When A Cartoon's New Status Quo Gets One Episode And Barely Factors

Featuring 'Family Guy' and 'Teen Titans'!

I was watching Family Guy again on FXX, and they were up to an infamous part of season 12: the Brian Dies arc. That’s right, almost 10 years ago, in the episode “Life of Brian”: the show killed the dog, and much of the outrage ended up being for naught. His death would last about two and a half episodes, due to time travel shenanigans. Stewie lives to the near future period he had time traveled to, takes the time pad back and saves Brian in “Christmas Guy”. He does so with the help of Vinny, the dog the Griffins got to help them move on from Brian. But inbetween Brian’s death and the aversion, there’s one single whole episode where Vinny is the Griffin family dog, this huge status quo shift, and they do next to nothing with the character.

It’s called “Into Harmony’s Way”, and it’s a memorable episode on its own merits. It starts with Quagmire having an excuse to come over. Vinny does make a comment to him. Quagmire and Peter hang out when the presence of a bee reveals the two of them actually harmonize pretty well together. They decide to form a singing group, Griffin & Quagmire, writing songs about Alyssa Milano, melted cheese, and condoms. It’s a song about credit card debt while at Goldman’s Pharmacy that gets the attention of Mort, who with previous music management experience wants to manage them. Vinny appears in a cutaway to laugh with the family behind Peter’s back. Griffin & Quagmire start playing at the local library, which doesn’t go well. Mort posts their videos online, which the promoters of a local music festival notice, and they get booked.

At breakfast the next morning when Peter breaks the news, Vinny seems unimpressed asks if he’s as good as the Happy Birthday singers at the Macaroni Grill. At the festival, Vinny objects to Stewie’s spritzer and cheese setup and recounts his group assault of Johnny Chickstuff. Old Italian stereotypes and all. Even before the legendary performance of the banger “Butter On A Pop-Tart”, it starts getting to Peter’s head. Ricky from Sony Records wants to sign them, they don’t consult Mort and Peter approves, firing Mort. Lois confronts Peter about it, with Vinny on the couch. He goes on tour anyway, choosing music over family. Vinny does not go on the scavenger hunt. Griffin & Quagmire’s tour includes such numbers as “Everyone in Florida Is Stupid", “Why Do You Brush Your Teeth At Work” and “Get Out of the Left Lane”. and “Train on the Water”, another banger. During the recording of a song about a pretty waitress, tensions flare about mid-recording farts and Peter-approved album covers. During a performance of “Parents Are Gross” on Conan, Quagmire finally has enough. Thanksgiving comes and Vinny’s having dinner with the family when Peter arrives and apologizes to the family. Vinny’s part of the hug, and then Peter and Quagmire reconcile.

Not a lot of Vinny actually doing things there, right? If you thought Vinny was inconsequential to “Into Harmony’s Way”, let’s talk about Teen Titans’ Terra, and the episode “Winner Takes All”. It is season 2, episode 9. Terra has earned the trust of the Titans, even Raven, and moved into Titans Tower, unbeknownst to them she’s in Slade’s clutches. The very next episode is her betrayal. So this is her one episode to be part of the team, and what happens? She’s absent from the disaster card game that all five other Titans are playing when Robin, Beast Boy, and Cyborg are teleported away, summoned by the Master of Games to compete in the Tournament of Heroes against Hot Spot, Aqualad, Gizmo, Wildebeest, and Speedy. They defeat the Master of Games after it’s revealed he has absorbed the eliminated’s powers and beings, freeing them from his amulet in his defeat. However, it turns out the cycle continues and the Master has summoned eight female heroes (though only two other silhouettes are seen) including Starfire, Raven, and Terra, for a Tournament of Heroines. This makes for Raven and Starfire’s first appearance in twenty minutes. This is Terra’s only appearance in the episode and it is completely silent. In the only full episode she’s ever a Titan for.

Teen Titans seasons were tight at 13 episodes each, and the second season was finished out by “Betrayal” and the culmination of that betrayal in the two part season finale “Aftershocks”, with only the levity of “Fractured” and Ckid Nosyarg aka Larry to lighten things up. But it’s always felt like because of this she never quite got to be a Titan before the inevitable happened. Maybe that was the point. She obviously got more screentime than Vinny for her story to be built. I would love to know if there were any more examples like these two, so if you know of any, give a holler. Scripted series are preferred, as game shows and reality shows would probably be too easy and probably miss the point. I originally talked about the comparison last August on Twitter when the Cartoon Songs That Go Hard account posted “Butter On A Pop-Tart”, and the airing of “Into Harmony’s Way” happened to be hours before July 19, marking Teen Titans’s 20th anniversary, so it sort of got fast-tracked to commemorate it. Happy 20th anniversary Teen Titans, you’re Terra-fic.