History Trivia / FamilyGuy

* ActingForTwo: Seth [=MacFarlane=] voices more than ''nine'' characters: Peter, Brian, Stewie, Quagmire, Carter, Tom Tucker, Jake Tucker, Seamus, Dr. Hartman, and others. Lampshaded in one episode where Dr. Hartman and Carter are put in a conversation together, and notice that they have almost the exact same voice.

* TalkingToHimself: Seth [=MacFarlane=] voices more than ''nine'' characters: Peter, Brian, Stewie, Quagmire, Carter, Tom Tucker, Jake Tucker, Seamus, Dr. Hartman, and others. Lampshaded in one episode where Dr. Hartman and Carter are put in a conversation together, and notice that they have almost the exact same voice.
-->'''Dr. Hartman''': Seems lazy, doesn't it?\\
'''Carter''': Well, there's only so many voices in the world. Some of them are bound to be similar.

** In "Baby Not on Board", a radio station identifies Roxette's "The Look" as "You've Got the Look".[[note]]This would be a RefrainFromAssuming, but the phrase "you've got the look" never appears in the song; it's always "she's got the look".[[/note]]

* AuthorsSavingThrow:
** After the backlash Season 7 got for portraying Brian's ultra-liberal preaching in the right, following seasons will usually have characters point out the absurdity of a dog lecturing people about politics.
** After Quagmire was rewritten into a TakeThatScrappy avatar who loathed and called out Brian on a regular basis, some fans complained it was overdone or skewed due to Quagmire's own shortcomings. Later episodes [[TakeAThirdOption Took a Third Option]] and made Brian hate Quagmire back, with both characters trading equal blows and calling out each other's hypocrisies, usually with neither character portrayed as particularly more moral than the other and [[LaserGuidedKarma mutually screwing each other over by the end of each feud]].
** One of the show's most contentious running gags is the family's poor treatment of Meg, which many have felt comes across as overly mean-spirited and disturbing. Starting around season 14, jokes about Meg being abused were almost entirely phased out, with the family becoming far more sympathetic and caring towards her. When she is occasionally shown to be mistreated by people, she is just as likely to fight back against them (sometimes even ''initiating'' the conflict). In "Pawtucket Pat", Meg randomly throws her shoe at Peter's face; in "Hefty Shades of Grey", she mischievously ignores her father's pleas for help after the latter is locked in the basement; and in "Fecal Matters", she pulls painful pranks on the family after being granted SuperSpeed.

* TheWikiRule: The [[http://familyguy.wikia.com/wiki/Main_Page Family Guy Wiki]].

** Because of Creator/RobinWilliams' suicide, the episode "Family Guy Viewer Mail #2" was banned from airing on Adult Swim for a few years and replaced with the first "Viewer Mail" episode, because of the "Fatman and Robin" story, in which Peter is cursed with the power to turn anything he touches into Robin Williams, which leads Peter to cut off his hands to break the spell (This episode actually had the misfortune of being scheduled to air a day after Robin's suicide). The episode has been reinstated within the last year or so.

** [=FX=] and Freeform both use the free-to-air syndication prints (the ones seen on local broadcast stations) of the show's first 15 seasons, which are even more censored than the versions used for their initial broadcasts on Fox. Freeform even speeds up those butchered prints. This means that the uncut versions of those episodes can now only be obtained through the show's [=DVD=] releases. Though they occasionally also use the syndication prints, [=FXX=] usually airs the Fox broadcast versions of the show.

** BigStupidDooDooHead: Creator/BillCosby and a girl mention this on [[Series/KidsSayTheDarndestThings his show]].

** The thir ''Star Wars'' parody, "It's A Trap!", opens with the entire family groaning and an annoyed Peter says "Let's get this over with". This is followed by the opening scroll that turns into a ''massive'' rant about how Creator/SethMacFarlane and the rest of the crew never wanted to do this nor "Something Something Something Dark Side" and only did so due to Creator/TwentiethCenturyFox's demands. In the DVD commentaries, the crew restates they meant every word of it.

* QuoteSource: See [[QuoteSource/FamilyGuy here]].

