The 50 Best "Family Guy" Episodes

This weekend, Seth MacFarlane, the king of Sunday night animation thanks to his massively successful Fox series Family Guy, will make his feature film directorial debut with Ted, the story of a 35-year-old dude (Mark Wahlberg) who’s still best friends with his talking, bong-hitting, skirt-chasing teddy bear, Ted (voiced by MacFarlane himself, who also co-wrote the film). With its offensive, provocative humor and sporadic references to seemingly random pop culture items (get ready to remember the 1980 superhero flop Flash Gordon in all its campy glory), Ted shrewdly captures the Family Guy spirit without relying upon that sense of familiarity.

And who can blame MacFarlane for retaining the show’s vibe? As the 38-year-old shotcaller put it in our recent interview, Family Guy is “the mothership” from which all of MacFarlane’s other properties (American Dad, The Cleveland Show) benefit. Debuting on January 31, 1999, the provocative, domestic comedy, set in the fictional Rhode Island city of Quahog, has endured through an early lack of confidence from Fox executives, an 11-month cancellation (from August 2000 through November 2001) and endless attacks from critics and good-taste pundits. Today, it’s an entertainment empire, airing constantly via multiple syndication deals and regularly scoring high DVD sales figures.

Outside of MacFarlane and his squad of writers, the credit largely goes to the show’s central family, the Griffins. There’s Peter (voiced by MacFarlane), the well-meaning but obese, usually drunk, and senseless patriarch; Lois (Alex Borstein), his stay-at-home wife with a heart of gold; Chris (Seth Green), the chubby and dim-witted son; Meg (Mila Kunis), the neglected, nerdy daughter who can never catch a break; Stewie (MacFarlane), the wise-beyond-his-years baby who speaks with an English accent and dreams of taking over the world; and Brian (MacFarlane, again), the brainy, boozing, atheist family dog.

Like The Simpsons, a clear influence, Family Guy’s rogue’s gallery of non-Griffin characters is also strong, from Glenn Quagmire (MacFarlane, once more), Peter’s endlessly horny friend, to wheelchair-stricken Joe Swanson (Patrick Warburton), Peter’s other best bud. Put all of their personalities together and you’ve got one of the best animated televisions shows of all time, as well as the reason why MacFarlane was able to make Ted in the first place.

In honor of MacFarlane’s impressive leap to the big screen (we’ve seen Ted, and it doesn’t disappoint), Complex presents The 50 Best Family Guy Episodes, pulled from the show’s 188 total contenders, and 10 seasons’ worth of amusement.

Written by Matt Barone (@MBarone)

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Air Date: June 26, 2005
Best Cutaway: In a hilarious, albeit brief, revival of the old cartoon Snorks, a male snork gets aroused by a female one and the appendage atop its head extends.

For its sharp digs at reality television alone, “Brian the Bachelor” deserves a high placement on this countdown. Brian decries so-called “reality” shows as much as the next reasonably intelligent person (or dog), but when Quagmire wins a spot on the latest season of The Bachelorette, Brian ends up joining him, and consequently falling in love with the bachelorette in question only to learn, after winning the show, that she’s just an actress and doesn’t give a damn about him.

However, any ardent Family Guy viewer knows, though, that the funniest sequence in “Brian the Bachelor” has nothing to do with The Bachelorette. In the episode’s final moments, Stewie amazingly skewers Brian, with a voice that gets higher in pitch as he carries on, for his lack of dedication to the novel he’s always talked about writing but never actually sits down to write. The one he’s “been working on for three years,” the one that should have “a compelling pro-tagonist,” and with a narrative in which “some friends become enemies, some enemies become friends.”

Air Date: May 7, 2006
Best Cutaway: Stewie pulls a Bam Margera and, with a cameraman behind him, breaks into the bathroom and bitch-slaps Peter while Mr. Griffin is taking a dump, a la Jackass.

Yet another entire episode framed around a random piece of classic popular culture, and yet another wholly funny half-hour of animation. Aping the premise of Tobe Hooper’s seminal 1982 horror flick Poltergeist, “Petergeist” starts off with Peter finding an Indian skull in his backyard, pissing in it, and then using it as an athletic support cup.

Not exactly the best ways to please ancient spirits, a fact that Peter quickly learns when little Stewie gets sucked into the television, proceeded by other supernatural phenomena. For no discernible reason, other than spoofing the ginger prop-exploiting comedian, the Griffins end up at Carrot Top’s (gamely providing his own voice) mansion. To Mr. Top's credit, this is the funniest thing he’s ever done.

Air Date: March 8, 2009
Best Cutaway: Peter reasons that becoming a medical guinea pig will, thankfully, prevent him from having to "take that job as Matt Damon's neck," in which he'd heckle the actor with, "Ben Affleck married Jennifer Garner, but you married a bartender with a kid."

“Family Gay” certainly has one of Family Guy’s most ridiculous premises, which is why we love it so much. For no good reason, Peter opts not to go grocery shopping and, instead, buys a brain-damaged horse. He enters the impaired equestrian animal into a race at the local track, where the horse causes $100,000 worth of damage. To obtain the money needed to pay that debt off, Peter voluntarily undergoes gene therapy tests, one of which turns him into a homosexual man.

And then it’s off the races as the appropriately titled “Family Gay” milks Peter’s newfound sexual orientation for all its worth. He starts speaking flamboyantly, baking muffins, and helping Chris finish his math homework by devising elaborate word problems involving men’s bathrooms, glory holes, and a dude named Brent.

Air Date: January 31, 1999
Best Cutaway: Explaining his history of disabilities to the welfare office, Peter recounts the first time he ever farted...when he was 30-years-old.

Thirteen years into its on-air run, Family Guy has, over time and through a brief cancellation, grown more confident, ballsy, and outrageous; back in 1999, though, while still must-see TV, Seth MacFarlane’s brainchild wasn’t nearly as button-pushing or wild as it is today. The difference in tone can be felt while watching “Death Has a Shadow,” Family Guy’s pilot episode; yet, as a series opener, it’s definitely effective.

In “Death Has a Shadow,” Peter is punching the clock at his original job, as a safety inspector at the Happy-Go-Lucky Toy Factory; in vintage Peter fashion, he falls asleep at his post, gets fired, and, without telling Lois, applies for welfare. A clerical error gives his first welfare check a whopping total of $150,000. So what does Peter do? He starts living like a boss, obviously.

Amongst the head Griffin’s lavish, and lunk-headed, purchases is a moat that surrounds their house—so much for subtlety, right? “Death Has a Shadow,” which premiered right after Super Bowl XXXIII on Fox, climaxes with Peter and Brian dumping the rest of his money onto the Super Bowl crowd, from a blimp, setting the stage for one of the show’s consistent themes: Peter fucks up royally at the beginning of an episode, and by the end, his innate sweetness shines through.

