10 Best Episodes Of Family Guy

The best Family Guy episodes feature tons of pop culture references, some sharp one-liners, and more visual gags than almost any adult animated television show airing today. Debuting in 1999, Seth Macfarlane created a hit series that survived an early cancelation and eventually became one of the longest-running animated shows on television. It features Peter Griffin and his family as they get into trouble and barely care about the fallout that comes from their bad decision-making.

The hit Fox animated series premieres its 23rd season in 2025 and shows no signs of slowing down as it continues to deliver hilarious jabs at both pop culture and modern-day sensibilities on a regular basis. While the show is known for its rapid-fire jokes, many of its episodes feature aspects that carry it to a higher level, and the best Family Guy episodes include not only memorable moments and characters but also just enough heart to remind viewers that they are supposed to want to see the Griffin family somehow succeed in life.

10 Blue Harvest

Season 6, Episode 1

Spoofing Star Wars is something several animated television shows have attempted in the past. Family Guy joins Robot Chicken as the adult animated series that did it the best. Both shows had trilogies to spoof all three of the original Star Wars trilogy saga, with the first from Family Guy coming in 2007 to celebrate the 30th anniversary of A New Hope. The episode delivers what fans of both properties would expect, and that is a ton of jokes poking fun at Star Wars and the events of that movie.

Chris takes on the role of Luke Skywalker in this spoof with Lois as Princess Leia, Peter as Han Solo, Brian as Chewbacca, Quagmire as C3PO, and Stewie as Darth Vader. While there were three episodes completing the trilogy for the show, it was “Blue Harvest” that remained the best, more of a witty love letter to Star Wars than a cartoon making fun of it. There are also a ton of Easter eggs for Star Wars fans, and it seems even hardcore fans find more and more every time they watch it.

9 Da Boom

Season 2, Episode 3

It is easy to forget about how great this episode was because of how long ago it was released. A second season Family Guy episode, “Da Boom” aired on December 26, 1999, which was perfect timing since it was about Y2K. People warn Peter that Y2K will end the world as he knows it, so he forces his family to prepare for it by wearing hazmat suits and hiding in their basement. This turned out to be smart since Y2K did cause the end of the world, unlike real life.

Peter becomes mayor of New Quahog and makes some terrible decisions, making the new world even worse than the old one was. There are two things that also really make this episode stand out. First, this was the first episode that Mila Kunis joined the series as the new voice-over artist for Meg. Second, it was also the first-ever episode where Peter fights the Giant Chicken, starting a running gag that has become one of the favorites from Family Guy history.

8 Meet The Quagmires

Season 5, Episode 18

“Meet the Quagmires” is a Family Guy episode that pays homage to the movie It’s A Wonderful Life. In the episode, Peter begins to think that he might have gotten married too young and missed out on things in life. Peter asks Death to help change his life, and instead of Peter marrying Lois, it is Quagmire who marries her, and he has three kids who look a lot like a mix of his and Peter’s children. However, Peter knows the real timeline and has to find a way to fix things, or he will lose his family,

The episode has all the raunchy, low-brow jokes that fans expect and love so much, but it is also surprisingly sweet and makes Peter realize how lucky he was to have Lois as his wife. The episode also references Back to the Future, and there are some great jokes that poke fun at some big-name celebs. It is also a surprise to see The Jetsons appearing on Family Guy, which adds to the fun.

7 The Simpsons Guy

Season 13, Episode 1

Family Guy got into some trouble when it chose to make fun of The Simpsons in an episode. However, it seems Fox decided to get in on the joke and allowed the show to actually bring the Simpsons into conflict with the Griffins. The episode has Peter’s offensive comic strip turning the entire town of Quahog against him. He gets mad and decides he will take his family to a safer town that is more tolerant. However, that town turns out to be Springfield.

Soon, the two families become friends until Peter and Homer get into a fight over beer, and then everything starts to fall apart. Stewie becomes obsessed with Bart Simpson and will do anything to get his attention, while Meg starts to play the saxophone, which brings out Lisa’s jealous side. This is also the episode that has the iconic moment with Ralph sitting there and quietly saying, “I’m in danger.”

6 Stewie Kills Lois

Season 6, Episode 4

This was the first part of a two-part Family Guy episode where Stewie finally breaks after so many of his threats against Lois end up never being followed through on. Stewie snaps, shoots, and seemingly kills Lois and then has a panic attack about what is going to happen next. He sets off a series of events that make it look like Peter killed his wife to collect insurance money. By the time the episode ends, Stewie realizes the mistake he has made, and there is nothing he can do about it.

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There are so many great gags in the episode, including Joe trying to help protect the kids from their mother’s murder by dressing up like Lois and pretending to be her. It is brilliant because Chris never notices the difference, even though it is Joe in a wheelchair. This isn’t the first time that Family Guy killed off a main character, but unlike Brian’s death, this one was done in great humor and was then undone just one week later in an episode that was even better than this first part.