!!ImageSource for:

[[folder:Image Source]]
* AllGermansAreNazis
* AntagonisticOffspring
* ArmedWithPepperSpray
* BannedEpisode (cover, "[[Recap/FamilyGuyS8E21PartialTermsOfEndearment Partial Terms of Endearment]]")
* BeliefMakesYouStupid
* BlackIsBiggerInBed
* BrainyBaby ("[[Recap/FamilyGuyS1E5AHeroSitsNextDoor A Hero Sits Next Door]]")
* CensoredForComedy ("[[Recap/FamilyGuyS1E5AHeroSitsNextDoor A Hero Sits Next Door]]")
* ClownCar ("[[Recap/FamilyGuyS10E12LivinOnAPrayer Livin' on a Prayer]]")
* CreepyCockroach ("Screwed the Pooch")
* ADateWithRosiePalms
* DepartmentOfChildDisservices ("[[Recap/FamilyGuyS2E5LoveThyTrophy Love Thy Trophy]]")
* {{Disneyesque}} ("[[Recap/FamilyGuyS8E1RoadToTheMultiverse Road to the Multiverse]]")
* DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything
* EnfantTerrible
* EverybodyMustGetStoned
* [[FanDisservice.WesternAnimation Fan Disservice.Western Animation]] ("[[Recap/FamilyGuyS13E1TheSimpsonsGuy The Simpsons Guy]]"; ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'' crossover)
* FatIdiot ("[[Recap/FamilyGuyS9E8NewKidneyInTown New Kidney in Town]]")
* [[FreezeFrameBonus.WesternAnimation Freeze-Frame Bonus.Western Animation]]
* GarageBand
* GodTest
* GratuitousDiscoSequence ("[[Recap/FamilyGuyS1E3ChittyChittyDeathBang Chitty Chitty Death Bang]]")
* HadToComeToPrisonToBeACrook
* HuntingAccident
* InstantSedation ("[[Recap/FamilyGuyS8E8DogGone Dog Gone]]")
* IWasQuiteAFashionVictim ("Death Lives")
* KungFuJesus ("[[Recap/FamilyGuyS4E1NorthByNorthQuahog North by North Quahog]]")
* MatzoFever ("[[Recap/FamilyGuyS1E1DeathHasAShadow Death Has a Shadow]]")
* NoProductSafetyStandards ("[[Recap/FamilyGuyS1E1DeathHasAShadow Death Has a Shadow]]")
* NoYay
* APirate400YearsTooLate ("[[Recap/FamilyGuyS6E12LongJohnPeter Long John Peter]]")
* PoliceAreUseless
* RelievingTheReaper ("Death Is a Bitch")
* RoboFamily ("[[Recap/FamilyGuyS9E7RoadToTheNorthPole Road to the North Pole]]")
* SapientPet
* SelfPlagiarism (left column)
* SexualExtortion
* SharedUniverse (''WesternAnimation/AmericanDad'' and ''WesternAnimation/TheClevelandShow'' crossover)
* TantrumThrowing ("Three Kings")
* UnusualPopCultureName
* WelcomingSong ("[[Recap/FamilyGuyS2E1PeterPeterCaviarEater Peter, Peter, Caviar Eater]]")
* YourMimeMakesItReal
[[/folder]]

