From Method to Madness

"From Method to Madness" is the 18th episode of the third season of the American television show Family Guy.

It features the guest performances of Chris Cox, Ralph Garman, Mike Henry, Jane Lynch, Rachael MacFarlane, Denis Martell, Mark Peredes, and Fred Willard.

Plot

Brian and Lois attend a poorly acted one man show. Afterwards, Brian boasts that he could easily do a better job. Lois dares him to audition for the local theater. The judges are bored with Brian but are delighted with Stewie, who is immediately enrolled in a children’s performing arts school and throws a Benny Hill-style "sexy party" to celebrate. He quickly becomes cool, makes friends and an enemy named Olivia. When he overhears that both he and Olivia are in danger of being cut from the program, the pair hastily work together and end up becoming a massively popular duet. They share fame and success until their fighting involving Stewie thinking Olivia was the one that was flat breaks up the act; Olivia goes on to greater fame and finally she gets to go to Hollywood (kissing Stewie goodbye before she leaves), but Stewie, because of Olivia's quitting, starts to lose fame and drops back, which causes him to lose touch with reality. Brian visits Stewie at an insane asylum, where Stewie requests to hear a tuning fork. Upon hearing that he was the one that was flat, Stewie snaps out of his insanity, and returns home with Brian.

Meanwhile, Peter saves a drowning man named Dave Campbell on his fishing boat, and so the Griffins are invited over to share dinner with his family. Lois and Peter are shocked to discover that Dave and his family are all nude when the Griffins arrive at their house, as they are nudists. Dave had been nude when Peter rescued him but Peter simply assumed Dave's shorts were lost in the ocean. Dave has a beautiful wife named Dottie. Their teenaged son, Jeff, takes an interest in Meg. Jeff and Meg become fast friends, and her parents are shocked when they see him at the house, nude as he was before. After discouraging Meg with their refusal to accept the lifestyle, Peter and Lois have a change of heart and shed their clothes to make Jeff feel more welcome; this confuses Meg in different ways, as now she doesn't know what to make of the situation. As Jeff leaves, he tells Meg that he appreciates what her parents did, and Meg thanks her parents. When he leaves, Quagmire shows up and tells Peter that he is returning his lawn mower, and, after a second of incoherent babbling, asks for a towel, presumably in reaction to seeing Lois naked (as he ejaculated in his pants).

Production

The episode was (the last to be) written by series regulars Mike Barker and Matt Weitzman, and directed by series regular Bert Ring, before the conclusion of the third production season.

References

• S. Callaghan, "From Method to Madness", Family Guy: The Official Episode Guide Seasons 1–3. New York: HarperCollins, 2005. 152–155.

External links

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