sycophant television executives: "I felt whatever the most senior executive in this room felt," any scenes with James Woods voicing himself and the ridiculous crap that comes out of his mouth, and Charlie Sheen and the rest of the cast of Two and Half Men's chance to defend themselves.

Meanwhile, the Stewie plot line was a fifteen minute gag out driving you to scream "call the ambulance!" the entire time.  It also served as a chance for Chris and Meg to step up from supporting characters and really shine in this story.

In the end, the story line help remind us why Lois belongs with Peter, despite their other physical and social differences: she's just as awful of a human being as him.  It was great to know that the whole Griffin family, except maybe Meg, was ready to put themselves before the needs of a baby.

Only on Family Guy.  And no, we're not going to whine baby violence, cause we'll admit we were laughing when the raccoon was biting at his exposed brain.  "They look like robbers."  It is just a cartoon after all, right?

We definitely preferred the substance and humor of the Brian storyline, but will admit the Stewie a la Weekend at Bernie's had its moments.  We're really just hoping we get to see the sequel to Bigger Jaws in a future episode.

Our favorite Family Guy quotes from this decent episode are after the jump.

Peter: I had an idea for a script once. It's basically Jaws except when the guys in the boat are going after Jaws, they look around and there's an even bigger Jaws. The guys have to team up with Jaws to get Bigger Jaws. I call it Big Jaws. | permalink

Charlie Sheen: You're always saying our show sucks. Let's see yours. | permalink

Peter: So... question. How long has Stewie been unconscious?
Meg: Oh my god, Chris, he knows. Dad, I'm so sorry we should have told someone but we were too scared. I wanted to take him to the hospital, but Chris wouldn't let me.
Peter: Good Chris. I've taught you well. You have the right instincts. When you were babies, I used to knock you kids out every month or so. Some times by accident. Sometimes when the Patriots lost. You just gotta cover it up and everything works it self out. Meg, this is a list of hats. I need these by 4 o'clock. | permalink

Chris: Anything I could do to make your life easier.
Lois: Well you could always grab the vacuum and clean the living room floor.
Chris: Sure, I'll take care of that. Are you running off to your job? | permalink

Eric Hochberger is the programmer of TV Fanatic, so please forgive his mediocre writing. His programming is far better. Follow him on Twitter and/or email him. Just don't request threaded comments. They're coming.