Air Date: April 27, 2008
Best Cutaway: During an awkward chat, Stewie diligently tries telling Matthew McConaughey that he sucks.

Much like Ted, the unquestioned ladies' man teddy bear in Seth MacFarlane’s new movie, Brian Griffin bags more goodies than a grocer, despite the fact that, yes, he’s a dog. So it’s no surprise that he once impregnated one of his jump-offs, and that his son would surface and turn Brian’s world upside down.

Dylan, the canine’s suddenly present kid, is a complete asshole, picking on Chris, damaging the Griffins’ property, and leaving Brian feeling like an awful parent; Stewie, on the other hand, is smitten by the family’s newest member, with several visual gags answering the age-old question: Is Stewie gay or not?

Air Date: April 19, 2009
Best Cutaway: Peter gets so stoned that he's not able to cue a cutaway, so Lois just sets up a list of people that Peter hates, which includes Princess Diana, Chris Martin, Chris Martin again, Chris Martin's parents, and Freddie Prinze, Jr.

The plot of “420” is such a strong case of wishful thinking that Fantasy Guy would have been a worthy temporary show title. Brian Griffin, once again speaking for all of the world’s die-hard left-wingers, launches a fervent pro-marijuana campaign after he’s arrested for possessing some weed. In comes the easily swayable Mayor Adam West, who eagerly legalizes pot in Quahog, leading to widespread usage of the intoxicant throughout the Rhode Island town.

Although Quahog’s crime rate goes down, so does Carter Pewterschmidt’s timber industry profits. Lois’ money-bags father tirelessly lobbies against Brian’s efforts to promote marijuana, and we can’t help but love the way in which Carter convinces Brian to turn his back on Quahog’s joyous potheads: He offers to pay for the publishing and shipping of Brian’s universally undesired novel Faster than the Speed of Love. The dog’s payback for sacrificing his beliefs for superficial gains: The book doesn’t sell a single copy.

Air Date: February 18, 2007
Best Cutaway: Brian reads a script for Brokeback Mountain told from one of the cowboy lover's horse's perspective.

In the world of Family Guy, there isn’t much funnier than Stewie Griffin acting like a little douchebag. And in “The Tan Aquatic with Steve Zissou,” he’s a raging douche.

Exposed to the sun for too long while Peter and his buddies are playing golf, Stewie gets some serious color and, wouldn’t you know it, he loves the darker look. He starts “getting [his] bronze on, baby,” drinking Tab cola, hosting “tan parties,” and strutting around the Griffin household doing his “tan walk.” He’s “just tan Stewie being tan Stewie,” and it’s terrific.

Air Date: September 24, 2006
Best Cutaway: In Brian's mind, only douchebags buy Hummer vehicles, namely the guy in this cutaway.

In “Hell Comes to Quahog,” the Family Guy braintrust saluted the little business owners of America, pointing out the unfair domination and negative economical side effects of behemoth chains like Walmart and Target. Meg, looking to earn enough money to buy her own car after Peter absurdly buys her a tank instead of a usable automobile, gets a job at Superstore USA, the new corporate entity in Quahog managed by the wonderfully named Mr. Penisburg.

In addition to widespread blackouts, due to Superstore USA’s electricity demands siphoning all of Quahog’s power, Meg’s new place of employment also erases Peter’s job at the Pawtucket Brewery. He joins Brian, the Griffins’ most socially and politically conscious representative, at the front of the picket lines outside of Superstore USA; leading the charge, Peter walks into the store, ready to raise all kinds of hell, but the venue’s central air conditioning wins him over. He’s a tough nut to crack, that Peter Griffin.

Air Date: November 27, 2005
Best Cutaway: Brian reveals that he's the one who found President Bush to alert him about Hurricane Katrina. And where was Dubya? Hiding out in a treehouse, cowering.

These days, in our post-Avengers society, Robert Downey, Jr. is one of the biggest superstars on the planet; think back to anytime before the first Iron Man movie opened in 2008, though, and you’ll recall that, in the wake of drugs and a stalled career, RDJ wasn’t quite the megastar.

Would he find the time to lend his voice to a one-off Family Guy character in 2012? Probably not, but back in 2005 he did just that, voicing Lois’ long-lost brother, Patrick Pewterschmidt, in the memorable episode “The Fat Guy Strangler.” It’s revealed that Patrick is actually totally batshit crazy and frequently murders overweight men, a byproduct of catching his mother having sex with Jackie Gleason, the chunky star The Honeymooners.

Air Date: April 29, 2012
Best Cutaway: Writing a letter with a quill pen, Peter chants "dip, dip, dip" whenever it's time to refill the pen's ink.

How’s this for credibility: Cate Blanchett, the Academy Award-winning, A-list actress, voices the toddler who captures Stewie’s heart in the tenth season standout “Mr. and Mrs. Stewie.” As Penelope, Blanchett gives the Griffin baby, who’s no stranger to anarchy and infantile destructive tendencies, the girly match he’s always sought—for starters, she actually did kill her mother, something that Stewie has always wanted to do to Lois.

Eventually, their shared affections for evil deteriorate, and Stewie and Penelope engage in a cataclysmic fight that rivals Peter’s brawls with Family Guy’s audience-pleasing chicken. At its heart, though, “Mr. and Mrs. Stewie” is another magnificent exhibition of the chemistry between Stewie and Brian (Stewie defeats Penelope in order to save Brian, whom she hates), the show’s eternal utmost asset.

Air Date: November 29, 2009
Best Cutaway: Stewie cries and pleads with Peter to let him use the swingset, which Peter is hogging; karma is a bitch, however, because Peter quickly flies off and lands smack-dab on his face.

Brian really goes through the emotional ringer in “Dog Gone.” First, a ceremony held by the Rhode Island Society for Special Literary Excellence honoring his critically panned novel, Faster than the Speed of Love turns out to be for mentally retarded readers (that kind of “special”); then, having drowned his sorrows in booze, he drives home under the influence and runs over another dog. Though it’s comically sound for us, the viewers, Brian’s subsequent grappling with mortality and a dog’s miniscule place in life’s big picture gives Family Guy some extra gravitas.

On the more lowbrow end of the spectrum, “Dog Gone” also introduces viewers to Consuela, the wonderfully tongue-in-cheek, stereotypical Spanish housemaid who’s since become one of the show’s strongest running jokes.

Air Date: March 25, 2007
Best Cutaway: Imagine the Super Friends, with Batman and Wonder Woman included, but with Superman as a Mexican mooch.

