With most of the nation’s TV reporters in full upfront mode, one of the funniest in-jokes in quite a while slipped by relatively unnoticed over the weekend.
It also doubled as a pretty darn ingenious promotion for “24.”
About midway through Sunday night’s episode of “Family Guy,” an on-air “swipe” hyping Fox’s “24” suddenly appeared at the bottom of the screen. Nothing unusual, right?
Right. Except in this instance, one of the characters on “Family Guy”– Stewie Griffin– took notice of the promo.

“Oh, I’m sorry, is my wedding interrupting your promotion?” Stewie said, looking down at the little Jack Bauer bug in the lower lefthand corner of the screen. “We’re right in the middle of our show. Right now. You’ve got a timeslot. Go there. Maybe finish this candy bar before you open another one.”
Promo Jack then disappears, prompting Stewie to sigh, “Well, at least it wasn’t one of those promos where they’ve got the whole cast shoving each other playfully like they’re all good pals.”
Yup, cue the promo for the new Thursday night Fox comedy…. “Shoving Buddies.”
“Oh- there we go!” Stewie said. “Look at them jostling each other around! They give each other a hard time, but they’re real friends.”
While the joke didn’t actually urge viewers to tune in to tonight’s episode of “24,” the show’s big season finale does air tonight, making the “Family Guy” plug particularly timely.
Check out the scene yourself below (it’s about 10 minutes into the episode):