Stewie Goes for a Drive

Brian picks up Stewie from a play date. On the drive home, Stewie listens to "Before He Cheats" by Carrie Underwood on the radio and decides to stay in the car by himself to continue listening after they reach home and accidentally hits the gear shift, causing the car to move forward, he then quickly puts the gear shift back into park and the car stops. Thinking he can drive, Stewie takes the car for a ride and is thrilled by the experience. He hears on the car radio a contest to win Justin Bieber concert tickets. Stewie calls the radio station on his cell phone to try to win but becomes too nervous to talk so he hands the phone to Rupert. In the process, he takes his eyes off the road, loses control of the car, and crashes into a lamp post head-on, destroying the front end of the car. Stewie is uninjured and limps the totaled car home and hopes Brian will not notice. Unfortunately for Stewie, Brian does notice the damage and the fact that he left Rupert in the car and immediately confronts Stewie. He scolds Stewie not just for wrecking his car, but for also putting himself in a position where he could have gotten himself killed. Brian then says he will tell Peter and Lois to make sure that Stewie learns his lesson. Afraid of being punished, Stewie runs away and leaves a CD-ROM for Brian detailing his plans.

Stewie takes the bus to the airport, but ends up in the wrong neighborhood where Consuela, the Griffin family's former maid, finds him and takes him home. Brian finds Stewie, and tells him that he feels that it was partly his fault that the car accident occurred, admits he should not have left Stewie alone in the car, and promises not to tell anyone if Stewie promises to never drive his car again. They attempt to leave Consuela's home, but she insists on keeping Stewie as her own baby. After a relative of Consuela's threatens Brian with a gun for attempting to take Stewie back, Stewie grabs the gun and shoots Consuela in the foot, then fires shots into the air, giving him and Brian the opportunity to return home, although Stewie states that he did not want to hurt her, stating that they were very nice to him up until Brian showed up.

On their way out of the doctor's office, actor Ryan Reynolds asks Peter and Lois for directions. He seems very appreciative of Peter. The next morning Peter notices that Ryan has moved in across the street, taking Cleveland Brown's former residence. Ryan says he is filming for a movie nearby. Peter attends Ryan's housewarming party that night, at which Ryan tickles him and requests that he return the favor. Later that week, they go out to dinner, but Peter immediately flees the restaurant when Ryan tries to kiss him. The next day, Peter tells a disbelieving Lois he believes Ryan may be gay. Peter confronts Ryan, who replies that he is only attracted to Peter's spirit in the way that a man is attracted to a woman. Angered by Peter's accusation, Ryan orders him to leave, but hands him a cell phone so they can "always talk".^[1][2]

First announced at the 2011 San Diego Comic-Con by series showrunners Steve Callaghan and Mark Hentemann,^[3] the episode was written by Gary Janetti.^[4] Janetti joined the series in its first season, writing "Brian: Portrait of a Dog",^[5] as well as the series' landmark 150th episode "Brian & Stewie".^[6] It was directed by Julius Wu,^[4] who joined the show in its fifth season, directing "The Tan Aquatic with Steve Zissou".^[7] Series regulars Peter Shin and James Purdum served as supervising director, with Andrew Goldberg, Alex Carter, Spencer Porter, Anthony Blasucci, Mike Desilets, and Deepak Sethi serving as staff writers for the episode.^[4] Composer Ron Jones, who has worked on the series since its inception, returned to compose the music for "Stewie Goes for a Drive".^[4] An announcement of Reynolds' appearance in the episode was made at the Television Critics Association's summer press tour, along with several other guest voice actors for the season.^[8]

In addition to the regular cast, actor and musician Adam Alexi-Malle, actor Ralph Garman, voice actor Joe Lomonaco, voice actress Rachael MacFarlane, actor Ryan Reynolds,^[2][9] and voice actress Tara Strong guest-starred in the episode. Recurring guest voice actors Alec Sulkin, writer John Viener, and writer Wellesley Wild made minor appearances throughout the episode.^[4]

In the opening scene of the episode when Peter and Lois first meet actor Ryan Reynolds, Reynolds lists various movies he has appeared in, including the 2009 film The Proposal and the 2011 film The Change-Up.^[4] Impressed by Ryan's demeanor towards him, Peter then recalls meeting actress Shelley Duvall, which he did not enjoy, even though Duvall is shown being friendly.^[10][11] Reynolds also reveals that he will be portraying Nazi leader Adolf Hitler in a film entitled Hotler, which is being filmed in Quahog rather than nearby Newport, Rhode Island.^[11]

Later, as Brian and Stewie drive home from his day care, they listen to the 2006 single "Before He Cheats" on the car's radio, sung by American Idol winner Carrie Underwood.^[10] Stewie stays in the car after arriving home to listen to the rest of the song, and sings along. Pleased with himself, he decides he should appear on the Fox television series Glee.^[11] Later Stewie learns of a contest to win tickets to a local Justin Bieber concert, but ultimately he loses the contest to his neighbor, Herbert.^[10][11] After returning home, Stewie begins watching a film parodying various 1970s science fiction movies (including music parodying the 1976 Michael York film Logan's Run) before being accused by Brian of crashing his car. When Stewie tries to reject blame for the incident, Brian tells him that he must accept his punishment, and compares it to the television game show The Price Is Right, in which a woman is shown accepting a poor showcase, involving a weeklong trip to her parents’ house in Wilmington, Delaware.^[12] Stewie then runs away from home, leaving a video message for Brian asking Brian to rescue him in a TV-movie-clichéd way at the airport, and to bring appropriate soundtrack music, suggesting "With or Without You" by U2, "Solsbury Hill" by Peter Gabriel, "Unwritten" by Natasha Bedingfield, "Live Like We're Dying" by Kris Allen, "Thank You" by Dido, and "Somebody" by Depeche Mode.^[4]