Nobody ever called Peter Griffin the world’s greatest friend. In “No Meals on Wheels,” we’re given a clear indicator why. Feeling quite entrepreneurial, Peter opens up a restaurant in Quahog, named Big Pete’s House of Munch, and business really starts booming once his cop buddy Joe and his fellow wheelchair pushers flock to Big Pete’s. Peter isn’t happy, though, since he thought Joe was going to bring his fellow police officers, not his fellow paraplegics.

So how does the always outlandish Family Guy resolve this tension amongst friends? With a touching moment of compassion for the handicapped? In a way, yes, but the source of such tenderness is a Voltron-like behemoth, comprised entirely of wheelchair-bound men, pulverizing Big Pete’s House of Munch.

Air Date: November 22, 2009
Best Cutaway: Brian wants to take Cleveland's place in Peter's inner circle of friends, but Quagmire won't allow it; Peter explains that, to Quagmire, Brian is as annoying as parents who never stop talking about their kids.

What’s the best way to solve the problem of losing a hit TV show’s token black character? By finding the next token black character.

Once Cleveland Brown left Spooner Street to embark on his own spin-off series, The Cleveland Show, Peter, Quagmire, and Joe were left with a void in their friendship quartet—a big black hole, to be exact.

They meet Jerome, a suave, baritone-voiced guy, and Peter quickly becomes his biggest fan; that is, until Lois tells Peter that she and Jerome used to date. His positive attitude immediately sullied, Peter goes out of his way to get rid of Jerome; in one of the episode’s funniest bits, he dresses up in what appears to be a Ku Klux Klan outfit but, according to Peter, is just a ghost costume with a torch, meant to scare Jerome away.

Air Date: October 3, 2010
Best Cutaway: Brian listens to European porn, complete with unintelligible grunts and moans, instead of reading Rush Limbaugh's new book.

Whether you agree with his political beliefs or not, one has to respect right-wing blowhard Rush Limbaugh for guest-starring in Family Guy’s “Excellence in Broadcasting,” especially considering the show’s frequent disses toward conservatives. Furthermore, Limbaugh even shares the episode’s limelight with Brian Griffin, Family Guy’s most outspoken liberal character.

Hearing that Limbaugh will be signing copies of his latest book in Quahog, Brian, who expectedly hates the guy, storms over to the event to chastise Limbaugh in person. There’s only one problem, however, and Limbaugh calls Brian out on it: The dog hasn’t actually read any of his books. And when he does finally read one, Brian becomes a full-blown Republican. He even gets to hang out with George W. Bush and John McCain.

As “Excellence in Broadcasting” ends, Brian has returned to his lefty ways and Limbaugh shape-shifts into a bald eagle and flies away. Again, give the man some credit—he’s a damn good sport. It's too bad he can't keep his trap shut outside of Family Guy.

Air Date: September 18, 2005
Best Cutaway: Peter recalls the embarrassment he felt while failing miserably as a contestant on the guess-who's-making-the-crazy-sound game show Bobcat or Bjork, the former referring to Bobcat Goldthwait.

Why Family Guy’s creative team decided to give Cleveland Brown his own spin-off, The Cleveland Show, has never made a great deal of sense to us; the character was always at his funniest when paired with Peter, Quagmire, and Joe, never on his own. Thus, no Cleveland Show episode stands a chance at being half as brilliant as “Perfect Castaway,” a half-hour mostly dedicated to the four lame-brained friends.

On a large fishing boat, the fellas pass the time playing rounds of “I Never,” where contestants present sexual situations, like, “I never had sex with Cleveland’s wife,” and whoever has done that must drink—both Cleveland and Family Guy’s resident sex fiend Quagmire sip their beers.

Flash ahead to Quagmire, looking totally shitfaced, seated in front of about 50 empty beer cans, still kicking them back as the rest of the guys struggle to come up with any scenarios that Quags hasn’t done. Peter’s Hail Mary of a statement: “I never gave a reach-around to a spider monkey while reciting the ‘Pledge of Allegiance.’” Quagmire’s response: “Oh, God!” Sip. Joe’s turn: “I never picked up an illegal alien at Home Depot to bring home and choke me while I touched myself.” Quagmire’s retort: “Oh, come on!” Gulp.

Family Guy has never had a shortage of sexual jokes for Quagmire—the boat challenge in “Perfect Castaway” stands as the best one, though.

Air Date: March 28, 2000
Best Cutaway: The time when Peter taped over his wedding video with a softcore porno movie about sexy lesbians in prison.

Aside from his general stupidity, Peter Griffin is endearingly a man’s man. He enjoys pints of beer, looking at a woman’s jugs, and drinking more beers at his favorite bar, The Drunken Clam, with his boys. He’s also a bit of a Neanderthal when it comes to his perceptions of women, which backfires in “I am Peter, Hear Me Roar.”

At the Happy-Go-Lucky Toy Factory, his sexist ways infuriate his humorless female boss, Gloria Ironbox, who makes Peter join a sensitivity training program. The experience leaves Peter’s manhood in check; back home, he’s unable to have sex with Lois, concerns himself with everyone’s feelings, and tries to breast-feed Stewie.

Nothing that some good girl-on-girl action can’t cure, though. At a fancy-pants dinner, Lois and Gloria get into a ferocious catfight, one that turns big Pete on and gives him the drive to bang Lois like there’s no tomorrow.

Air Date: April 9, 2011
Best Cutaway: Peter's feud with Mr. Washee Washee, the owner of the local dry cleaner establishment, boils over into a Street Fighter smackdown, presented exactly like a match from the classic video game.

Family Guy’s ninth season was officially when critics began writing harshly about the Griffin family. Week after week, episodes would transpire with just as many flat jokes as successful ones, so when the first-rate “Tiegs for Two,” the season’s fourteenth entry, premiered in April 2011, haters and naysayers had to momentarily shut up.

Curiously, Family Guy hasn’t done all that many Quagmire-specific episodes, a strange move considering that Peter’s uber-perverted best friend is a fan favorite. “Tiegs for Two,” thankfully, takes full advantage of Quagmire, having him teach a recently heartbroken Brian lessons in love, an open-hearted series of conversations that prompts Glen to opine over the one who got away, his ex-girlfriend, and former Sports Illustrated Swimsuit model, Cheryl Tiegs (who guest-voices as herself).

Mind you, Quagmire is the same guy who once pulled a Spider-Man and clung himself to a women’s bathroom’s ceiling to spy on Lois while she urinated. So for Family Guy to make us root for him and hope he finds true love? That’s no small feat.

