Now renewed for its twentieth season, we share three of the top-rated episodes from the 19 seasons of Family Guy, to date.
Family Guy was first introduced in 1999, with the premise of the Seth MacFarlane created and fronted animated series being, “In a wacky Rhode Island town, a dysfunctional family strives to cope with everyday life as they are thrown from one crazy scenario to another.”
Initially, the series cornered a niche following of high school students and 20-something year olds.
In the approximately two decades that the animated series has been airing, Family Guy has become one of the longest-running animation series in the world and has grown in popularity with each new season.
But there are particular episodes from the past that fans still binge-watch.
How did Family Guy get cancelled?
Family Guy might be considered an institution currently, but the animated series’ future was not guaranteed in the past like it is now. In 2002, following the third season of the animation, it was announced that the show was cancelled.
However, after the cancellation, it seems the increase in the number of DVD sales and reruns spurred the decision to renew the show.
FOX officially returned with a new season of Family Guy in 2004, but the first timid return was in 2003 when Adult Swim aired a previously unseen episode from what was meant to be the third and final season.
What is the best episode of Family Guy ever?
Family Guy is currently showing no signs of concluding. In May 2022, the FOX flagship series completed its season 19 run with a total of 20 episodes that started airing in October 2021.
However, there has been disparity regarding the number of episodes as FOX, on their website, shared the nineteenth season as season 20 due to what the website states and what the press release sent by FOX on the renewal of the animation series suggests.
The press release confirmed that season 20 of Family Guy has been greenlit. Therefore, fans can expect a return of Peter Griffin and his family for a new season.
Official dates have not been confirmed, but fans can expect an October 2022 return, if FOX sticks to the same release pattern that they had with the latest season.
While waiting, fans are currently re-watching episodes from past seasons. In light of this, the IMDb rankings of past episodes from Family Guy continue to change.
Therefore, the rankings of the best episodes continually change, too. Below is a list of three of the best episodes from the animated series according to IMDb.
From the ranking you will realise that despite the continued success of the series, fans still consider earlier episodes of the series’ as their most favoured episodes.to go back and rewatch.
1. Road to the Multiverse
The first episode of season eight, Road to the Multiverse, is universally the top-rated episode of Family Guy with a total of 9.1 out of 10 on IMDb. The episode is premised on Stevie and Brian visiting multiple alternate universes.
The result is a comical episode that attracted controversy over the characterisation of characters when they were in the Disney alternate universe. The episode managed to be comical while splicing insight too.
2. Back to the Pilot
Back to the Pilot aired in 2012. Officially, the fifth episode of season 10, the episode has a current total score of 8.8 out of 10 on IMDb.
The premise is, “Brian and Stewie travel back in time to January 31 1999, to change history, only to alter the past with dire consequences.”
In 2010, Brian warns 1999 Brian about the then upcoming 9/11 terrorist attack, but this backfires as Stewie and Brian needs to go back to the past repeatedly in order to amend what they initially messed up by sharing details of the future with their past selves.
3. PTV
PTV only recently became the third most highly-ranked episode from Family Guy. This position was previously occupied by And Then There Were Fewer, which has an 8.5 out of 10 ranking on IMDb.
PTV is ranked 8.6 out of 10 on IMDb, which showcases the continual re-watching of Family Guy’s past episodes and seasons.
The premise of the fourteenth episode of season four was, “After an incident at the Emmys, the FCC overreacts, so Peter decides to start his own cable network, until the FCC shuts him down and starts censoring his life.”