In this meta episode, Disney has bought FOX and the network heads show a focus group three plans on how they're going to reboot Family Guy.
This episode contains examples of:
- Aftershow: Parodied with the third segment, Family Guy Again. Chris is the lead, married to Tricia Takanawa, and Joe lives with them. Peter and Lois are stated to be dead, while the rest of the family moved to Australia.
- Biting-the-Hand Humor: One person in the focus group claims to watch Fox. Peter maintains that no one watches Fox.
- But Not Too Gay: Referenced in the Lois! reboot. Joe and Quagmire are “network tv gay”, which means all they are allowed to do is pucker kiss and adopt kids.
- Caligula's Horse: The one responsible for ordering the reboot (and greenlighting Brooklyn Nine-Nine) turned out to be a squirrel. When the network heads discover this, they cancel the reboot entirely.
- Call-Back: A member of the focus group reminds Peter that the show promised to do away with the gay jokes, which Peter said in "Trump Guy", but Peter says that that quote was taken out of context, despite that quote actually being the context.
- Casting Gag: Judy Greer, who appeared in many unrewarding best friend / secretary roles before becoming a better-known actress, is "Judy Greer", Lois's friend on Lois!.
- Disney Owns This Trope: Lampshaded when Von Jiner claims that Disney (who now owns Family Guy after buying Fox) will someday be own by Netflix, which will someday be bought out by PornHub.
- Let's See YOU Do Better!: After all three segments get a tepid reaction from the focus group, Peter comes in and asks them for their ideas to reboot the show.
- Most Writers Are Male: One of the female test audience members notes that Lois's spinoff while from a woman's point of view seems to have been written by a man who only has a general idea of what women want.
- Never a Self-Made Woman: Lois's diligence and accomplishments are informed to the audience and rarely shown. In the end, Lois only gets the promotion because Peter pretended to be a new high-profile client who only signed with the winery because of Lois.
- Not Quite Back to Normal: In the end, after discovering that a squirrel was responsible for ordering the reboot, it is decided that Family Guy would remain as is, except with Joe Swanson getting more screentime.
- Orphaned Set Up: When Peter has the focus group pitching their own ideas for the reboot, one of them suggests the show to be more like a Netflix stand-up special. Peter just happens to have a performance filmed back when he was an "all setup, no punchline" comedian. His performance consists of him rapidly changing topics like futons, Uber, Starbucks, Facebook, credit cards, Georgia, the iPhone, EDM music, and Burger King.
- The Other Darrin: Parodied in-universe, where one suggestion is to replace the entire cast with H. Jon Benjamin. He voices Peter, Cleveland, Quagmire, and Joe in a cutaway. Subverted with Jerome, who remarks that no one replaces his his voice.
- Politically Incorrect Villain: Smarmy J. Tiestraightener III's one line in the show is commenting that he hit a gay jogger (Joe) on his way to work.
- Put on a Bus: The Chris spinoff begins with Chris talking to Stewie on the phone about how Stewie, Brian, and Meg moved to Australia after Peter and Lois died. Chris proposes coming to Australia for the season finale, but the rest of the former cast is “just not going to appear.”
- Reboot Snark: The episode features multiple attempts to reboot the show in the wake of the Disney-Fox merger, all of which deviate wildly from the premise and devolve into ridiculousness:
- The first, Lois!, features Lois as a career woman.
- The second, The Q, is a gritty supernatural Teen Drama that takes place in the wake of a murder (think Riverdale).
- The third is a Spin-Off comedy focusing on Chris, featuring none of the other original characters, who are either abruptly written off as dead, or given awkward reference that heavily implies no one has interest in being part of the show anymore.
- Eventually Peter turns on the test audiences trying to decide the reboot's direction (who are portrayed as an Unpleasable Fanbase) before the execs call it off. Family Guy will remain as is, but with Joe getting more screentime.
- Self-Deprecation:
- Peter is depicted as ignoring any criticisms to the show and mocking the test audience for wanting anything different, putting in the minimum amount of effort to change the show, and acting like any creative decisions that turn out to be disasters are entirely the audience's fault.
- Family Guy's target demographic is described as being people who were ideally "born in the 80's but are still teenager[s]".
- Take That!:
- Brooklyn Nine-Nine is described as a show that both was greenlit by a squirrel and challenged the notion that only attractive people can be on TV.
- The "Lois" segment is a jab at politically Bourgeois Bohemians who champion themselves politically correct and progressive despite doing the bare minimum and mollycoddling the female demographic.
- The Arby's execs are shown to be disgusted with their own products and make bets on who will eat what like a group of kids. As one of them puts it, "people will eat anything".
- "The Q" is a jab at high school dramas that rely on sex appeal and action sequences, like Riverdale and Teen Wolf.
- To Bojack Horseman:Peter, now resembling Bojack: Normal words, but a horse guy!
- Take That, Audience!: The test audience is depicted as a bunch of unsatisfiable, jobless losers who want the show to be totally different, but also don't want anything to change.