Air Date: September 26, 2010
Best Cutaway: James Woods, Peter's longtime nemesis, replaces the elderly neighborhood pedophile Herbert's Cialis with methamphetamines. The neighborhood kids don't stand a chance.

The Family Guy team went all high-concept with viewers in the Clue-like “And Then There Were Fewer,” which marked the return of Peter’s longtime arch-nemesis, and TV’s most random celebrity character, James Woods (voiced by the actor himself).

Woods, always scheming to make the Griffin family’s existence a living hell, invites the fam and basically everyone else in Quahog over to his spooky mansion for a suit-and-tie shindig; but, in the spirit of Agatha Christie, the guests begin dying one by one, turning the episode into a whodunit murder mystery. It’s a plot device that’s been done to death in television (hell, even Saved by the Bell tried it once), yet Family Guy uses the find-the-killer’s-identity gambit to generate some nifty comedy.

Air Date: November 13, 2011
Best Cutaway: Brian and Stewie watch Peter, in the future, directly pointing out the show's dependency on cutaways.

With superb ratings and tons of studio clout behind him, Family Guy creator Seth MacFarlane isn’t afraid to take hugely ambitious creative risks nowadays, and, sometimes, those risks can truly benefit the show.

A common complaint about the last couple of Family Guy seasons has been that the series has lost its once-foolproof consistency, which we’re not about to argue with here, because, frankly, it’s true. Lately, Family Guy is at its best when the episodes’ plots veer toward the super-high-concept side, and “Back to the Pilot,” the best episode in years, encapsulates that.

It doesn’t hurt that it’s a Stewie/Brian one, either. Using a time machine, the show’s dynamic duo head back to the pilot, “Death Has a Shadow,” and are confused by what they see and hear, namely everyone segueing into random cutaways and Meg’s different voice (Lacey Chabert’s inflection, not Mila Kunis’).

Thinking he’s doing the right thing, Brian tells his earlier self about the 9/11 attacks, altering history dramatically: The World Trade Center tragedy never happens, and President George W. Bush reinstates the Confederacy, causing a second Civil War. If only other non-cable TV shows would be so far-out imaginative.

Air Date: June 6, 2000
Best Cutaway: Discussing a time when he took particularly strong drugs, Peter tells of how the narcotics felt "too real," giving us a live-action shot of a fat dude, dressed like Peter and with bugged-out, fake eyes, freaking out on a public bench.

Before Jonah Hill and Channing Tatum teamed up for this year’s 21 Jump Street, arguably 2012’s funniest movie so far, Family Guy supplied pop culture with the best spoof of the Johnny Depp-led ’80s TV show, in the form of “Let’s Go to the Hop.”

James Woods High, the school that both Chris and Meg attend, succumbs to a new hallucinogenic drug kick where kids lick the bottoms of Colombian toads. Hoping to rid the campus of its damaging amphibian outbreak, Peter goes undercover as a student named Lando Griffin, no relation to Chris or Meg.

Like Johan Hill’s character in 21 Jump Street, Peter, a.k.a. Lando, loses sight of his mission and enjoys his newfound popularity—he even gets asked to the prom by the school’s most coveted hottie, Connie D’Amico, much to Meg’s dismay.

Whenever it’s not brutally insulting various targets, Family Guy does have a warm heart at its narrative center, and “Let’s Go to the Hop,” which ends with Peter killing off his Lando persona in the name of Meg’s social standing and honor, is a prime example.

Air Date: September 28, 2008
Best Cutaway: Before Brian heads out for dinner with a new lady friend, Stewie warns him not to act like a 37-year-old, desperate woman on a blind date.

“Love, Blactually” is Cleveland Brown’s finest half-hour. Brian meets a pretty lady, named Carolyn, inside a bookstore, with whom he connects over their shared atheist beliefs. As they start dating Brian really takes a liking to her, but Stewie warns him of his past mistakes with females: More often than not, Brian rushes into sex with his latest chick and ultimately ruins his chances at everlasting love.

So, heeding Stewie’s advice, Brian continually refuses to sleep with Carolyn, even though she’s totally down for the sexual cause, going so far as to literally treat her bedroom like an airport landing strip. The lack of bumping-and-grinding sends Carolyn into the arms of another man: Mr. Cleveland Brown. Brian catches the two of them smacking backs in her car’s front seat, windows open, and Cleveland chimes in with, “Oh, hey, Brian! Close that window, you’re lettin’ all the stank out.”

Air Date: June 19, 2005
Best Cutaway: Peter really hates The Vagina Monologues, mainly because, when he saw the play, there was an actual, oversized vagina doing all the talking.

It’s no mystery that Peter Griffin is dumber than a box of rocks owned by Sarah Palin—even his loved ones know that he’s a total buffoon. That’s why they secretly use the preschool edition of Trivial Pursuit in his presence, and when he wins the game, Peter thinks he’s a genius and foolishly and incessantly talks shit to his fellow players.

The delusional chubster goes so far as to enter the MacArthur Fellows Program to solidify his “brilliance,” but he’s told that he’s actually a mental midget—more specifically, he’s mentally retarded. The state takes custody of Chris, Meg, and Stewie, sending them to live with Cleveland. Peter’s bright idea to get his kids back: He dispatches five hookers into Cleveland’s house.

Leave it to Stewie to score the episode’s best joke. While chatting up one of the more hideous-looking, worn down prostitutes, he asks, “So, tell me, is there any tread left on the tires at all, or at this point would it be like throwing a hot dog down a hallway?”

Air Date: May 2, 1999
Best Cutaway: Peter flashes back to his days as a Calvin Klein model, complete with the brand's old-school, signature black-and-white commercial aesthetic.

“A Hero Sits Next Door” marks the beginning of one of Family Guy’s greatest friendships, that of Peter and Joe Swanson. They didn’t instantly become best buddies, though; even though he’s confined to a wheelchair, new neighbor Joe proves to be great at everything he does, including softball and innocently charming the neighborhood women. Not to mention, his story about how he got injured, falling off the roof of an orphanage after beating up a devious Grinch (see above), is the stuff of “Aww!” sympathies.

Staying to true to his moronic self, Peter decides to thwart a bank robbery and show that he can be just as heroic as Joe, but it doesn’t take long for he and Brian to end up as helpless hostages. And who comes to their rescue? Four-wheel-pushing Joe, of course.

Air Date: May 20, 2007
Best Cutaway: Peter has a theory about why Tom Cruise runs in all of his movies: because he's running away from his gay thoughts, such as, "Wow, that cameraman has nice, strong arms."

The going-back-in-time plot device has been a TV show staple for decades, and, fortunately, Family Guy’s take on the Back to the Future set-up is an inspired one.

