Reception
The episode received a Nielsen rating of 3.8 among viewers 18-49, garnering second place behind ABC's Desperate Housewives for the night. Family Guy was among the top 20 shows for the week in the 18-49 demographic, and ranked sixth among the top 17 shows on the Fox Network for the week. Ahsan Haque of IGN commented that the Bale spoof "ranks right up there with some of the best timely pop-culture references in the series". Haque concluded, "It's been a while since we've had new episodes, but it certainly feels like it's been worth the wait as 'Ocean's Three and a Half' turns out to be a triumphant return to form for the series."
Steve Heisler of The A.V. Club called the episode "fine", and graded it B-. He wrote that the Bale spoof and Stewie's music video were "funny for a while" but went on "way too long". Geoff Boucher of the Los Angeles Times wrote positively of the Bale parody, commenting, "Oh, could there possibly be a single iota of humor left in the Christian Bale on-set rant? Why yes, yes there is, thanks to Seth McFarlane and company at 'Family Guy.'" Jackie Strause of the New York Post called the exchange between Peter Griffin and Bale "typical 'Family Guy' fashion.
In commenting on the Bale spoof, Ben Child of The Guardian wrote: "Personally, I tend to find Family Guy a bit hit and miss, but the US comedy's rather facile flashback formula does at least make it easy to chuck in the topical references."
Read more about this topic: Ocean's Three And A Half
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