* WhatCouldHaveBeen:
** ''Family Guy'' was going to be a recurring animated sketch for ''Series/MADTv'' (as a competitor to Series/SaturdayNightLive's ''TV Funhouse'' cartoons), then again on ''Series/TheWeirdAlShow'' (as a SpiritualSuccessor to ''Series/TheTraceyUllmanShow'''s ''[[WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons Simpsons]]'' cartoons) but Seth [=MacFarlane=] decided that the show would fare better as an animated sitcom.
** Chris was supposed to be as fat as Peter, but the animators thought that would have been too depressing.
** Chris was also going to be a rather generic stoner-ish surfer-type kid. But then Seth Green turned up as the only applicant who ''didn't'' try and voice Chris with a surfer-guy accent, and his personality shifted into a simple-minded, impulsive teenager with a learning disorder instead.
** The pilot episode originally showed Lois as a blonde (which, if kept in, would have explained why Chris is a blond, instead of a redhead like Lois or a brunette like Peter and Meg).
** For the Timer cutaway in "Petarded", the staff wanted Lennie Weinrib, the original voice of Timer to reprise his role. However, his agent said he was too old to do it and and Timer ended up being voiced by Seth [=MacFarlane=] (whose vocal impression is on-point, but still, how cool would have been to have Lennie Weinrib come back as Timer for ''Family Guy'', a show that caters to [[DeconstructiveParody breaking down nostalgic figures from the 1970s and 1980s for fun]]?).
** Originally, one of the "Text Message" options for the end of "Prick Up Your Ears" was "If you want to see Peter and Lois throw Brian out the window," instead of giving Cleveland Brown his first (and only) line of the episode. The original scene can be found on the season five DVD extra section where it features full episode animatics.
** Creator/CreeSummer was initially considered to voice Meg but was dropped because [=MacFarlane=] felt uncomfortable about an African-American woman playing a white character, despite Summer having done it many times in her career (Penny from ''WesternAnimation/InspectorGadget'' and Elmyra Duff from ''WesternAnimation/TinyToonAdventures''). Ironically, nearly all of the show's regular black characters were eventually played by Caucasian actors.
** Herbert, originally, was going to be the school bus driver.
** Creator/WilliamHMacy was the original choice for Brian.
** The season 8 episode "April in Quahog" was going to feature an ''WesternAnimation/AmericanDad'' [[TheTeaser cold opening]] followed by a ''WesternAnimation/KingOfTheHill'' credit sequence, but were dropped due to time restraints. They were eventually used during season 11's "Bigfat".
** Some episodes had press releases that mentioned subplots that would ultimately never be in the actual episode, usually for time reasons:
*** "Brian Writes a Bestseller": Peter & Lois end up sleeping in separate beds. Said subplot though would ultimately be used the following season as the one for "Mr. and Mrs. Stewie".
*** "Candy Quahog Marshmallow": Stewie begins to worry if he's becoming a redhead.

* CharacterSpecificPages:
** [[Characters/FamilyGuyPeterGriffin Peter Griffin]]
** [[Characters/FamilyGuyStewieGriffin Stewie Griffin]]
** [[Characters/FamilyGuyBrianGriffin Brian Griffin]]
** [[Characters/FamilyGuyGlennQuagmire Glenn Quagmire]]

--> '''Seth:''' Part of me thinks that 'Family Guy' should have already ended. I think seven seasons is about the right lifespan for a TV series. I talk to the fans and in a way I'm kind of secretly hoping for them to say, "We're done with it". And there are plenty of people who say the show is kind of over the hill.

----
* ActorInspiredElement: Creator/SethGreen modeled Chris’ voice after Buffalo Bill, the serial killer Ted Levine plays in ''Literature/TheSilenceOfTheLambs'', having watched the movie the night before his audition and joking with his friends about what it would be like if that character worked at a fast food restaurant. He wound up being the only auditionee for Chris who didn't use a "SurferDude voice", and Creator/SethMacFarlane thought it was perfect.