With no time machine in sight, Peter heads back to 1982 thanks to Death (Adam Carolla), his tour guide of sorts; thinking that he missed out on being single, since his first date with an 18-year-old Lois Pewterschmidt led to his future marriage, Peter disses Lois when she asks if they’re still going to see the Scott Baio flick Zapped!.

By doing so, though, that allows Quagmire the opportunity to swoop in and court Lois, the forbidden apple of his eye. Back in the present, Peter sees that Lois married Quagmire and that he got hitched to a has-been Molly Ringwald. Oh, and Chevy Chase is the host of The Tonight Show, not Jay Leno—come to think of it, maybe a world where Lois Pewterschmidt is Lois Quagmire isn’t so bad after all.

Air Date: August 1, 2000
Best Cutaway: A spoof on the old sci-fi classic Lost in Space, during which the show's underlying feelings of pedophilia and underage sex are brought to light.

Revisiting “Fore, Father,” the final episode of Family Guy’s fateful second season, it’s impossible not to ask one simple question: How stupid were the Fox executives who cancelled the show in 2000? OK, so the ratings might have been lacking, but episodes as funny as “Fore, Father” demanded more higher-up loyalty and faith.

A camping trip gone awry causes a “father swap,” with Chris bouncing around from Quagmire to Cleveland in hopes of having a new dad and Peter taking Cleveland, Jr. under his chubby wing. When Cleveland, Jr. emerges as a golf prodigy, the allusions to Tiger Woods are bit lame, yes, but the sight of Quagmire bringing Chris to a strip club, where the shell-shocked teenage tells one dancer, “You’re pretty like my mom,” never fails. Anything Quagmire results in comedic gold.

Oddly enough, in 2010, Seth MacFarlane tweeted that, in his mind, “Fore, Father,” is the worst Family Guy episode. We respectfully disagree, sir.

Air Date: January 24, 2002
Best Cutaway: Stewie shows us one of his "sexy parties," when he dresses up like a sailor and prances around the living room with a bunch of scantily-clad women.

Brian Griffin: failed writer, and, after “From Method to Madness,” a failed thespian. Sure, it’s sad to constantly see the Griffins’ intelligent, ambitious dog routinely bomb all of his professional attempts, but it’s also great material for Stewie and others to hilariously ridicule the pooch.

In an arrogant tone, Brian tells Lois that he can act better than the guy who performed a one-man show they’ve just attended, and Lois dares him to land a part in the nearest community theater production. In his audition, Brian gives a passionate line reading—too passionate, though, since the judges are numbed by him, but not Stewie, who’s emphatic defending of Brian sends him into the children’s performing arts program.

From there, “From Method to Madness” morphs into a Stewie episode and maintains the quality of his past centerpiece entries. We’re introduced to Olivia, his biggest acting competition and future love interest (yes, the baby has a love interest) who’s on-stage chops bring her Hollywood fame and leave Stewie humiliated, defeated, and in a mental institution.

Air Date: August 8, 2001
Best Cutaway: Stewie knows how to "be cool"; just watch his spot-on rendition of William Shatner's hilariously overstated "Rocket Man" video.

It’s every father’s worst nightmare, though it’s also the one fear that no dad will ever admit publicly: discovering that your son has a bigger penis than you. Go ahead, ask your pops if he agrees. In “And the Wiener Is…,” Peter Griffin has to come to terms with that embarrassing fact, and he doesn’t handle it well at all.

Witness how he compensates for his inferior member: He buys a long, red new car, finds his way to a wide open tunnel, and repeatedly drives in and out of it, as if to say to the tunnel, “Can you handle all of this?” Yeah, the man has issues.

Air Date: December 20, 2001
Best Cutaway: It's the Special People's Games, but the deaf team is nowhere to be found. That's because they're all still asleep, since none of them could hear the alarm clock going off.

Preceding the exceptionally funny episode “Stew-Roids” (which we’ll get to later), Family Guy’s first time addressing the use of steroids came in “Ready, Willing, and Disabled,” an installment centered around Peter’s BFF, paraplegic cop Joe Swanson.

Feeling inadequate as an officer, after letting a perpetrator escape from a scene of crime, Joe goes into a depression. Peter, at the behest of Joe’s wife, tries to cheer him up by suggesting he enter the Special People’s Games. Cue a barrage of borderline offensive but undeniably riotous jokes at the expense of the handicapped, particularly paraplegic theoretical physicist Stephen Hawking.

One of Joe’s rivals during the games is a Hawking clone who talks smack using his voice synthesizer. In poor taste? Indeed. Still hilarious? Unfortunately, yes.

Air Date: April 29, 2007
Best Cutaway: Brian can't stand being in Texas, since it's even "worse than the WNBA." Cue the vicious skewering of the female hoops league's low scoring, measly salaries, and "one fan."

Some of the best Family Guy stories take place outside of the Griffin clan’s hometown of Quahog, Rhode Island. Case in point: “Boys Do Cry,” a fish-out-of-water episode that’s set in Texas and has a lot of fun with dissing the land of cowboy hats and spurs.

At the episode’s beginning, Lois takes gig playing the organ in the local Quahog church, giving Stewie plenty of time to cause mischief—i.e., drinking a bit too much of the holy wine, puking in front of a packed house, and triggering accusations of him being possessed by the devil.

To save Stewie from the crazed parishioners, Peter and the rest of the fam hide out in Lois’ relative’s rundown crib in Texas, where Stewie, disguised in girls’ clothing and long hair, enters a beauty pageant straight out of Toddlers & Tiaras. Considering that he tends to be the most effeminate baby of all time, Stewie enjoys the whole experience more than he probably should. Remember, this is the kid who repeatedly has tried to seduce doggie Brian by dressing up like a pint-sized chick.

Air Date: November 5, 2006
Best Cutaway: In one of Peter's random thoughts, news reporters show concern when a cop announces that a little girl did not survive a school bus accident, but only until they discover she's not white.

One of TV’s best odd couples, Brian and Stewie have combined for countless Family Guy highpoints, one of which is the military-themed episode “Saving Private Brian.” A botched trip to a nearby U.S. Army recruitment office leads to the dog and kid reluctantly getting shipped off to Iraq, motivating them to find clever ways to get themselves booted; first, they pretend to be gay, followed by the desperation act of shooting each other in the foot.

Back in Quahog, Chris joins a heavy metal band and starts idolizing Marilyn Manson, which raises the proverbial red flag for Peter and Lois. Investigating the lyrics of Chris’ favorite songs, Lois, in one of Family Guy’s best nods to hip-hop, reads some of Inspectah Deck’s verse from Wu-Tang Clan’s “Bring da Ruckus,” prompting Peter to valiantly explain what Rebel INS meant in proper layman’s terms.

