The Man with Two Brians

"The Man with Two Brians" is the fifth episode in the

seventh season and the 115th episode overall of the American "The Man with Two Brians"
animated television series Family Guy. It premiered on Fox in Family Guy episode
the United States on November 9, 2008. The episode centers
Episode no. Season 7
on anthropomorphic dog Brian after he is injured during a Episode 5
stunt being enacted by his owner, Peter, after he watches
Directed by Dominic Bianchi
Jackass with his friends. The family comes to realize that Brian
may be getting too old, so Peter brings home a new, optimistic Written by John Viener
dog. Brian is prompted to leave when his family begins to favor Production code 6ACX09
New Brian over him. Original air date November 9, 2008

The episode was written by John Viener and marked the Guest appearances
directorial debut of Dominic Bianchi. It received generally
favorable reviews from critics for its storyline and various Johnny Knoxville as himself
cultural references. According to Nielsen ratings, the episode Will Sasso as Bernie the Hamster
was viewed by 8.60 million households in its original airdate. Camille Guaty as Puerto Rican Girl
Johnny Knoxville, Will Sasso and Camille Guaty provided guest
performances in the episode.

Plot
After watching Jackass, Peter and his friends, Cleveland, Quagmire, and Joe, are impressed into filming their
own highly dangerous stunts. In one stunt, Peter attempts to jump a lake but instead crashes into a tree,
causing him to fall into the lake and become incapacitated. Brian swims out to save him from drowning, but
strains his back during the rescue and also ends up stranded in the water along with Peter, before being
rescued by Joe. Lois berates Peter for his actions, since Brian is becoming old and has been smoking and
drinking. Peter begins to grow upset about their dog's age, so he buys another dog and names him New Brian.
His positive attitude and desirable personality make Brian feel like an outcast, especially when the Griffins
begin to ignore him. He ultimately decides to leave the house, while his family begins to miss him.

Meanwhile, New Brian's constant cheerfulness begins to aggravate Stewie. Stewie pleads for Brian to return,
but he informs him that as long as New Brian is there, he has no place in the Griffin household. Stewie reveals
to New Brian that he does not like several of his traits, including how he humps the leg of one of their chairs;
in response, New Brian responds that Stewie's teddy bear, Rupert, enjoys his humping, and smugly reveals
that he had humped Rupert non-consensually for two straight hours the day before. An enraged Stewie kills
and dismembers New Brian offscreen, disposes of his bloody remains in the garbage and forges a suicide note
for his family. The Griffins ultimately accept Brian back, while Stewie, traumatized by what has happened to
Rupert, frantically washes him in the shower.

Production
"The Man with Two Brians" was written by John Viener and directed by Dominic Bianchi.[1] In the storyboard
animatic scene of Brian's rescue of a drowning Peter, music from Rambo: First Blood Part II was used.[2] The
scene in which Peter broke his neck and the design of New Brian were both based on drawings by creator Seth
MacFarlane.[2] New Brian was supposed to be a Golden Retriever, but his color was changed so that he would
stand out from the yellow kitchen.[2] In the scene when Peter wears the costume from
The Greatest American Hero, the theme from E.T. was originally used.[2] Several
scenes were cut when the episode aired on television, mostly due to lack of time.[2]
The song New Brian sang to Peter was written by series writer Alec Sulkin.[2] The
original ending for the episode was a Beverly Hills, 90210 basketball joke, but it was
cut.[2]

"The Man with Two Brians", along with the first eight episodes of the seventh season
were released on DVD by 20th Century Fox in the United States and Canada on June
16, 2009.[3] The "Volume 7" DVD release features bonus material including deleted Johnny Knoxville
scenes, animatics, and commentaries for every episode.[4] guest starred as
himself in the episode.
Johnny Knoxville, star of Jackass, provided his own voice in this episode, and Will
Sasso and Camille Guaty guest starred as various characters.[5] The episode's writer,
John Viener, provided the voice of New Brian.[2] Recurring voice actors and writers Kirker Butler, Mark
Hentemann, Danny Smith and Alec Sulkin made minor appearances in the episode.[5]

Cultural references
The television series Jackass is referred to frequently by Peter and his neighbors, and is the principal reason
that they try to do stunts. Johnny Knoxville cameoes and takes a shotgun blast which blows off part of his
face.[6] In the episode, while being launched off a ramp and flying through the air, Peter wears the costume
from The Greatest American Hero and sings the series' theme song.