* ImageSource:
** AllGermansAreNazis
** AntagonisticOffspring
** ArmedWithPepperSpray
** BannedEpisode (cover, "[[Recap/FamilyGuyS8E21PartialTermsOfEndearment Partial Terms of Endearment]]")
** BeliefMakesYouStupid
** BlackIsBiggerInBed
** BrainyBaby ("[[Recap/FamilyGuyS1E5AHeroSitsNextDoor A Hero Sits Next Door]]")
** CensoredForComedy ("[[Recap/FamilyGuyS1E5AHeroSitsNextDoor A Hero Sits Next Door]]")
** ClownCar ("[[Recap/FamilyGuyS10E12LivinOnAPrayer Livin' on a Prayer]]")
** CreepyCockroach ("Screwed the Pooch")
** ADateWithRosiePalms
** DepartmentOfChildDisservices ("[[Recap/FamilyGuyS2E5LoveThyTrophy Love Thy Trophy]]")
** {{Disneyesque}} ("[[Recap/FamilyGuyS8E1RoadToTheMultiverse Road to the Multiverse]]")
** DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything
** EnfantTerrible
** EverybodyMustGetStoned
** [[FanDisservice.WesternAnimation Fan Disservice.Western Animation]] ("[[Recap/FamilyGuyS13E1TheSimpsonsGuy The Simpsons Guy]]"; ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'' crossover)
** FatIdiot ("[[Recap/FamilyGuyS9E8NewKidneyInTown New Kidney in Town]]")
** [[FreezeFrameBonus.WesternAnimation Freeze-Frame Bonus.Western Animation]]
** GarageBand
** GodTest
** GratuitousDiscoSequence ("[[Recap/FamilyGuyS1E3ChittyChittyDeathBang Chitty Chitty Death Bang]]")
** HadToComeToPrisonToBeACrook
** HuntingAccident
** InstantSedation ("[[Recap/FamilyGuyS8E8DogGone Dog Gone]]")
** IWasQuiteAFashionVictim ("Death Lives")
** KungFuJesus ("[[Recap/FamilyGuyS4E1NorthByNorthQuahog North by North Quahog]]")
** MatzoFever ("[[Recap/FamilyGuyS1E1DeathHasAShadow Death Has a Shadow]]")
** NoProductSafetyStandards ("[[Recap/FamilyGuyS1E1DeathHasAShadow Death Has a Shadow]]")
** NoYay
** APirate400YearsTooLate ("[[Recap/FamilyGuyS6E12LongJohnPeter Long John Peter]]")
** PoliceAreUseless
** RelievingTheReaper ("Death Is a Bitch")
** RoboFamily ("[[Recap/FamilyGuyS9E7RoadToTheNorthPole Road to the North Pole]]")
** SapientPet
** SelfPlagiarism (left column)
** SexualExtortion
** SharedUniverse (''WesternAnimation/AmericanDad'' and ''WesternAnimation/TheClevelandShow'' crossover)
** TantrumThrowing ("Three Kings")
** WelcomingSong ("[[Recap/FamilyGuyS2E1PeterPeterCaviarEater Peter, Peter, Caviar Eater]]")
** YourMimeMakesItReal

* DoingItForTheArt: The Creator/{{Disney}} segment of "[[{{Recap/FamilyGuyS8E1RoadToTheMultiverse}} Road to the Multiverse]]," which was animated in-house as opposed to outsourced, and completely redesigned the characters to match Disney's SignatureStyle.

** {{Creator/TBS}} slightly sped up the intro on reruns.
** [=FX=] and Freeform both use the free-to-air syndication prints (the ones seen on local broadcast stations) of the show's first 15 seasons, which are even more censored than the versions used for their initial broadcasts on Fox. This means that the uncut versions of those episodes can now only be obtained through the show's [=DVD=] releases.

** Fox banned the eighth season episode "[[Recap/FamilyGuyS8E21PartialTermsOfEndearment Partial Terms of Endearment]]" because it dealt with Lois becoming a surrogate mother to her best friend and her husband who can't have children and, following said best friend's sudden death, choosing whether to abort the baby. The episode was later released as a DVD-exclusive episode and has aired on most international channels like the UK's Creator/{{BBC}} Three (though, outside BBC Three, the international versions are the edited versions that have scenes cut for content and/or time reasons, even though most international channels aren't commercial-happy like America is when it comes to television). Unlike "When You Wish Upon a Weinstein," this episode has not aired on Fox or Adult Swim[=/=]TBS (and, due to the subject matter, which is actually shown in a rather serious light amid all the -- pardon the pun -- [[BlackComedy Dead Baby Comedy]], will never see the light of day on American TV or even on streaming services like Creator/{{Hulu}}). On ''Family Guy'''s 200th episode special, the episode was a discussion point and some clips were aired.
*** Even after Disney acquired the series, they continued to leave the ban in place and isn't included in reruns on FX, FXX and Freeform.

* BannedInChina: The show's mature content matter got it banned from being screened in Indonesia, Egypt, Vietnam, Iran, South Korea, Saudi Arabia, Cuba, and Malaysia.

** Contrary to popular belief, the show was never technically banned in South Africa, although it didn't air on DS TV until 2014, when it premiered there on Fox Africa.

* ChannelHop: Averted, as the show has always remained on Creator/{{Fox}}. That being said, the aforementioned "When You Wish Upon a Weinstein" episode ended up airing on Creator/AdultSwim first.
** For syndication, Adult Swim had held cable rights to the series since April 2003, and has shared them with sister network Creator/{{TBS}} since that year. For season 16 onward, Creator/{{Disney}}-owned channels [[Creator/FXNetworks FXX]] and Creator/{{Freeform}} took over syndication duties. Adult Swim and TBS lost the rights to previous seasons in September 2021.