Air Date: November 4, 2007; November 11, 2007
Best Cutaway: What's God's biggest mistake? Per Peter's cutaway, it's when He created Rosie O'Donnell.

After six seasons’ worth of hearing Stewie wax psychotically about one day offing his mother, and witnessing his many failed attempts to do just that, the youngest, most deranged Griffin finally completed his homicidal task in the two-part episode “Stewie Kills Lois/Lois Kills Stewie.” And we’re not talking any kind of silent murder here—she dies in the most violent, bullet-ridden of ways.

The show’s two bloodiest and most violent episodes, this double whammy of parental mortality brings both the pain and the funny before culminating in one of those typically frustrating “it was all a dream” endings. Being that it’s Family Guy, though, that’s to be expected. Besides, we appreciate the blatant shots fired at the series finale of The Sopranos as the episode abruptly cuts off.

Air Date: October 11, 2009
Best Cutaway: Peter declares that Cleveland's bathroom is the "greatest discovery since fat women discovered Diet Coke." And, of course, we see a fat lady taking her first sip of the calorie-free soda, beaming with a big cheese grin, and exclaiming, "Now I can eat anything!"

One of Family Guy’s defining characteristics is, of course, the random, at times obscure, pop culture in-jokes and references that Seth MacFarlane and his writing staff insert into every single episode. Every now and then, they’ll frame an entire half-hour around one specific PC item, such as the memorable “Spies Reminiscent of Us,” a send-up of the 1988, John Landis-directed comedy Spies Like Us.

And for credibility’s sake, MacFarlane went for broke and got the movie’s original stars, Chevy Chase and Dan Aykroyd, to voice animated versions of themselves. The comedy legends move into neighbor Cleveland’s now-vacant house, and it doesn’t take long for the noisy pair of Brian and Stewie to realize that the latest inhabitants of Spooner Street are full-fledged agents of C.I.A. intrigue.

Meanwhile, in a totally unrelated yet hilarious subplot, Peter, Quagmire, and Joe try to start an improv comedy group, a failed plan that’s partially saved by Peter’s crowd-pleasing John Wayne impersonations.

Air Date: December 18, 2005
Best Cutaway: The Face/Off remake we never knew we wanted, one starring Peter and Brian.

No social issue is safe from Family Guy’s brand of satire; in “The Father, The Son, and the Holy Fonz,” religion gets the cynical spoof treatment. It all starts when Peter’s crotchety father, Francis Griffin, pays the family a visit, learns that Stewie has yet to be baptized, and demands that they do it the Catholic way.

At Lois’ request, Peter dabbles in other religions, like Mormonism (which is a fail, since Mormons can’t drink alcohol). But then he whips up his own belief system: He and his soon-to-emerge followers will worship at the altar of Henry “The Fonz” Winkler, he of Happy Days fame.

Several shots are fired at the general idea of organized religion, courtesy of atheist Brian’s anger over Peter’s moronic new Fonzie practice. But fortunately, keeping in the show’s tradition of wisely favoring laughs over heavy-handed messages, the gags remain front and center, such as when Peter body-checks a Hindu man, thinking the red dot on his forehead is from a sniper’s gun.

Air Date: September 23, 1999
Best Cutaway: Peter tells Lois that she deserves a diamond ring, prompting an elegant black-and-white commercial in which a silhouetted man puts a diamond ring on his wife's finger, she starts going down on him, and a slogan appears on screen: "Diamonds... She'll pretty much have to."

Middle-class guy Peter’s struggles with Lois’ super wealthy father, Carter Pewterschmidt, have given many a Family Guy episode fodder for comedy. But when we’re first introduced to Carter, in “Peter, Peter, Caviar Eater,” the situation is different.

After one of Lois’ rich aunts dies, she leaves her niece an entire mansion/estate, allowing Peter to indulge in all of his money-fueled fantasies; first, in order to help Peter act like a “gentleman,” Brian sends him to receive shock treatment. Works every time.

Air Date: November 4, 2007; November 11, 2007July 10, 2005
Best Cutaway: Stewie gets a little too excited to see Kirk Cameron playing Jean Vajean in Les Miserables.

Is there any TV show character who’s hated by her fellow characters more than poor Meg Griffin? Not only do her parents routinely forget her name, birthday, and general purpose in life, the four-eyed, socially inept teenage girl also has to contend with bullies at school and, understandably, low self-esteem.

But how Peter treats her in “8 Simple Rules for Buying My Teenage Daughter”? We’re surprised Seth MacFarlane’s team of writers didn’t just have Meg off herself in the following episode. The only person in Quahog who fancies Meg is Neil Goldman, the extremely nerdy son of local pharmacy owner Mort; when Peter runs up a high tab at Mort’s store and can’t pay it off, he relinquishes his debt by selling Meg to the Goldman family.

Lois’ plan to get Meg back should be of particular interest to comic book heads: Dressing up as X-Men sexpot Mystique, the curvy MILF seduces Neil, leaving the Goldman contract nullified as a result. Is it wrong to say that Lois in Mystique form is incredibly sexy? Probably, but tell us that picture above doesn’t work for you. To which we’d reply, “Stop lying.”

Air Date: September 10, 2006
Best Cutaway: Stewie uncomfortably remembers the time he testified against Michael Jackson.

In a nice change of pace, Stewie, for once, doesn’t want to kill Lois; in fact, all he wants to do is shower his mother with love. Which, of course, goes a bit overboard. The little guy’s altered view of Lois comes after she repairs his beloved teddy bear, Rupert, the inanimate victim of an evil dog’s vicious fangs.

Usually snarky and anti-family, Stewie spends the majority of “Stewie Loves Lois” in pure softie mode, and it’s as funny for us as it is overbearing for poor Lois. Just see Stewie’s drawn-out pleading—“Momma! Momma! Mommy! Mommy!”—for her attention at the exhausted matriarch’s bedside, a classic Family Guy clip that’s undoubtedly an all-time fan favorite.

Air Date: November 9, 2008
Best Cutaway: Quagmire drunk dials Peter while the sober fat man is trying to sleep.

Put Peter Griffin, Quagmire, Brian, Cleveland Brown, and Joe Swanson in a room together and you’re basically guaranteed comedic, albeit idiotic, greatness. In “The Man with Two Brians,” the middle-aged dimwits decide to perform their own Jackass stunts, but one in particular results in poor Brian getting sidelined and sent to the emergency room.

