November 6, 2006 - Oftentimes comedic shows attempt to get political, and by going too far ruin the message that they are trying to get across. Fortunately for Family Guy, the writers know the limitations of the show and as such don't try to push their message. By not forcing their political views down our throat, the humor that is found from the light view of heavy issues keeps us entertained and drawn into the episode. "Saving Private Brian" does an incredible job with this, and deftly balances the random humor that we have learned to love and their political jabs.

In "Saving Private Brian" we follow Chris as he is tempted by to join the US Army, but instead decides to become the lead singer of a punk rock band. Meanwhile, Stewie signs Brian and himself up for military duty - which eventually sends them to Iraq. Everything is conveniently solved at the end with Bush finally finding democracy in Iraq (or playing with a slinky in the White House) and Chris, Lois and Peter being taught a heart-felt family lesson by Marilyn Manson. Both of these stories were hilarious as Chris became unruly when his hit song "Evil Monkey" took off, and Stewie and Brian do anything possible to get honorably discharged from the military.

Our favorite storyline was Stewie and Brian's. Their training for duty was reminiscent to many military movies with direct parodies of An Officer and a Gentlemen and Stripes. And their service in the military is a hilarious satire of the current state of our military in Iraq. While fighting Brian and Stewie realize that they weren't properly trained, that they are ill equipped, that they are understaffed (with dead soldiers guarding the weapons), and that the enemy isn't as easy to fight as they had anticipated. By not rubbing these facts in our faces, but just mentioning them briefly and humorously we didn't feel like the show was trying to be too political, but rather shedding a comedic light on the sorry state of affairs.

But even better than the great Iraq plot were the random flashback jokes. Normally they are groan-worthy, and really hit or miss, but in this episode they were all really funny. Mentioned in these flashbacks were: Mickey Rooney, Robert from Everybody Loves Raymond, Dr. Katz, horse whispering, Muddy Waters passing a kidney stone, Dorothy from The Wizard of Oz being told she has herpes, another Vaudeville act, Zinedine Zidane doing birthday telegraphs (headbutts), Gregory Peck and his children, cough farts, Minnie Driver's head, Ja Rule winning an award for biggest posse at the Grammies, and Wu-Tang Clans' lyrics translated for white people. This is a longer list of "manatee jokes" than usual, but they were all hilarious. They had so many of these little interludes that it was starting to feel like a clip sketch show along the lines of Robot Chicken. But the show poked fun at this issue by hilariously breaking the fourth wall twice. Once Stewie didn't get a flashback when he wanted one and as such kept looking around coming to grips with not having a clip, while the other moment had the Vaudeville guys getting shot by Stewie, killing their act once and for all, with Stewie turning to the screen and asking the audience if they were happy that the ongoing joke was stopped.

If all episodes of Family Guy were as irreverent and topical at the same time, there would be less people speaking out against it. Sure there are offensive jokes in the episode (rape and underage prostitution are tied in with the military), but it was a combination of the flashbacks and the interesting plot that kept us laughing. Hopefully this high quality will be a constant for the rest of this season to further solidify its cause for being brought back from cancellation.