Business Guy

Plot

The Griffins are invited onto the Pewterschmidts' yacht, where Lois becomes seasick and vomits. Peter is reminded of his bachelor party when this happens, and is shocked to find out that Carter has never had one and does not know what it is. Upon returning to Quahog, Peter takes him to a strip club to simulate a bachelor party. In his excitement, Carter develops a heart attack and falls into a coma. Dr. House is hired to treat him, but he throws his rule book out the window and punches Carter in the face to ensure that he is comatose. Carter's video will is discovered, in which he gives Lois control of his billion-dollar manufacturing company, Pewterschmidt Industries, even though she does not know how to run a corporation. Peter, however, is inspired by House's "live-without-rules" regime and decides to control the company himself.

On his first day on the job, Peter dismisses the entire board of directors for being unable to keep up with his ideas and hires his friends to manufacture ridiculous items. Soon after, Carter reawakens from his coma and finds what Peter has done with his company. Carter confronts Peter in his former office and demands for him to relinquish control of the company, but he refuses; he instead forces him to work as a janitor, have and invite people to his mansion for a Big Bang Theory viewing party, pay a compliment to a sharply-dressed Asian man, and clean out the fridge in the employee lounge. Carter is embarrassed, so he and Lois trick Peter into surrendering the company by scaring him into believing a swamp monster will eat him if he does not. A seemingly real swamp monster scares Peter out of the office, chases Lois and a disguised Carter, before being found out as House. In the end, Lois cheers Peter up by revealing that the contract he signed allows him to keep the corporate plane. Peter is delighted and jumps in a freeze frame shot, but grows alarmed when he actually remains in the air.

Production and development

The episode was co-written by Andrew Goldberg and Alex Carter, both having written episodes for the show previously. The episode was directed by series regular Pete Michels, before the conclusion of the eighth production season, in his second episode of the season. Series regulars Peter Shin and James Purdum served as supervising directors, with Andrew Goldberg and Alex Carter working as staff writers for the episode. Karin Perrotta was the associate producer of this episode, in her ninth episode of the season.

"Business Guy", along with the eleven other episodes from Family Guy's eighth season, was released on a three-disc DVD set in the United States on December 13, 2011. The sets include brief audio commentaries by various crew and cast members for several episodes, a collection of deleted scenes and animatics, a special mini-feature which discussed the process behind animating "And Then There Were Fewer", a mini-feature entitled "The Comical Adventures of Family Guy – Brian & Stewie: The Lost Phone Call", and footage of the Family Guy panel at the 2010 San Diego Comic-Con International.

In addition to the regular cast, actor Hugh Laurie made his second appearance in the series, the first being "One If by Clam, Two If by Sea"; Laurie lampooned his role as House protagonist Gregory House. Actors Jim Parsons, Johnny Galecki, Bobby Lee of MADtv and Nana Visitor also guest star in the episode. Recurring guest voice actors Alexandra Breckenridge, Chris Cox, Ralph Garman, Danny Smith, Alec Sulkin and John Viener also made minor appearances. Actor Patrick Warburton appears in the episode as well.

Reception

In a slight drop from the previous week, the episode was viewed in 7.67 million homes, in its original airing in the United States. The episode also received a 3.8 rating in the 18–49 demographic, edging out The Simpsons, The Cleveland Show, and American Dad!.

Receiving mixed reviews from critics, the episode was deemed "a throwback to the earlier more successful seasons." Ahsan Haque of IGN praised the storyline as consistent "from start to finish." Jason Hughes of TV Squad also praised the "inside jokes" in the episode, as well as the Scooby-Doo sequence as "a flash of satiric brilliance." In contrast, Todd VanDerWerff of The A.V. Club called the storyline "an excuse [for] jokes," giving the episode a B- rating. Glenn Diaz of BuddyTV praised Laurie's performance in the episode, stating that "his scenes were among the funniest on the episode." The TV Critic's Robin Pierson rated the episode 55, praising the storyline and Laurie's cameo while criticizing a non sequitur parody of Scooby-Doo.

Controversy

Although it did not name this episode its "Worst TV Show of the Week," the Parents Television Council filed an indecency complaint about "Business Guy" two days after its airdate, citing the lapdance sequence as a possible violation of federal law regarding broadcast decency.