None
1.
There’s a bit in “One Fish, Two Fish, Blowfish, Blue Fish” from Season 2 of The Simpsons where Homer is invited to a Flanders’ BBQ the following day. At first he makes his excuses and turns down the offer, until he remembers that he has less than 24 hours to live (thanks to eating poorly-prepared Fugu sushi) and changes his mind, promising Flanders he’ll be there with the thickest, juiciest T-Bones he’s ever seen.
When you’ve got nothing to lose, you’re given the privilege of acting with reckless abandon without facing consequences for it. We’re reminded of this scene whenever we see a post from the UK Simpsons Facebook group (we really out here fam!) sharing news of a new cross-promotion that the show is involved in; an episode made of Lego, an Ice Bucket challenge, a high-fashion collaboration. At this point we wouldn’t be surprised to see Homer doing the Shmoney Dance. Why are they branching out into so many areas of pop culture? Simply because they can.
Latest in the list is the Family Guy crossover episode, an hour-long special where the Griffins end up in Springfield—you probably saw the 5 minute trailer that was released at Comic Con and instantly went viral. Being a Family Guy episode that visits The Simpsons (as opposed to the other way round) the trailer is full of things that 15 year olds might find funny (including a rape joke, sigh), but there’s also enough decent self-referential jokes in there to suggest it might be worth you torrenting.
If seeing the two shows together looked familiar to you though, that’s because the writers have been taking jabs at each other’s show since the start. Here’s a look back at the best bits in their 14 year rivalry.
2.The Simpsons - Missionary Impossible
SHOTS FIRED! The Simpsons wasted no time getting the first dig in just 6 weeks after Family Guy’s first episode aired. The episode Missionary Impossible cuts to a Fox network pledge-drive, with Betty White urging viewers to “help keep this crude, low-brow programming on the air” while stood next to a TV showing the Family Guy logo. Hardly an ether, but it’s a start.
3.The Simpsons - Treehouse of Horror XIII
In the “Send in the Clones” segment Homer buys a cursed hammock from a travelling hammock salesman (Springfield isn’t lucky enough to have a Hammock District like Cypress Creek), which has the ability to clone anything that climbs into it—the clone is just much more stupid than the original. He disposes of most of the original copies, but comes back to a garden full of Homers which reproduced exponentially, getting stupider and more mutated at each stage. Stand-out examples include The Tracey Ullman Show version of Homer, 300lb Homer in a Mumu, and Peter Griffin. Message received, loud and clear.
4.Family Guy - PTV
Family Guy’s first retaliation is done in their typical pop-culture mash up style. The episode PTV opens with a parody of the Police Squad/Naked Gun credits—a first-person view of Stewie travelling around Quahog and through various other TV shows on his trike. His journey ends by startling Homer in a garage—just as in The Simpsons credits—with him trying to outrun the car. He doesn’t of course, and Peter comes out to ask whose body is lying on the floor.
5.The Simpsons - The Italian Bob
Combining two well-worn plot formats, The Simpsons find themselves in Italy, where they bump into a newly rehabilitated Sideshow Bob—now the mayor of a Tuscan town. The rehabilitation only lasts until Lisa gets drunk (because Italy) and exposes Bob’s criminal past to the townspeople, who strip him of his Mayoral role. When the Italian Police bring out a picture book of criminals to help identify Sideshow Bob, some of the other pages show a photo of Peter Griffin, accused of “Plagiarismo”, and in a one-two attack at Seth McFarlane, a photo of American Dad’s Stan Smith, accused of “Plagiarismo de plagiarismo”.
6.Family Guy - Movin’ Out (Brian’s Song)
A definite low point for the rivalry/taste and decency in general. Everybody’s seen those overlays which interrupt shows to advertise other shows, with a brief animation of cast members turning towards the camera awkwardly. It’s like the player profiles on Sky Sports, except there’s more hair-flicking and gets in the way when we’re trying to watch Parks & Recreation.
Shows have made jokes about them before - Advertising fictional TV shows in the 30 Rock meta-universe, breaking the fourth wall, or in Family Guy’s case writing an extended sequence where Quagmire tackles Marge Simpson to the ground, pulls his trousers down and forces himself on her despite the fact she fights him off—it’s fine, she ends up enjoying it! The classic sitcom hijinx continue when the scene cuts to The Simpsons home where Quagmire murders his rape victim, her husband, and her three children just to cover his tracks.
Fox never aired this scene because they’re not completely mental, but it does feature on the DVD release of the episode.
7.Bonus: Futurama - Bender’s Big Score
Somebody call World Star—Matt Groening’s turning this rivalry into an all-out brawl. Not content with the unprovoked jab at American Dad, he included this scene in his other cartoon Futurama, which features a flashback of Fry hanging a “Family Guy 12 Laughs a Year” calendar—even that seems a little generous.
8.Family Guy - The Juice is Loose
Peter finds a winning raffle ticket from 1989 which bears the prize of playing a round of golf with OJ Simpson, and the two end up becoming best friends. Peter arranges a welcoming party for OJ, but the people of Quahog form a mob with Mayor West declaring “We don’t want you in our town Simpson, we don’t love you like we did in 1993” - cut to a shot of Homer D’oh-ing. A good gag, and well timed, seeing as the episode aired when The Simpsons was struggling to emerge from a particularly rocky patch of weak pop-culture satire (MappleMypod? Really?) and chronology-destroying flashback episodes about Homer inventing grunge.
9.Family Guy - Cool Hand Peter
Peter, Joe, Quagmire and the other one end up going to prison in the Deep South with a cutaway gag revealing that the jury that made the verdict was made up of unimpressed-looking Simpsons characters. Rather than an all-out attack on their rivals, this joke relies on making the audience pity the show; Peter’s at least grateful that they’re a jury of their peers, but Joe’s not so sure they see it that way.
10.Family Guy - Ratings Guy
An episode of Family Guy where Peter Griffin ruins TV by making shows appeal to the lowest common-denominator to chase ratings. Either the writers are master satirists, or they’re lacking in self-awareness on some Katie Hopkins level—either way, they did it. In one scene, Homer bursts in and asks for their help because he’s ruined TV, and Peter proudly announces that this is one that they’ve beaten The Simpsons to—a humble bit of self-deprecation and a nod to critics, including South Park who started the “Simpsons Did It!” trope.
11.Simpsons - Dangers on a Train
The finale of The Simpsons 24th Season, which also happened to be their 800th episode, is about potential infidelity, with Marge accidentally meeting a man online (when trying to order Homer some cupcakes) and the two of them bonding over a Downton Abbey style show. Just as Jay-Z brought Nas on stage during a show and reconciled their differences, The Simpsons booked Seth MacFarlane to provide the voice of Ben, Marge’s would-be concubine, which he did in an inimitably sickly-charming fashion.
12.Simpsons - Homerland
The last word before the official crossover episode goes to The Simpsons. The couch gag for the Season 25 opener sees a party hosted in the famous lounge, which Homer is repeatedly denied entry to. All the main cast members from the rest of Fox’s Animation Domination are on the guestlist and present, albeit as unnerving yellow versions of themselves like you’d expect to see on some bootleg merchandise down the market.