5 Lois Kills Stewie

Season 6, Episode 5

In “Lois Kills Stewie,” she survives and then sets out to let the world know it wasn’t her husband Peter who tried to kill her, but her baby son Stewie. This means that Stewie becomes a fugitive, which is completely wild since he was a baby. On the run, Stewie decides he will do anything in his power to remain a free “man” and even declares he will kill anyone who gets in his way and will even take over the nation if needed to come out on top in the end.

There is also an American Dad crossover in this episode, with law enforcement closing in on Stewie. This Family Guy episode ends up even better than the first part since it shows what will happen if Stewie finally achieves his dream of world domination when he takes over. The episode also ended with the Dallas twist, where it revealed none of it really happened, and it was all a simulation, but it does it in a way that makes fun of the entire plot device and works incredibly well.

4 And Then There Were Fewer

Season 9, Episode 1

As the title suggests, this is an Agatha Christie-inspired episode with a murder mystery. The season 9 premiere moves things away from Quahog and has the Griffins attend a dinner party at James Woods’ cliffside mansion. This allows many of the show’s popular adult characters to be on hand when a murder happens, and any one of them could be the killer. There are also a lot of great guest stars who show up here, including Patrick Stewart, Drew Barrymore, and Ashley Tisdale.

This premiere was also an hour long, so there was a lot more time to let the mystery and story play out, and the jokes and gags were allowed to play out at a more relaxed place than the regular frenetic 30-minute jaunts. It should come as no surprise to learn who the villain in this murder mystery is, as there might not be a more maniacal and unstoppable evil genius than Stewie Griffin himself. With the episode paying homage to classic whodunnits, this was definitely a standout.

3 PTV

Season 4, Episode 14

There are few shows that gained the censor’s scorn more than Family Guy. That is because the show airs on Primetime Sunday nights and has no problem slipping in all sorts of raunchy and R-rated jokes, sometimes in a manner where the censors don’t even realize it until it is too late. That leads to the season 4 episode, “PTV,” which not only spoofs its own low-brow dirty humor but also skewers the FCC and its propensity to keep its fingers on the censor buttons.

The plot sees the FCC start to censor more and more of Peter Griffin’s favorite shows thanks to an accidental wardrobe malfunction. As a result, he creates his own television network called PTV (Peter Television). Peter and Brian start creating their own shows and releasing them on the new network and then have to face the FCC, who show up to censor them and anything else they find offensive in Quahog. It was a nice punch-up at the FCC in a very funny episode.

2 Road To The Multiverse

Season 8, Episode 1

One of the most creative Family Guy episodes ever created, the season eight episode, “Road To The Multiverse,” has the Griffins meeting and dealing with cartoons from all across space and time. Brian and Stewie begin to visit alternate universes and then realize they have no way of getting back home. However, it is the universes they visit that allow the show to really stretch its creative muscle, both in the gags and jokes as well as in the animation style, which changes based on the universe.

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This was one of Brian and Stewie’s critically acclaimed “Road to…” episodes and was easily the best of all of them. This episode homages everything, including adapting its style to the show, with trips to the Robot Chicken universe as well as The Flintstones, Disney, manga, and much more. The humor is great, with Brian and Stewie always having fun together in these episodes, and it was so popular that it even spawned a video game adaptation of the story.

1 Back to the Pilot

Season 10, Episode 5

The best and most critically acclaimed Family Guy episode ever made was “Back to the Pilot” in season 10. This installment is a spoof of Back to the Future and is a spiritual sequel to Road to the Multiverse. In this episode, Brian and Stewie travel back in time to 1999 when Family Guy first premiered on Fox. However, Brian decided he wanted to warn his past self about how 9/11 was coming, and this resulted in butterfly effects that caused the future to become an apocalyptic hellscape.

When Brian and Stewie try to fix things, it ends up making everything worse. There is a lot of fun to experience in this episode, including Easter eggs to episodes of the past and a ton of references that many people won’t catch without multiple viewings. It is a blast seeing Brian and Stewie show up in scenes from past episodes without letting anyone else see them, and there are even some great animation changes that really make this Family Guy episode unlike any other in the show’s history.

Family Guy is an animated series following the eccentric Griffin family. Led by bumbling patriarch Peter and long-suffering Lois, the family includes the sadistic baby Stewie, unpopular teenager Meg, dim-witted Chris, and Brian, their talking dog. The show explores their outlandish adventures in the fictional town of Quahog.

Cast

Alex Borstein , Gary Beach , Julia Sweeney , Michael York , Mila Kunis , Patrick Stewart , Richard Appel , Ron Jones , Scott Grimes , Seth MacFarlane , Walter Murphy , Will Sasso , Alec Sulkin , Glen Powell , Seth Green , Arif Zahir , Patrick Warburton , Waylon Jennings , Mary Kay Bergman , Ray Liotta , Abe Vigoda , Peter Frampton , Peter Gallagher , Ace Frehley , Betty White

Release Date

January 31, 1999

Seasons

23

Showrunner

Seth MacFarlane

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