Jerome Is the New Black

"Jerome Is the New Black" is the 7th episode of Family Guys 8th season. It was first broadcast on the Fox network on November 22, 2009. The episode is about Peter and his friends meeting a guy named Jerome. Peter does not trust him because he learns that Jerome dated Peter's wife before. 

The episode was written by John Viener. Brian Iles is the director of the episode. Abour 7.38 million people watched the episode when it was first broadcast.

Story 

Peter, Quagmire, and Joe are sad because their friend Cleveland went to Virginia. They try to look for another guy to be in their group of friends. They find a black person named Jerome. Jerome becomes their friends when he shows them his skills in darts. At his house, Peter shows Jerome to his wife Lois. She says that she and Jerome dated many years ago. Peter starts to feel jealous. He throws a bottle through Jerome's house. This accidentally starts a fire and burns Jerome's house. Jerome goes to Lois and says that he will hurt the guy who burned his house. He does not know that Peter did it. Lois lets Jerome stay in their house. Peter starts to act very jealous. He dresses as a ghost that makes him look like a member of the Ku Klux Klan. This was to make Jerome leave their house. Lois tells Peter in an argument that Jerome got him a gift. Peter goes back to Jerome and says he is sorry for acting bad to him. Jerome forgives Peter and they still be friends.

Brian wants to be in Peter's group of friends. Peter says that he can not because Quagmire does not like him. Brian goes to Quagmire's house and tries to be good to him. However, he makes Quagmire angry when he accidentally thinks his abused sister is his girlfriend. Brian tries to make Quagmire feel better by getting him to go to dinner. At dinner, Brian tries to start small talk. This does not work, so he asks Quagmire why he does not like him. Quagmire makes a long rant on everything that Brian does that he does not like. Brian goes back home and cries on the way there. Stewie makes him feel better by saying he only needs to like himself.

Production 

The episode was first talked about at the 2009 San Diego Comic-Con. The episode was written by John Viener. Brian Iles is the director of the episode. The episode was made to give Peter's group of friend another person after Cleveland Brown was taken out of Family Guy and moved to The Cleveland Show. Kevin Michael Richardson guest stars as the voice actor for Jerome. He said that he made Jerome similar to Rockfeller Butts from The Knights of Prosperity (another character he was the role of). Nana Visitor guest stars as a woman in a restaurant. Johnny Brennan, Chris Cox, Ralph Garman, Mark Hentemann, Alec Sulkin, and John Viener were the voice actors for other characters in the episode.

Reception 

The episode was watched by about 7.38 million people when it was first broadcast.

Emily VanDerWerff from The A.V. Club thought that the episode's story started well but then got further bad in the episode. She thought that a South Park episode with a similar story of Kenny McCormick being replaced was done better. However, she said she liked Quagmire's long rant. Ahsan Haque from IGN did not like how the episode was made. Haque thought that the episode's story sounded better as an idea. Ramsey Isler (another IGN reviewer) said that the episode was not funny and the writing was lazy and not original.

References

Other websites 

Family Guy episodes
2009 television episodes