goes with

Brian Goes Back to College

"Brian Goes Back to College" is the fifteenth episode of Family Guy 's fourth season. The episode originally aired on Sunday November 13, 2005. Guest stars on the show were Ralph Garman, Mark Hentemann and Phil LaMarr. The episode was described by show creator Seth MacFarlane to be "a real treat for The A-Team fans." The episode contained several connections with The New Yorker; in response, they wrote a friendly article about the episode. The plot consists of Peter, Joe, Cleveland, and Quagmire winning a costume contest dressed as characters from The A-Team, and deciding to improve their community by continuing to act like the characters of the show. Brian is hired by The New Yorker, but is later dismissed as he did not complete college, so he returns to finish his education.

Plot

Peter, Joe, Cleveland, and Quagmire attend a costume contest as characters from The A-Team. Peter and his friends find Brian, who is writing a report for the local newspaper. When Peter and his friends win the costume contest, Brian writes a report about it, and is later telephoned by a member of The New Yorker, who tell him they would like him to work for their magazine. Brian is initially given a warm welcome by the staff, but he is immediately fired after he informs them he never graduated from college. Meanwhile, disappointed at no longer being able to be The A-Team, Peter decides to become an unofficial A-Team alongside Joe, Cleveland and Quagmire, and decide to help their local community. Peter designs a replica of the van used by The A-Team.

After encouragement from Lois, Brian decides to return to College in order to complete his education so he can return to The New Yorker. Stewie, unknowing to Brian, returns to college with him and is briefly replaced by Gary Coleman, when Stewie enjoys college life. Brian's new teacher takes an instant disliking to him, but his opinion of Brian quickly changes after he cheats on a test and gets a high mark. Brian goes to tell his teacher that he cheated, but was interrupted, and the teacher tells him Brian has inspired him, and he was so depressed that he was planning to commit suicide. Brian eventually cracks under the pressure of a final test and knowing he will only pass if he cheats, he decides to return home with Stewie. A shocked Lois attempts to encourage him to go back and finish the test, and eventually chases him away with a vacuum cleaner.

Brian ends up exercising for hours with the help of Stewie, but realises his test is only a few hours away. He becomes stressed at being late for his exam, so Lois persuades Peter to revive The A-Team and drive Brian to his test, which is successful, and Brian arrives on time. He fails his test, but remains proud of himself for not cheating, much to the dismay of the family, who tell him that he probably should have cheated.

Production

Several people who were involved in the production of the original A-Team worked with show producers for this episode. Ron Jones wrote the music during the scene of Peter and his friends helping the man in the bar, Jones had also written music for the actual The A-Team series in the 1980s.

This episode marks the third appearance of Brian's wheelchair-bound teacher. He originally appeared in the episode "Ready, Willing, and Disabled" and "Brian the Bachelor" when playing in the Special Olympics and attempting to become a candidate for The Bachelorette. The professor's and his wife's voices were not played by a real person; they were made from a generic computer system in the studio. A deleted scene was animated which showed the professor informing Brian that he once had a student who was identical to him, but instead took human form and had a mustache. David Goodman commented this as being a pretty strange gag. Several viewers contacted Greg Colton, a Family Guy director, asking him if Roger Williams Park (a real public park in Rhode Island) was due to be demolished. He commented that one couple were extremely worried, because they were due to have their wedding there. The title of the episode was originally meant to be "Brian Goes Back to College and Stewie Goes With Him," but it was changed.

Cultural references

The episode is based on the 1980s American drama series The A-Team. When the introduction sequence of The A-Team was made for the episode, it took the writers and producers several attempts to animate it correctly. The background images used were real images used from The A-Team's intro sequence. When Brian is shown to be exercising heavily at a ski resort under the supervision of Stewie, he climbs the mountain then shouts from the top, this complete scene is a reference to Rocky IV.

Reception

This episode did not receive much reception from its creators or third parties; however, The New Yorker wrote a friendly response article to this episode, as they were the main subject. The New Yorker appeared to take no offense at the episode, and did not retaliate.