** The Dish Network summary for the episode "Lois Kills Stewie" assumes that a CutawayGag about Stewie auditioning for ''Series/AmericanIdol'' is the focus of the episode.
*** Their summary for "Road to Rhode Island" seems to think that Brian is picking Stewie up from Carter and Babs' house because they kicked him out, and not because it was simply time for him to go. In fact, the worst thing Stewie did while at Babs and Carter's house was stealing Babs' necklace and planting it on the maid to get her arrested as "after-dinner entertainment", but that wasn't relevant to the plot.
*** Zig-zagged in the summary for "Stu and Stewie's Excellent Adventure", which gives an accurate and on-point summary for "Stewie B. Goode" instead of itself.

** The Verizon Fios summary of "New Kidney In Town" indicates that Peter's years of alcoholism would be the cause of his kidney failure and subsequent need for a new kidney, when in fact it was Peter recently becoming addicted to Red Bull, binge drinking it to no end, and then trying to come up with a replacement mix with assorted items and kerosene, not his years of alcoholism.
*** Verizon also incorrectly state in the summary of "Road to Europe" that Brian and Stewie journey across Europe to return home in Connecticut, when in reality, the duo live in Rhode Island.

** One seems to get that impression watching "It's A Trap!" In the opening scene, the entire family groans and an annoyed Peter says "Let's get this over with". followed by the opening scroll that turns into a ''massive'' rant about how they (they being Creator/SethMacFarlane and the rest of the crew) never wanted to do this nor "Something Something Something Dark Side" and only did so so Seth could do other projects without them (them being Creator/TwentiethCenturyFox) complaining. Given that the show does a lot of throwaway lines, it can be hard to tell they really meant it (though admittedly this seemed even more hostile than usual), at least until you listen to their DVD commentaries; turns out they meant every word of it.
** Episodes use tons of SelfDeprecation gags about the show or other works the creators are responsible for (the ''Star Wars'' specials also include several jibes to Creator/SethGreen's ''WesternAnimation/RobotChicken''). Granted given the overall tone of such gags (and the fact they are expressed by less than sound individuals in the show) it may also count as TakeThatCritics.

* CreatorBreakdown: The opening crawl to "It's a Trap!" complains about Fox [[ExecutiveMeddling obligating the staff]] to complete the original ''Franchise/StarWars'' triolgy. The DVD commentary confirms that they were indeed sick of doing them at that point.

* CrossdressingVoices: Consuela voiced by Mike Henry.
* TheDanza: Mayor Adam West is voiced by... surprise, surprise, [[AdamWesting Adam West]] [[Creator/AdamWest himself]].

* DVDCommentary: The commentaries are odd in that Creator/SethMacFarlane uses his normal speaking voice for Brian, a talking dog, so he appears to be doing the commentary in-character. He also flat out refuses to do the voices of any of the characters he voices (Peter, Stewie, Quagmire etc) during said commentary. Usually with (hopefully tongue-in-cheek) threats of violence against whoever suggested it. Not true of the initial DVD sets, where he busts out the Peter or Stewie voice unprovoked, sometimes having a back-and-forth with Creator/AlexBorstein (who started speaking in her Lois voice) or Creator/SethGreen (who started talking like Chris). The fact that not every episode had commentary might have had something to do with it.
** Only if someone asks; if the fancy strikes him, he'll throw in a line or two in the voice of Peter and Stewie. Although he usually tells them to fuck off in character. Also Creator/SethGreen sounds nothing like Chris Griffin or Neil Goldman (his two main voices) so he has to be asked to drop into character. Mike Henry (Cleveland Brown, Herbert) does his voices without being asked.
** The commentaries featuring Danny Smith meanwhile tend to give an idea of just how insane the people who write the show are. The one for "Indecent Proposal" in particular has the cast repeatedly accusing him of being extremely drunk while he claims to be 'high on life.'

