Family Guy (TV Series) Partial Terms of Endearment (2010) User Reviews

Not as bad as I expected it to be

[celiawatsonanime · 6/10 · 6 February 2022]

It feels okay and just like a usual episode.

The only thing really controversial I feel is them talking about abortion.

It doesn't deserve to be pulled from airing on television and Hulu.

A missed opportunity?

[MarcusJ13 · 6/10 · 23 June 2010]

The other reviewer summed up the episode very well so I'll just add some personal thoughts. Abortion is a sensitive subject and I was quite looking forward to how Family Guy were going to deal with the subject. In my view Family Guy has suffered from a drop in quality where it seems with all the recurring gags that have been circulating they themselves have even resorted to making gags about making gags. Could it be a sign that it is growing stale? Regardless I approached this episode with a sense of optimism that the episode would play out in an entertaining fashion regardless of any prior conceptions that I had about the show itself. Where we come to the episode and how does it play up? Er average. There's not really anything special to mention, Fox refused to air the episode but in truth I don't think it had any sort of special ability to offend any more than other Family Guy episodes. It never really managed to approach the subject matter with much sense of conveying any sort of analysis and the subject of abortion itself wasn't prominent really where the rest of the episode was build up towards the tackling of the issue. Lois agrees to be a surrogate for her friend's baby but when her friend and husband die in a car accident it prompts a long debate about what should be done. Lois thinks that the baby should be aborted but Peter disagrees when he sees an anti-abortion video which was admittedly quite funny.

The problem is that once the premise we were all waiting for was finally approached it was too rushed. The start with Peter's wrongful assumption about Lois' old friend's visit played out for too long when the initial gag was funny but it was just overkilled. The episode just follows a formula and I didn't think there was anything special that warranted the refusal to air it on Fox as it was just like any other episode. The reason I question it as a possible missed opportunity is that it never really gets off the ground and I didn't think it would manage to challenge any bigoted views in the sense that it was trying to do. The ending with Lois' speech about the baby and Peter breaking the fourth wall was all too predictable and I found myself thinking 'what that's it?' Anyway it isn't bad just didn't live up to its potential and to be fair there were a couple of good jokes in there and if you were to view on its own merits it would simply be a half decent Family Guy episode that I overall enjoyed and in my opinion that's how it should be viewed.

Controversial awesome one

[UniqueParticle · 9/10 · 30 April 2020]

The banned episode of Family Guy that couldn't be aired is great for what it is perfectly inappropriate and great humor! References of famous people joke is used often which I appreciate. Has some highly brave aspects and pregnancy complications so it's fair that it was not ok to be aired. Despite the intense bits I love this episode, I'm glad I own it!

Did the writer's have an epiphany on this one?

[Nii-Aryee · 9/10 · 23 June 2010]

I've been having quite a struggle enjoying recent "Family Guy" episodes due to the fact that the plots seemed to get successively lamer. That was until I saw "Partial Terms of Endearment". Wow! This is one for my media ethics class. Seriously, the episode is really funny, inspirational and well written. In my humble opinion the Pro-Life/Pro-Choice question is a really difficult one to answer and I feel that this episode deals with the issue in a very lighthearted but somewhat respectful way. Even if you don't want to ponder on the subject and simply want to be entertained, this is by far one of the best "Family Guy" episodes that has come out in a while. Controversial, yes. Frikkin' funny? Hell yeah!

Brilliant satire

[mattiasflgrtll6 · 10/10 · 27 May 2020]

Dale and Naomi Robinson who Lois are friends with come over to the Griffin house with an unexpected proposition: They want Lois to carry their baby. After doing some thinking she decides to have it, despite Peter protesrs. But things are complicated once both of them die in a car crash...

This is one of my favorites of the season, and a hugely important episode. It's not just laugh-out-loud funny throughout, but the sad fact is that even today abortion is a very controversial subject. Even if this aired today it might still get banned.