With their beloved family pooch in the hospital, the Griffins start thinking about how old Brian is getting, causing Peter to get a new four-legged friend, which he not-so-cleverly names New Brian. The funniest bits in “The Man with Two Brians” come from Stewie, who grows more and more irritated by New Brian’s overdone politeness and joviality. Once New Brian disses Stewie’s cherished teddy bear, Rupert, though, the little sociopath caps the episode off in a rather sickly humorous fashion, depositing a bloody bag full of something unseen into the garbage.

Air Date: April 26, 2009
Best Cutaway: Meg compares Chris' outcast status to that of a seagull watching an Adam Sandler movie in a packed theater; the gull's loud caw-caws are the only noises heard, since nobody else finds the flick humorous at all.

Even without any jokes, the sight of Stewie Griffin all ’roided up and looking like Brock Lesnar is already hilarious, but then comes the reason for the tyke’s need to enhance his performance: the Swansons’ baby girl, Susie, kicked Stewie’s ass over a Barbie doll. Expectedly, Peter isn’t having that, so he takes Stewie to the local gym, where, that’s right, daddy Griffin pumps his kid full of the juice.

Naturally, now-diesel Stewie’s primary target is Brian, leading to a series of intimidation tactics, namely a moment of blocked stairway entry that’s a highlight. But then Stewie’s drugs wear off, and Brian wants his revenge.

”Stew-Roids” also features a B-plot about Chris dating the most popular girl in school, Connie D’Amico, which provides a few strong laughs courtesy of the cool crowd’s most brain-dead members. But Stewie’s storyline reigns supreme.

Air Date: November 21, 2010
Best Cutaway: Brian imagines what Spuds McKenzie, the old Budweiser spokes-dog from the '80s, is up to nowadays. And it isn't pretty.

The Griffin family’s non-human scene-stealer’s amateurish literary pursuits reached their comedic apex in “Brian Writes a Bestseller,” the Family Guy episode that also features one of the show’s best extended gags.

Already heartbroken over the failure of his novel, Faster than the Speed of Love, Brian is greeted by dozens of packages returning every unsold copy of the book. He decides to quit writing—that is, until he picks up The New York Times and sees that the nation’s top-seller is a self-help book. In a rushed, thoughtless three hours, Brian finishes his own self-help text, Wish It, Want It, Do It, (in)complete with 50 blank pages (for the reader to do “some of the work yourself”) and half-assed wisdom.

Wish It, Want It, Do It is a major success, of course, and it lands him a spot on the panel for an episode of Real Time with Bill Maher, where both he and his book get savagely attacked by Maher and fellow guests Arianna Huffington (who “sounds like [she’s] talking with a mouthful of syrup”) and comedy writer Dana Gould (who has “a chick’s name”). When Maher asks how the book can help people with cancer, or those suffering in Darfur, Brian replies, “Well, it’s not really for them. It’s for, like, if you want a car.”

Air Date: November 6, 2005
Best Cutaway: Stewie points out how late George W. Bush was when he showed to fight in Vietnam way after the war had ended.

In a perfect world, PTV, the mindless television channel that Peter Griffin invents and programs in this superbly funny, same-named episode, would actually exist, and we’d never change the channel.

Save for its uncomfortable Dogs Humping show, which, yes, shows nothing but canines getting frisky, PTV has some truly inspired original shows. Take The Peter Griffin Side Boob Hour, in which the network’s overseer presents his favorite stills of hot chicks exposing, whether intentionally or by accident, the outside regions of their breasts. Peter’s color commentary is priceless: “Check out this side boob. Yeah, now check out this side boob.” That’s eloquence defined, folks.

Air Date: January 29, 2006
Best Cutaway: In one of Lois' angry flashbacks, Peter spends $30,000 on a statue of Gwyneth Paltrow having sex with Harriet Tubman.

Pegged as a Super Bowl XL tie-in of sorts, “Patriot Games” brings the NFL to Quahog. At his high school reunion, Peter runs into New England Patriots star quarterback Tom Brady, who’s impressed by the quickness Peter shows while barreling his way through a crowd to use the bathroom. Brady invites the Patriots fan to join the squad, but when Peter celebrates during a game with an elaborately choreographed musical rendition of “Shipoopi,” he gets kicked off the team and signs with the soft batch, London-based Silly Nannies.

”Patriot Games” has plenty for sports heads to appreciate, but some of the episode’s best jokes come from Stewie, who assumes the role of a bookie, and Brian, who falls into debt and is unable to pay Stewie back. The Griffin baby’s Mafia-like ways of brutalizing Brian until he handles his financial obligation are a hoot.

Air Date: February 7, 2002
Best Cutaway: Lois commits a faux pas, but Peter doesn't what "faux pas" means exactly, so he calls an expert.

This episode’s title refers to the main plot-line, that of Stewie becoming infatuated with a British kids show, “Jolly Farm Revue,” fleeing to England to join the cast, and Brian chasing after him and eventually connecting with the rugrat for some misadventures. As funny as the Stewie/Brian shenanigans are, though, the standout jokes in “Road to Europe” come courtesy of Peter, whose obsession over the rock band KISS inspires its sharpest moments.

Air Date: November 15, 2001
Best Cutaway: Peter's knack for blowing job interviews is shown through one especially disastrous meeting, when the interviewer asked him, "Where do you see yourself in five years?" Looking at a beach photo of the employer with his hot wife and teenage son, Peter, thinking, Don't say, "Doing your wife," responds, "Um, doing your son?"

For reasons that are unfair to voice actor Seth Green, Chris Griffin typically gets saddled with Family Guy’s weakest jokes, leaving it up to Peter, Brian, or Stewie to follow up his one-liners with something much funnier. So the proposition of a Chris-anchored episode brings with it trepidation on our part, which is why “To Love and Die in Dixie” is so noteworthy.

On his newspaper route, Chris witnesses a robbery, and when Joe brings him into the precinct to nab the criminal out of a lineup he picks him out right away. Dumbass Peter shows up and inadvertently gives the thief all of Chris’ personal information. As a result, the Griffins are put into a Witness Protection Program and head deep into the South.

There, each family member gets his or her own moments of good humor, from Peter’s interference during a Civil War reenactment to Stewie’s becoming a grizzled banjo player and Chris thinking he’s gay as he hooks up with a tomboyish girl.

Since it’s a Chris episode, though, it’s only right that Herbert, the Spooner Street pedophile who’s always trying to get into Chris’ drawers, ends “To Love and Die in Dixie” with one of his better Family Guy contributions: When he returns home, Peter checks their voicemail machine and hears an endless series of messages from Herbert, asking where his “cute” paperboy Chris is and growing increasingly more pissed off with each one.