** At least on the version of "April In Quahog" on Netflix, the ending of the episode with Peter playing ''VideoGame/ModernWarfare 2'' is cut for some reason. This can make the 'With thanks to Infinity Ward' in the end credits baffling for people if this is their first time watching the episode.
** The Creator/{{Netflix}} release also erased the infamous gag in "Movin' Out (Brian's Song)" where Quagmire rapes Marge Simpson and kills her family. That scene was also cut when FOX aired it and when it airs on free-TV syndication. Creator/CartoonNetwork and the DVD set featuring season six episodes have this uncut.
** {{Creator/TBS}}, unsurprisingly, slightly sped up the intro on reruns. However, it was not as bad as some of the shows that do get [[{{Series/Friends}} sped]] [[{{Series/Seinfeld}} up]].
** Sadly, [=FX=] and Freeform both use the butchered free-to-air syndication prints (the ones seen on local broadcast stations) of the show's first 15 seasons, which are even more censored than the versions used for their initial broadcasts on Fox. This means that the uncut versions of those episodes can now only be obtained through the show's [=DVD=] releases. Adding insult to injury, those butchered prints are sped up on Freeform. [=TBS=] also sped up its reruns of those seasons, but at least the prints they used were either the same uncut versions seen on Adult Swim or just slightly more censored than those prints.
*** [=FXX=] occasionally uses the syndicated prints when they air the series, but nowhere near as much as FX and Freeform do.

** Creator/SethMacFarlane has stated in recent years that he wants ''Family Guy'' to end, but Fox wants to keep the show running for as long as possible. Considering that Fox [[MoneyDearBoy received so much money]] [[CashCowFranchise from the show's reruns and DVD sales]], this is eventful.

** Happens literally in "PTV", what the [=FCC=] representatives do to disrupt the personal day-to-day lives of the Griffins.
** For "The Courtship of Stewie's Father", the subplot of Chris doing chores for Herbert had to be completely watered down as Fox was scared of the pedophile jokes that would spring from the storyline. The DVD commentary goes into detail about what would have been in the subplot had Fox not interfered. On the plus side, it did show that Herbert actually cared about Chris enough not to take advantage of him, but the "Chris lives with Herbert the Pedophile" subplot on the season eleven episode "Chris Cross" got away with more than what this episode did.

** Based on [[https://web.archive.org/web/*/http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/44880176/ns/today-entertainment/#.TpdkHt4r27t this interview]] from October of 2011, creator Seth [=MacFarlane=] ''himself'' believes the series has become this, to say nothing of the haters.

** Also the uncut version of "A Hero Sits Next Door", which had a scene where a kid's JFK Pez dispenser gets shot by a stray police sniper bullet hasn't been seen since Fox first aired the episode, not even on DVD. Adult Swim and foreign networks has aired the uncut version, the scene is available on the German DVD version, and Netflix has it uncut when they had the series.

* MarathonRunning: On 2/6/12 TBS ran all three ''Franchise/StarWars'' parodies back-to-back to help promote the theatrical release of the 3D version of ''Film/ThePhantomMenace''.
** TBS did another marathon in April 2019 to celebrate the series' 20th anniversary, they aired twenty creator favorite episodes.

* MoneyDearBoy / CashCowFranchise: Arguably THE reason for FG's final [[UnCancelled uncancellation]]. FOX uncancelled the series when news hit that the money made from DVD sales and the big ratings from Adult Swim reruns were enough to bring the show back.
* NamesTheSame:
** Averted with Mayor Adam West. Originally, the mayor was just going to be some nutcase who happened to have the same name as the actor. Then the real Adam West called...
** Joyce Kinney took her maiden name (Chevapravatdumrong) from ''Family Guy'' executive producer Cherry Chevapravatdumrong.
* NoExportForYou: As of November 2016, ''Family Guy'' (along with ''WesternAnimation/AmericanDad'' and ''WesternAnimation/TheClevelandShow'') have yet to be released (or possibly [[NoDubForYou dubbed]]) in Japan.
** According to one of the writers, the show did receive a Korean dub, but suffered the same fate as ''WesternAnimation/SouthPark'' and was cancelled due to its content.
** ''Family Guy'' finally managed to avert this in Japan, as [=GyaO=] acquired the rights to the series for their streaming service, and Fox Japan started airing the series (however in a subtitled format rather than a full on dub).
* TheOtherDarrin:
** Meg was originally voiced by an uncredited Creator/LaceyChabert until sometime in season two, when she quit (Chabert says she was simply too busy with other work and it was an amicable parting). Creator/MilaKunis replaced her. Since then Four jokes were made about this:
*** "Business Guy": Peter threatens to replace Lois, simply bringing up the name "Lacey Chabert" as a threat which immediately causes Lois to back off.
*** "Back to the Pilot": Stewie states that Meg [as voiced by Chabert in the pilot episode "Death Has a Shadow"] sounds like "...someone who's about to give up a huge opportunity".
*** "Yug Ylimaf": Stewie screams "You're Lacey Chabert!" after Meg spoke, as the reverse flow of time landed him on the day he was born. Unlike with the "Back to the Pilot" example where archival recordings from "Death Has a Shadow" was used, [[TheOriginalDarrin Chabert herself actually recorded this one line]].
*** "Griffin Winter Games": Meg claims that she's been training for the winter Olympics ever since "I was Lacey Chabert", following three flashbacks to past episodes with Meg inserted in them to announce she's training for the Olympics, the last of which being the pilot when she was voiced by Chabert. However, unlike with the "Yug Ylimaf" example where Chabert herself appeared, here Meg was voiced by Creator/MaeWhitman (who also voices Lacey Chabert later in the episode when Meg encounters her during her Olympics trial).