The first act has Peter misunderstanding why this couple is coming over. He thinks he and Lois are gonna partake in a threeway (or fourway rather). He gives them some ideas of porn scenarios, each one funnier than the last. The holocaust director outfit still gets to me every time. It's so insanely wrong I don't know where to start.

As Peter finds out Dale and Naomi want Lois to carry their baby since they can't seem to make one no matter how much they try, he is adamantly against it. He becomes very territorial, the most creative attempt to kill the insemination from developing into a baby by crushing it with a rock Road Runner style. I like the added touch of luring Lois in with Grey's Anatomy DVDs.

When Dale and Naomi die and Lois feels conflicted over what to do it becomes even more interesting. Lois decides to abort the baby which Peter obviously doesn't mind, but when he meets a bunch of protesters and sees a very poorly done PSA, he changes his position dramatically. I love how cartoony the whole PSA is just to stretch the argument that there's already a fully developed baby.

There's a joke later on when Peter and Lois are arguing where he says "I'm just here to save the unborn. Once they're born they can go f'ûçk themselves." It's a really funny line, but also has a serious point behind it. Those who strongly advocate against abortion don't care about "saving a life" as much as they do about having power over someone's body. That's why I appreciate so much that they don't chicken out at the end by having Lois keep the baby anyway. They trick you with a hilarious fakeout where she talks about the joy of welcoming a new life into their household, only for Peter to say "She had the abortion." as quickly as possible before the closing credits.

There are many other great gags such as Peter hiring 80's black guys to do a funky dance on Lois' stomach only for 90's black guys to show up instead, the Special Cat Olympics (yes, it's just as amusingly horrible as it sounds) plus Joe getting the dirty text from Peter instead of Naomi. The fact that he's willing to show up in edible panties and possibly have sex with his friend just to be "loyal" really cracks me up.

This is a gem, and it takes no list of terms for me to agree to that.

I find it a real shame...

[trevor-mcinsley · 10/10 · 26 November 2010]

...that this episode was banned and never aired in the US. To think I nearly missed out on this gem, which I had previously presumed was banned for broaching on the subject of abortions and the whole pro life argument. Having watched it I am not so sure since there are a dozen fantastically funny but overly offensive jokes bound to rub people up the wrong way far more than the subject matter itself. Perhaps then it is simply that they crammed so much offense into the usual time slot that had this one pulled.

Family Guy has often tried to touch on controversial subjects and make points about hot issues, usually it fails and the result is a mediocre episode, this one is the exception. It is, of course, better known for its quick, punchy jokes and this episode is thankfully full of them. Of late it has been rare to find an episode of Family Guy that has me laughing from start to finish but this one is frankly better than a dozen other episode's best points combined.

As I said, it is a shame that the one time when they get things so right they get banned for it and I can only hope it does not dissuade them from writing episodes of such splendid calibre again.

Hard to understand why this was banned

[metallaura79 · 10/10 · 2 February 2024]

This was just a regular old Family Guy episode. There are so many other episodes that have way more offensive things than them. I really don't understand why it was banned. There were some really good jokes, and it was overall a pretty solid episode.

I about the DVD online cuz I wanted to see it, and if you're a huge Family Guy fan it's worth seeing. But I just cannot figure out for the life of me why it was banned. Pretty frustrating if you ask me. Anyway. I highly recommend watching the episode if you're able to access it somehow. And if any TV executive is reading this, what the heck? 4.5/5 stars.

Nothing against the racy plot, but it's just not a good episode.

[TOMNEL · 5/10 · 22 June 2010]

FOX in America refused to air this episode of Family Guy due to it's potentially offensive content dealing with abortion, which of course will peak many Family Guy fans interests in how offensive this episode actually is. Really, it's no more offensive than any other Family Guy episode, but it's also really not very funny. It's almost like the Family Guy formula for each episode is growing stale, because along with many episodes this season, this one was very mediocre.