Before New Brian sings "I Like Farts," Peter exclaims "Oh, you've got a guitar!" in reference to a scene from
the 1980 movie Airplane!, in which the flight attendant Randy plays guitar for a sick girl on her way to receive
a heart transplant.

Peter dresses up like a stereotypical adolescent bully featured in 1980s films, and makes references to Pretty
in Pink, No Retreat, No Surrender and The Karate Kid. He then looks at the ocean on a pier as Howard
Jones' song, "No One Is to Blame", plays.[6]

Reception
In its original American broadcast, "The Man with Two Brians" was watched by 8.60 million households
according to the Nielsen ratings.[7] The episode acquired a 4.3 rating in the 18–49 demographic, and was the
most-watched show in the Animation Domination block that night.[7] Family Guy finished fourth in its
timeslot, after NBC's Sunday Night Football, ABC's Desperate Housewives and CBS's The Amazing Race.[7]

The episode received generally favorable reviews from television sources and critics. Ahsan Haque of IGN
gave the episode 7.5/10 and said: "While it featured more than [...] a couple of genuinely unfunny ideas, this
episode succeeds for the most part. [...] While this episode definitely won't make anyone's top ten list of great
Family Guy, there was a much better balance between random humor and storytelling in this outing".[6]
Genevieve Koski of The A.V. Club gave the episode an A−, and said that Family Guy "started things out on the
wrong foot with an oh-so-relevant Jackass storyline. [...] Most of the Jackass stuff was way too stale–Peter
jackknifing Quagmire into the crate of bees notwithstanding–but thankfully it was just setup for a far
superior storyline, the introduction of a younger 'New Brian'".[8]

Robin Pierson of The TV Critic was more critical about the episode, and gave it 32/100 and said: "As usual the
problem with this episode is that there is no point to it. [The episode had] some needless jokes but others
which were bearable and a logical enough story even though it addressed nothing.[9]
References
1. "Family Guy – The Man With Two Brians – Yahoo! TV" (https://tv.yahoo.com/family-guy/show/the-man-wit
h-two-brians/episode/187851;_ylt=Ai6e66ek6pTN60Y8PIJ.63G9v9EF). Yahoo!. Retrieved May 30, 2012.
2. Goodman, David A.; Smith, Danny (executive producers); Sulkin, Alec (co-executive producer); John
Viener (writer/voice actor); Bianchi, Dominic (director). Family Guy: Volume Seven: Commentary for "The
Man with Two Brians" (DVD). Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation.
3. "Family Guy, Vol. 7" (https://www.amazon.com/dp/B001VFM0ZG). Retrieved December 5, 2009.
4. "Family Guy – Season 8" (http://www.ezydvd.com.au/item.zml/806205). EzyDVD. Retrieved December 5,
2009.
5. "Family Guy: The Man with Two Brians" (https://web.archive.org/web/20120330160315/http://tv.nytimes.c
om/episode/82351/Family-Guy/overview). The New York Times. Archived from the original (https://tv.nyti
mes.com/episode/82351/Family-Guy/overview) on March 30, 2012. Retrieved February 27, 2010.
6. Haque, Ahsan (November 12, 2008). "Family Guy: "The Man With Two Brians" Review" (https://www.ign.c
om/articles/2008/11/10/family-guy-the-man-with-two-brians-review). IGN. Retrieved March 20, 2023.
7. Seidman, Robert (November 10, 2008). "Football Wins for CBS and NBC, Family Guy for Fox" (https://we
b.archive.org/web/20090617030948/http://tvbythenumbers.com/2008/11/10/sunday-football-wins-for-cbs-
and-nbc/7857). TV by the Numbers. Archived from the original (http://tvbythenumbers.com/2008/11/10/su
nday-football-wins-for-cbs-and-nbc/7857) on June 17, 2009. Retrieved December 29, 2009.
8. Koski, Genevieve (November 9, 2008). " "Dangerous Curves" / "No Bobby Left Behind" / "Man With Two
Brians" / "Escape From Pearl Bailey" " (https://www.avclub.com/dangerous-curves-no-bobby-left-behind-
man-with-1798205278). The A.V. Club. Retrieved February 27, 2010.
9. Pierson, Robin (January 6, 2009). "Family Guy, Season 7, Episode 5: The Man with Two Brians" (https://
web.archive.org/web/20110228212822/http://www.thetvcritic.org/the-man-with-two-brians/). The TV Critic.
Archived from the original on February 28, 2011. Retrieved February 22, 2010.

External links
"The Man with Two Brians" (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1317902/) at IMDb Television portal

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