Patriot Games/References

• Fred Flintstone stammers “Bet-bet-bet-bet!” as he did in The Flintstones episode “The Gambler,” where Fred goes crazy whenever someone mentions the word “bet” (only in the Family Guy version, he realizes there’s nothing funny about having a gambling addiction, a possible reference to how cartoons from the 1930s to the 1960s are being edited for today’s audience due to political correctness).
• According to DVD commentary, the way Stewie severely beats Brian up is based on the show’s take on The Sopranos.
• The severe beating also has many similarities with the film True Romance, which starred Sopranos leading man James Gandolfini as a mobster who savagely and brutally beat Patricia Arquette’s character, Alabama.
• Stewie dunking Brian’s face in the toilet, yelling “Where’s my money?” is similar to the opening scene of The Big Lebowski.
• Stewie telling Brian to “Clean himself off” and tosses him a towel at him is similar to when Sang tossed a towel to a badly hurt James Carter in Rush Hour.
• Before the beating of Brian, Stewie drinks a glass of orange juice, referring to The Godfather movies using oranges as a symbol of imminent death or injury.
• Lois mentions Peter frivolously spending money on a wax sculpture depicting Gwyneth Paltrow having sex with Harriet Tubman. (On the commentary, it was revealed that originally the creators wanted R2-D2 having sex with Gwyneth Paltrow, but LucasFilm turned them down, for the first time).
• The song Peter sings while showboating after a touchdown, “Shipoopi,” is from the 1957 Broadway play The Music Man.
• The Silly Nannies dance around a maypole and sing Gilbert and Sullivan’s “’Tis Twelve, I Think” from The Sorcerer.
• Whilst in England Lois watches a program on the digital channel BBC Four. The show depicted is a parody of the channel’s intellectual, esoteric content. Family Guy is actually shown on analog channel BBC Two and digital channel BBC Three.
• The Silly Nannies run away from the Patriots and into a carriage very similar to the one in the Disney movie Cinderella.
• NFL announcers Al Michaels and John Madden can be briefly glimpsed during the “Shipoopi” number. (Madden had earlier appeared in the Family Guy pilot episode, “Death Has a Shadow.”)
• During the fight between Mike Tyson and Carol Channing on Fox Celebrity Boxing, during one of Tyson’s bashings, it cuts away to two men under the ring, which is the same as the final round in Rocky III where Apollo Creed says, “He’s getting beaten!” Then, the man next to him, who seems to be Rocky’s brother-in-law Paulie, says, “No, he’s getting mad!!!”
• The part where Brian gets a free revenge shot on Stewie was used in the How I Met Your Mother episode “Slap Bet.”
• The song that Peter sings in his commercial has the same jingle as Homer Simpson’s “Mr. Plow.”
• In the wall of stadium one sign says “John 3:16.” This is the second time in the series that sign is seen. The first is in the “Mr. Griffin Goes to Washington” episode in which Chris’s letter says “John 3:16” (and God says: “Go Socks”).

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