As discussed before though, a Stewie and Brian spinoff could work. However that would mean puttnig them out of Family Guy. You know for it to be a proper spinoff. (If they were still in the show it'd just really be crowding FG more then needed). And then it would essitantly just be the Peter and Friends show which would give FG a whole lot less ideas. Stewie and Brian haven't got a show of their own because they are too much a driving force behind Family Guy at this point. Cleveland can leave and things can go on fine, but Stewie and Brian are too important to be taken out. It'd be like doing a Homer spinoff for the Simpsons: It could work putting the character in a different enviorment but it'd leave far too big a gap in the original show. And speaking of the Simpsons...
When Ricky Gervais wrote and also guest voiced in an episode of the Simpsons a couple of years back you could tell the scenes he wrote since they had the kind of dry wit that's fairly unlike the Simpsons. With Seth Rogen though (and associate Evan Goldberg), it's kind of harder to tell. His character didn't really stand out too much (besides the whole arguing with Homer about what montage song to use and then the whole saying one thing and whipsering another being taken to the extreme) and really just seemed sort of there as an extra character. Maybe it's the little things. The fact that for once they expanded outside of they're usual cast and occasional celebrity crew to get another VA for a role (Kevin Michael Richardson as a bouncer. I known Maurice Le Maurche has done a lot of Simpsons work but he's also been involved with the show since season 6 at least and was heavily involved with Futurama as well. This is the first Simpsons thing KMR has done and does open the door for other more regular VAs a bit). The various geek refrences (then again based on previous eps and even some of the Simpsons comic the regular writers are already in pretty deep with their inner geek even if they usually just make fun of it). But I think more then anything it's the pacing that makes this episode stand out more then anything.
Remember the last terrible, terrible episode that started with a Comic Book Guy plot? That somehow between act one to act two stopped becoming about the Comic Book Guy facing compettion from another comic book shop and about Homer having to loose wait. Well here it starts with CBG taking his created character public to Homer having to loose weight in order to star in the comic book movie of CBG's character. In other words they actually stay ON POINT the entire episode. It begins with CBG's character, and ends with him. No "The Simpsons go to the fair and Bart ends up getting a donkey so anything that happens at the fair is forgotten" malarky. This actually sticks with the plot (then again they even admitted in this ep that with 17 writers it's hard to keep track of the contnuity, especially when the person doing continuity is having problems of their own) and dosen't let go. Yes we do get more "Homer is overweight jokes" but those are mercifully swept to the side to get more jokes about the whole movie making process in. Which makes the ending scene of CBG actually deciding not to give into the allure of making his own Everyman movie and writing a bad review of the first one all the more enjoyable. Yes it's very Alan Mooreesque but that's probably the point as parts of this seem like a love letter to the whole behind the scenes of the Watchmen flick.
So is this episode in the same league as say "Radioactive Man?" No but it dosen't try to be. "Radioactive Man" was about a superhero comic book movie of it's time, and this is about what a superhero comic book movie now would be (though the obvious continuity joke was much more funny in "Radioactive Man" then in here). Besides there were a lot of great bits: the various comic book companies Milhouse mentioned, the Everyman issue (really a hero couldn't exisit like that in real life ripping off every comic book heroes abilitiy due to you know copyright issues and stuff), the excellent done three weeks later screw you, "You have to pick someone. We already auditioned three people", Homer passing around the table to get to his news, the already mentioned montage joke, the helicpoters lined up to be shot at, Homer wanting one guy to look at him while he's eating, Homer calling out Seth's character for leaving him and the ending. Some flat jokes and a lot of it has been done before but it was a far better effort then the last time they mixed Homer's eating problems and comic book guy into an ep. I thank Seth Rogen for that because based on the regular writer's track record they could of easily just screwed it up again.
So yeah I actually liked the Simpsons the most out of the other animation domination shows.
1. The Simpsons.
2. Family Guy
3. Cleveland Show
4. American Dad
