Best Family Guy Episodes Ranked

May 10, 2022

Introduction – Best Family Guy Episodes

Whatever your thoughts on Seth McFarlane’s creation, there is no denying the staying power of Family Guy, which is now deep into its 20th season. So, with Fox unlikely to cut it anytime soon, why not look at the best Family Guy episodes and rank them? Before I get into the list properly, here is some history about the show.

History – Best Family Guy Episodes

Family Guy first aired on Fox in January 1999 and, as mentioned above, is deep into its 20th season. The show follows the Griffin Family and their mad antics in Quahog, Rhode Island. Also, randomly throughout the show, Peter gets into fights with a giant chicken, Ernie. So besides giant chicken fights what else do the Griffins get up to? Well, a lot of heinous law-breaking (which isn’t punished), beer drinking, and cutaways. Overall, while Family Guy has definitely declined over the years, there are still some funny characters like Stewie, the former world domination-obsessed baby, and both Mayor Wests, Adam and Wild West (Sam Elliott). So without further ado, here are the best episodes of Family Guy!

Best Family Guy Episodes – Top Ten

10. Petergeist (S4, E26)

Kicking off the list of best Family Guy episodes is Petergeist aka the Poltergeist parody. So what happens to cause a poltergeist to haunt the Griffins? Well, in a desperate attempt to one-up Joe, Peter decides to build a multiplex in his back garden. However, the only problem is that his garden is on top of Native American remains. So what does Peter do? He obviously takes the skull and uses it as an athletic cup. Cue the start of the Poltergeist parody, which somehow ends up with Carrot Top getting involved. Wacky yet somewhat compelling.

9. Death Lives (S3, E6)

Here’s a truly daft addition to our list of the best episodes of Family Guy. Unlike most animated cartoons Family Guy has Death appear as a semi-regular character. Add to this the fact he was voiced by Norm MacDonald. So, what happens in the episode? Well in a wonderfully twisted parody of It’s A Wonderful Life, Peter dies and is too stupid to learn any lessons from his mistakes. So how does he get back to Lois? Well, he brokers a deal to help Death get a girlfriend. Yet another example of the madness of Peter Griffin…

8. I Dream Of Jesus (S7, E2)

Now your love of this episode may depend on one song: Surfin’ Bird by the Trashmen. Why? Because Peter becomes obsessed with the song and starts comedically setting up the rest of the Griffins with Bird is the Word jokes. Eventually, this leads Stewie and Brian to go all Office Space on the record. There’s also a spot on Jay Leno impression in this episode. I feel like I’m missing out on one very key recurring character introduction and I can’t quite think of who it could be…

7. Fat Guy Strangler (S4, E17)

Sometimes you do have to marvel at some of the celebrity voice-acting roles in Family Guy. Case in point, Robert Downey Jr voicing the titular Fat Guy Strangler aka Patrick Pewterschmidt. So, how does Patrick Pewterschmidt meet Peter? Long story short, Lois realises Patrick is her brother and brings him back into her life. This leads to Patrick strangling a lot of fat men before Lois and Brian can save Peter from falling victim to Patrick. How do they do this? They threaten Patrick’s invisible wife. Sure, why not? It’s not Family Guy if it’s realistic.

6. Road To Germany (S7, E3)

So how to follow up an episode about a fat guy strangler? Well, an episode about a Jewish character, Mort, accidentally travelling back in time to Nazi Germany with Brian and Stewie trying to find him. On top of this, there are at least four different pop culture parodies. And somehow, McFarlane manages to fit in jokes about how French cows moo, reinforcing Quagmire’s grossness and the vagaries of bacon pants. This episode arguably feels like the equivalent of Christmas dinner: just utterly overstuffed.

Best Family Guy Episodes – Top Five

5. Da Boom (S2, E3)

At the halfway point of the best Family Guy episodes is Da Boom, which looks at what could happen if Y2K actually occurred. Obviously, Y2K happens and Peter Griffin is left in charge of rebuilding Rhode Island. How does he accomplish this? He leads survivors to a Twinkie factory where he then founds New Quahog, declaring himself Mayor for Life. With this being Family Guy there’s a pop culture parody with McFarlane mocking the infamous Dallas it was all a dream… So much madness again. But it still reaches #5 as we rank the best episodes of Family Guy.

4. E Peterbus Unum (S2, E18)

Narrowly missing out on the top three best Family Guy episodes is E Peterbus Unum. Peter goes to extreme lengths to get a swimming pool by setting up his own country and annexing Joe’s pool. Somehow this escalates to the point where the US military put Petoria, the Griffins’ ‘country’ but really just their house, under siege. Even more bizarre than this is the random scene with a naked Bill Clinton talking to his military advisors. Sometimes you really wonder what goes on in Seth McFarlane’s mind.

Best Family Guy Episodes – Top Three

3. Three Kings (S7, E15)

Some part of me hates the fact they didn’t parody The Shining in this Stephen King parody anthology. Instead, the three stories chosen are Stand By Me, Misery, and The Shawshank Redemption. And all three work on some level. Whether it is Stewie as Annie Wilkes in Misery, Quagmire as Norm in Stand By Me, or Adam West as Kiether Sutherland’s character in Stand By Me. But the undisputed highlight is Peter using the Friends clap to escape Shawshank on taco night. Inspired stuff there, and it makes #3 in our rankings of the best episodes of Family Guy.

2. Blue Harvest – Part One(S6, E1)

To be honest there is a very strong case for Blue Harvest being the best Family Guy episode, even without considering its Star Wars credentials. As a parody of A New Hope, it holds up as a fantastic episode and stands above the other Star Wars parodies. Whether it’s Brian and Peter as Chewbacca and Han Solo who are desperate to steal a sofa, or the Imperial March elevator music remix, there are so many highlights.