** Mr. Weed was first voiced by Butch Hartman (yes, the same one who created ''WesternAnimation/TheFairlyOddParents'', ''WesternAnimation/TuffPuppy'', and ''WesternAnimation/DannyPhantom'' and was a writer and executive producer for ''WesternAnimation/JohnnyBravo'''s early episodes[[note]]just like Creator/SethMacFarlane[[/note]]), only to be replaced by Creator/CarlosAlazraqui (who worked with Hartman on the aforementioned ''Fairly [=OddParents=]'').

** On June 26, 2020, it was announced that Mike Henry, who is white, will be stepping down from voicing Cleveland, who is black, saying "Persons of Color should play Characters of Color." On September 26, [=YouTuber=] Arif Zahir was revealed to be Mike Henry's replacement.

** Zigzagged whenever baby Stewie is shown as an adult, as he still has the same adult voice with a British accent.

** In flashbacks to their childhoods, the adult characters have the same voices, though with a childlike inflection. Averted in "Valentine's Day in Quahog", where a younger Lois voiced by an actual child.

** In it's original run, ''Family Guy'' originally got decent ratings and good treatment by Fox during it's 7-episode first season (it even made its series premiere right after the Super Bowl, with it's premier being watched by a estimated 22 million viewers, which remains the most watched episode of the entire series). But when the show returned for the 1999-2000 season, they put it at a Thursday night timeslot where it was pitted against ''Series/{{Frasier}}''. As you would've expected, the ratings declined sharply, and the series went on a hiatus. Fox later put it on Tuesday nights, pitting against ''Series/WhoWantsToBeAMillionaire'', which repeatedly defeated ''Family Guy'' in the ratings. They canceled it soon after but brought it back for the 2001-2002 season at a Thursday night timeslot again. But this time, it was pitted against ''Series/{{Friends}}'' and ''Series/{{Survivor}}''. After unsurprisingly low ratings, it was canceled again. But Creator/CartoonNetwork bought the show's rights for their Creator/AdultSwim lineup, which the network got it for free according to the then-president of 20th Century Fox Television, and it became the highest rated show on their lineup. They even aired a BannedEpisode that Fox wouldn't air (Fox would eventually air a censored version in 2004). So they order more episodes and Family Guy's season 4 premiere brought the show's highest ratings since the Season 1 finale. Now it rivals ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'' and ''Series/AmericanIdol'' (until the latter [[ChannelHop moved to rival network]] Creator/{{ABC}}) as Fox's most [[InvertedTrope adored show]] (let alone cartoon).
** When ''Family Guy'' began airing reruns on Creator/{{Freeform}} (Seasons 16 and 17 to be exact; TBS and Creator/AdultSwim hold the rights to Seasons 1-15 until 2021), it was given a weekly hour long block of 7-8pm... on a Wednesday. After a while, the show was unceremoniously moved to Fridays at midnight, with little to no warning, and select episodes were skipped over (though the one episode that was skipped over during the Wednesday run aired during this run). Fortunately, this seems to have been alleviated, as the show now airs on Fridays, with a modest amount of advertising but inconsistent time slots (the show can air as late as 8-11pm or as early as 2-5pm).