Lois runs into a female ex-lover from her crazy younger days and she asks for a favor, which Peter assumes means a threesome. They soon learn that she wants Lois to be a surrogate mother for her, and Lois says she will. After her friend dies in a car crash, Lois wants an abortion, but Peter is swayed by an anti-abortion video and prohibits it. Arguments ensue.

Obviously abortion is a touchy subject, and Family Guy doesn't do anything particularly offensive with it. In fact, the abortion aspect of the show is a very short portion, and actually makes for a very short and unsatisfying third act. In fact, this episode seems like it takes far too long to take off, and when it does, it climaxes with a short conversation, and a speech at the end. The surrogate pregnancy doesn't come in fast enough, and really this episode just felt uneven in the time spent on each act. The whole Peter wanting an orgy thing went on way too long and wasn't very funny. And maybe some will enjoy the lengthy Road runner parody, but it was really quite stupid.

The cut aways aren't all completely random, but none were very funny. We get to see Lois pregnant with Stewie and crazy, a retarded cat racing (The worst of the gags), Meg having alone time with herself, Peter feeding people in his carpet, and Meg dating the Count from Sesame Street (Best cut-away). The gay poltergeist joke in the episode is not a cut away, but it really wasn't funny at all either.

Positives in the episode are few. The anti-abortion video was mildly amusing and purposely one sided and ridiculous. The episode wasn't very funny, but it wasn't mostly just awful. It just kind of plodded along with a straight faced reaction. It just was another middle of the road season 8 Family Guy episode. Hopefully season 9 is better!

My rating: ** out of ****. 30 mins.

just terrible

[x_chem · 1/10 · 6 July 2010]

i think family guy was once without a doubt one of the best shows on t.v, but when season 5 came along its obviously gone down-hill. season 7 was awful and and i was hoping that season 8 would return to family guys roots because i think season 2 is the best season of any show ever, but lately the show has gotten worse and worse. anyway, I've been really let down by season 8 so far and this episode was probably the worst so far in any season. the jokes just don't work, the way brian over-acts about peter being anti-abortion was pathetic and the fact that lois decided to get the abortion and peters stupid joke at the end has put me off lois, peter and brian for good possibly, which is a shame because peter used to be hilarious and brian used to be a PERFECT supporting character, but now the show just generally isn't funny at all and the characters are awful, and this episode is a perfect example of that, it's just dead and there's no other real way to describe it.

0/10

Very likely the least funny episode of Family Guy ever made

[d-46662 · 1/10 · 9 September 2023]

Well, Here it is. The Infamous Ab0rtion Episode.

Certainly maximally offensive which was evidently the writers objective in this episode. Personally, this would not bother me very much, as I have a rather thick skin, if there was some reason behind this offensiveness, which in this episode veers far beyond offensiveness; into sheer nastiness. But unlike in the far superior South Park, or indeed in earlier Family Guy episodes, the offensiveness is entirely crass and nihilistic in Partial Terms of Endearment. Moreover, it is rarely if ever intelligent or funny - just puerile, lazy and offputting. I didn't laugh once over the course of twenty minutes, and I am a Family Guy fan. However, in this episode in particular, I am not sure whether the scriptwriters were even aiming to make their audience laugh, or were they simply making an episode as revoltingly odious and amoral as they possibly could, so pundits in the media would cover a show that was already far past its peak in the national consciousness by 2010, when this episode came out. Unsurprisingly, the pundits eagerly fell for the bait.... However, in 2023, I would highly recommend any would-be viewer to give this episode a skip, wherever the viewers themselves fit on the political spectrum or on the ab0rtion issue. Perhaps, the only audience I feel would enjoy this tripe, would be the 13-15 year old boy target audience, who might get a kick out of watching the Banned Family Guy episode. As I write this review, it becomes increasingly obvious to me, however, that it was this audience, for whom this episode was made.....