Don La Fontaine Movies

Producer Seth MacFarlane wastes no time biting the hand that feeds him in this first episode Family Guy's fourth season. Mocking the fact that the series had been cancelled by Fox in 2002, only to be brought back by public demand, the season opener finds Peter Griffin casually rattling off a list of titles of unsuccessful TV series which Fox had inflicted on the public during that two-year hiatus. The episode itself was inspired by the brouhaha over Mel Gibson's The Passion of the Christ, though in form and content it looks more like a Hitchcock thriller. While on their second honeymoon, Peter and Lois sneak a peak at the sequel to Gibson's "Jesus" film, The Passion of the Christ II: Crucify This. The couple ends up destroying the film, thus incurring the wrath of two movie-loving priests. Meanwhile back in Quahog, it is up to Brian and Stewie to dole out punishment when Chris is caught with booze at the high school dance. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

In the cold open, Peter (voice of Seth MacFarlane) visits the Quahog Zoo, and fulfills his lifelong dream of getting into a kangaroo's pouch. Peter is upset about having to visit Lois' (voice of Alex Borstein) parents, because Mr. Pewterschmidt (MacFarlane) doesn't like him. Peter tries to study up on things the old man likes, but he's stymied by his first New Yorker cartoon, and finds it hilarious that "Oui, oui" means "yes" in French. Peter fails to impress Mr. Pewterschmidt to the extent that when Lois asks him to invite Peter to his poker game, he says, "I'd rather be stuck in an elevator with Nathan Lane, Gilbert Gottfried, Carrot Top...uh...Sean Hayes -- you get the idea." Lois manages to persuade him, and Peter unexpectedly hits it off with Bill Gates and Michael Eisner when he discovers Ted Turner's "tell." The evening goes so well that Pewterschmidt tells Peter, "I'm glad you married my daughter." Brian (MacFarlane), meanwhile, is lately having trouble dealing with his animal urges. The situation worsens when the Griffins visit the Pewterschmidt home, and Brian meets Mr. Pewterschmidt's prize greyhound, Seabreeze. At the dog track, Brian's instincts get the better of him and he leaps onto the track to violate Seabreeze mid-race. When Brian subsequently learns that Seabreeze is pregnant, he's determined to "do the right thing," but Pewterschmidt won't hear of it, and throws the Griffins out of his home. Brian eventually sues for custody of the puppies, and at trial, Peter is forced to choose between Brian's friendship and the newfound acceptance of his father-in-law. This episode features the voice of Bob Barker as himself. ~ Josh Ralske, Rovi

A group of filmmakers looking for a lost native tribe instead find a man-eating monster in this thriller. Terri Flores (Jennifer Lopez) is a documentary filmmaker on assignment to make a film about the Shirishama Indians of the Amazon, a mysterious tribe known as "the People of the Mists." As Terri and her crew -- cameraman Danny Rich (Ice Cube), sound recordist Gary Dixon (Owen Wilson), anthropologist Steve Cale (Eric Stoltz), production manager Denise Kahlberg (Kari Wuhrer), and host Warren Westridge (Jonathan Hyde) -- head down the river, they discover a man whose boat has sunk and desperately needs rescue. Paul Sarone (Jon Voight), the mysterious stranger that they save from the waters, claims to know something of the Shirishama and says he will take the crew to them. Instead, he guides the group to the hiding place of the fearsome Anaconda, a gigantic snake that swallows a man whole, vomits him up, and eats him again (no small accomplishment, that). The snake is worth a fortune if captured, but can a creature so dangerous be captured at all? ~ Mark Deming, Rovi