Why Family Guy devoted an entire episode to Stewie in therapy, without commercial interruption

Variety

Stewie and Sir Ian McKellen's school psychologist character will find themselves going "toe to toe" in the same room for the entirety of Sunday's "Send in Stewie, Please" episode -- with Seth MacFarlane delivering "a very ironically three-dimensional performance" that not every character could withstand. "Of all the characters on any animated show, Stewie seems like he potentially could both benefit from and be scared of therapy more than any other," says executive producer Rich Appel. Stewie specialist Gary Janetti was given the task of writing the risk-taking episode. "Stewie has done a lot of horrible things in the course of the series, and has he ever thought about that? What are the ramifications of the things that he’s done? The accountability, as it were,” Janetti says of writing Stewie's episode. Despite its revelations, Stewie's therapy session is designed to be a standalone episode. “If you miss this episode, that’s fine, it won’t affect your watching of the show,” says Janetti. “We get to learn more about him in this episode. It deepens our understanding of him going further, but I don’t foresee it’s something that will be acknowledged again — nor do I think it should.”

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