* ShortRunInPeru: The season 19 episode, "Cutawayland" first aired in Canada on October 18, 2020. While originally, this wouldn't be that major, since the episode was scheduled to air the same day on Fox, it was later delayed to November 1st, due to Fox's coverage of Game 7 of the 2020 NLCS.
** An identical situation occurred with an episode from the same season, "Boy's Best Friend" which, along with the entirety of Animation Domination on February 14, 2021, was delayed to February 28 due to the Daytona 500 running way overtime following a five-hour rain delay, and the event being too high-profile to move to Fox Sports 1.
* TalkingToHimself: Played straight to the point of mild exaggeration, as Seth [=MacFarlane=] voices more than ''nine'' characters: Peter, Brian, Stewie, Quagmire, Carter, Tom Tucker, Jake Tucker, Seamus, Dr. Hartman, and others. Lampshaded in one episode where Dr. Hartman and Carter are put in a conversation together, and notice that they have almost the exact same voice.

** Creator/CreeSummer was initially considered to voice Meg but was dropped because [=MacFarlane=] felt uncomfortable about an African-American woman playing a white character, despite Summer having done it many times in her career (Penny from ''WesternAnimation/InspectorGadget'' and Elmyra Duff from ''WesternAnimation/TinyToonAdventures''). Even more baffling, nearly all of the show's regular black characters were eventually played by Caucasian actors.

* [[YouLookFamiliar You Sound Familiar]]:
** Creator/DrewBarrymore, who plays Jillian, had previously voiced Mrs. Lockhart in "Fast Times at Buddy Cianci Jr. High".
** Creator/AllisonJanney, who played the titular mother in "Quagmire's Mom", previously appeared as a magazine editor in "Dial Meg For Murder".

* FanNickname:
** Season 13 is ''The Peter Griffin Show'' due to the increased number of episodes focused on him, to the point that some of the other Griffins (notably Meg and Chris) often go several episodes without speaking or even appearing.
** Season 12's infamous "Fresh Heir" is accurately known as "Incest: The Episode" in many corners of the fandom.
** On a similar note, Season 13's "Roasted Guy" is known as "Misogyny: The Episode" or "The Great Space Rip-Off"[[labelnote:*]]due to the beginning of the episode referencing the ''WesternAnimation/AmericanDad'' episode "The Great Space Roaster".[[/labelnote]]

** In the UK, the show's original broadcasters, Channel 4 and Sky One, made heavy edits as they aired it in daytime slots, despite it being an adult cartoon. Channel 4 only aired the first two seasons before axing it, although Sky One treated it slightly better, with season 3 being shown as well as receiving infrequent reruns for a few years. The show's next channel, BBC Two, initially gave it a good slot of Saturday nights at 10pm alongside ''WesternAnimation/AmericanDad'', however after a few months it was buried to the post-midnight hours. It later moved to sister station BBC Three, where it received far better treatment, although it did start in similar poor slots like on BBC Two.

** Sadly, [=FX=], [=FXX=], and Freeform all use the butchered free-to-air syndication prints (the ones seen on local broadcast stations) of the show's first 15 seasons, which are even more censored than the versions used for their initial broadcasts on Fox. This means that the uncut versions of those episodes can now only be obtained through the show's [=DVD=] releases. Adding insult to injury, those butchered prints are sped up on Freeform. [=TBS=] also sped up its reruns of those seasons, but at least the prints they used were either the same uncut versions seen on Adult Swim or just slightly more censored than those prints.

** "Turban Cowboy": While it wasn't well-liked due to the Muslim stereotypes (though it did make a good point about not all Muslims being terrorists), that's not why it was banned after it first aired. Less than three weeks after its premiere, the Boston Marathon was hit by a terrorist attack. Not making things any better is the fact that the episode had a scene that predicted that a lot of people would die or be severely injured during the Boston Marathon (only it was because of Peter driving his car through the marathon path), ''and'' that a video showed up on the Internet that edited the scenes to make it look like Peter bombed the marathon. While FOX and Hulu stopped airing it in light of the attack, the episode did appear a few months later on Adult Swim, TBS, and Netflix streaming (U.S. feed).