Air Date: October 5, 2008
Best Cutaway: Brian compares his vow to destroy Peter's vinyl copy of "Surfin' Bird" to how badly fat surgery messed up Star Jones' arms.

In this season seven highpoint, Peter stumbles across Jesus Christ, who’s working in an old vinyl record shop, but that religiously provocative storyline isn’t what makes “I Dream of Jesus” laugh-out-loud funny—it’s the episode’s random yet brilliant employment of The Trashmen’s wacky 1963 jam “Surfin’ Bird,” first brought back to life in the 1987 comedy Back to the Beach and given a permanent level of hilarity thanks to Family Guy.

The episode’s first act represents Family Guy at its best: Inside a ’50s-themed restaurant, the Griffins are taking in the nostalgic sights (including a waiter dressed as James Dean after his fatal car accident) when Peter hears “Surfin’ Bird” from the jukebox, exclaims that it’s his favorite song, and obtains the song for his own personal collection. He plays it nonstop at home, pissing the whole family off and, ultimately, forcing Stewie and Brian to steal it, bring it out an open field, and destroy it like the printer in Office Space.

Air Date: May 2, 2010
Best Cutaway: Not applicable. "Brian & Stewie" is the only Family Guy episode to include no cutaways.

For the show’s monumental 150th episode, Seth MacFarlane and his Family Guy cohorts took an intriguing creative risk: Getting rid of the usual reliance of random cutaways, writer Gary Janetti scripted a bare-bones set-up of Stewie and Brian getting locked inside a bank vault for an entire weekend.

Forced to simply talk to one another, Family Guy's two funniest characters have several heart-to-heart chats, learn each other’s deepest thoughts, and, naturally, Stewie tries to make Brian eat the shit out of his dirty diaper, at gunpoint. Trust us, it’s much smarter than that makes it sound.

Air Date: September 27, 2009
Best Cutaway: In the episode's alternate universe, Lee Harvey Oswald assassinated Mayor McCheese, not John Fitzgerald Kennedy. The spray of blood-red ketchup paints a gory picture, indeed.

Easily Family Guy’s most ambitious episode to date, the eighth season winner “Road to the Multiverse” is a tour de force of imagination.

As is usually the case with the show’s finest half-hours, the main protagonists are Stewie and Brian, who, together, use a magical remote control to travel into various alternate dimensions, like a Walt Disney-drawn world, a society where the roles of humans and animals are reversed, one where Christianity never happened, and, the episode’s freakiest bit, a very brief instance in which a real-life, Stewie-dressed baby and white-haired dog are shown.

Air Date: December 26, 1999
Best Cutaway: The first-ever "Peter versus the chicken" fight, which happens because the overweight Griffin patriarch swipes a coupon from the human-sized, walking poultry.

If you’re old enough to remember the fourth quarter of 1999, then you should recall how loony everybody got over the possibility of Y2K, the (supposedly) catastrophic failure of data-based meltdown that, thankfully, never happened.

At least in reality—in Quahog, however, Y2K does go down. Griffin family friends Glen Quagmire and Cleveland Brown mutate into “Clevermire,” due to nuclear aftereffects, and Peter anoints himself the mayor of New Quahog, an upstart community that he plans to sustain solely on Twinkies.

Aside from the episode’s consistently efficient humor, “Da Boom” is also notable for being Mila Kunis’ first time voicing Meg, a job that she’s held down ever since. And who voiced fugly Meg before sexy Kunis? The equally gorgeous, though far less utilized in Hollywood, Lacey Chabert (Party of Five, Mean Girls).

Air Date: November 8, 2001
Best Cutaway: Lois asks Stewie what, in his eyes, would be the most wonderful thing that could happen to their family, so, naturally, Stewie envisions a nice family gathering in the living room, around Lois' dead body, her mouth open like bearskin rug.

More so in Family Guy’s earlier seasons than in recent episodes, Stewie’s unwavering desire to murder his mother, Lois, was an in-joke referenced about once every episode. In the Stewie-centric “Emission Impossible,” though, the megalomaniacal baby’s typically hardened exterior shows signs of vulnerability.

When his parents start discussing the possibility of having another baby, Stewie feels threatened, going so far as to shrink himself inside a mini spaceship to engage in a Star Wars-like firefight against Peter’s charging, ready-to-procreate sperm. That’s where Stewie meets one of his most formidable opponents, potential brother Bertram, voiced by Wallace Shawn with all of the menacing pathos of the best superhero movie arch-villains.

Air Date: July 18, 2001
Best Cutaway: Lois painfully remembers the last time Peter "interrupted a performance," when he drove his car onto the stage during a Broadway performance of Cats and turned a few of the cast members into roadkill.

Ever since Family Guy's first days, canine Brian has longed to become a successful, highly respected writer, and in the excellent “Brian Does Hollywood,” the wet-nosed, wannabe storyteller heads out to Tinsel Town to test his luck at screenwriting. And once he’s in the starry town, episode writer Gary Janetti skewers the ins and outs of the movie world’s capital, finding time to clown Keanu Reeves’ vapid demeanor and Joan Rivers’ old age. Ditto for Brian’s cousin Jasper, a gay pooch whose unfortunately few Family Guy appearances have provided the show’s creators with ample material for digs at sexuality.

By the time the Griffins visit Brian in Hollywood and discover that his dreams of writing award-winning screenplays have been curbed in favor of directing porno movies, “Brian Does Hollywood” has established itself as a thoroughly uproarious indictment of Los Angeles’ soul-crushing lifestyle.

Air Date: November 13, 2005
Best Cutaway: Brian's professor, a Stephen Hawking-esque paraplegic man, is shown having make-up sex with his also paraplegic wife. Hilarity and utter insensitivity ensue.

Everything works in “Brian Goes Back to College,” an episode that deserves the top spot here simply because there’s not a weak moment in it. At times, the dueling plot-lines in a Family Guy episode can breed mixed results, giving one story more strengths than the other, but here, the pair of narrative focal points complement each other wonderfully.

Per the episode’s title, Brian heads back to finish his university schooling after a brief stint with The New Yorker exposes his lack of education; elsewhere, Peter, Quagmire, Cleveland, and Joe form their own makeshift, totally unqualified version of The A-Team after winning a costume contest. How they load wheelchair-bound Joe into their vehicle is an extended piece of side-splitting genius.

The same goes for the clever ways in which episode writer Matt Fleckenstein lampoons the pretentiousness of The New Yorker, from Brian’s snooty co-worker James William Bottomtooth (see above) to the explanation for why there are no toilets in the office bathroom: “No one at The New Yorker has an anus.”