History YMMV / FAMILYGUY

* HilariousInHindsight:
** Stewie pleading to FOX to at least let them stay on long enough to be syndicated in "Road to Rhode Island", which, thanks to its 2005 revival, being rerun on TBS and Cartoon Network's Creator/AdultSwim block, and eventually reaching off-air syndication, it has exceeded its goal.
** In "When You Wish Upon a Weinstein," Peter expresses how badly he needs help from a Jewish person. Later in season 8, in the episode "Family Goy," it's revealed that [[spoiler:Lois is Jewish on her mom's side, and had to hide it so Carter can get into a country club that's notorious for banning anyone who's Jewish]].
** The season seven episode "We Love You Conrad" has Stewie refer to Bruce Jenner as a beautiful ''woman''. In April 2015, [[http://abcnews.go.com/Entertainment/bruce-jenner-im-woman/story?id=30570350 Jenner came out as transgender]], and two months later, got gender reassignment surgery and is now known as Caitlyn Jenner. Stewie knew her true gender identity six years before anyone else did and even funnier when Brian tries to correct him saying "Bruce Jenner is a man." This gets {{lampshade|Hanging}}d ten years and ten seasons later in the season seventeen episode "Hefty Shades of Gray".
** Music/MileyCyrus is revealed to be a robot in "Hannah Banana"; her 2010 album ''Can't Be Tamed'' actually features a song called "Robot". The lyrics just make it even more funny.
** In the episode "Family Guy Viewer Mail #1", Peter tells Diane and Tom Tucker to "Make like a Siamese twin and split, and then one of you die." [[spoiler:Diane was KilledOffForReal in the ninth season premiere.]]
** One cutaway gag features Katie Holmes escaping from Creator/TomCruise, In June 2012, Katie announced she was divorcing Tom because he was too controlling.
** In "Screwed the Pooch" after finding out Brian didn't impregnate Seabreeze, he says he was looking forward to being a dad. Later in "The Former Life of Brian", it is revealed he has a human son (and in "Jerome is the New Black," one of the reasons why Quagmire hates Brian is that he never cares for Dylan, having only seen him once and bonded with while smoking weed).
** A 2007 episode contained a joke in which Carl Sagan's ''Cosmos'' was "edited for rednecks" by dubbing over an explanation of the Big Bang. In 2014, [[http://gawker.com/fox-station-cuts-evolution-out-of-neil-degrasse-tysons-1543147417 an Oklahoma City Fox affiliate just happened to interrupt]] UsefulNotes/NeilDeGrasseTyson's mention of evolution on the updated ''Series/{{Cosmos}}''. Not to mention that Creator/SethMacFarlane is actually involved with the ''Cosmos'' reboot.
** Possibly deliberate; eight years after a cutaway joke about the implausibility of Creator/LiamNeeson playing an American cowboy because of his Irish accent and being in more UK movies than American ones, Creator/SethMacFarlane cast him in his sophomore directorial effort, ''Film/AMillionWaysToDieInTheWest'' as an outlaw American cowboy (and, is considered by some, to be the [[JustHereForGodzilla only good part of the movie]]).
** "What Really Grinds My Gears" from ''WesternAnimation/StewieGriffinTheUntoldStory'' is very similar to ''WebVideo/YouKnowWhatsBullShit''. Peter even kind of looks like a fatter Creator/JamesRolfe.
** One cutaway gag had ComicBook/{{Iceman|MarvelComics}}'s wife catching him going to a gay bar. Nine years later, Iceman canonically came out as gay.
** In "Bill and Peter's Bogus Journey", a cutaway of "[[ComicBook/FantasticFour The Thing]] dating Lorena Bobbitt" features somebody finding The Thing's rocky penis. In ''Film/FantasticFour2015'', it was revealed that The Thing doesn't have any pants on and appears not to have any genitals, which makes this scene ironic.
** During the "post-movie" scene of ''Stewie Griffin: The Untold Story'', Peter mentions that an episode he directed caused backlash because it centered on incest, which is exactly what happened in the season 12 episode "Fresh Heir" (only it had Chris about to marry Peter, not Chris having sex with Lois and Brian ranting, "Wrong! It's wrong!").
** In "North by North Quahog" Peter and Lois find a fictional sequel to ''Film/ThePassionOfTheChrist'' in Creator/MelGibson's home. In June 2016, it was announced that Mel Gibson would be making a sequel.
** In "The Tan Aquatic With Steve Zissou", Peter grumbles about getting Mega Bloks instead of bonafide Franchise/{{LEGO}}s. Much later, Mega Bloks (since renamed Mega Construx) [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4AgDVph0rKQ released an official Peter Griffin collectable figurine]].
** The plot of "A House Full of Peters" makes Peter's SuspiciouslySpecificDenial [[spoiler:about his having unwittingly fathered another child]] in "Don't Make Me Over" much, much funnier. [[spoiler: For bonus points, the former episode took place after Peter's vasectomy, and the latter took place before.]]
** "Brian Sings and Swings", in which Brian meets Frank Sinatra Jr. and begins to perform on stage with him (and they are shortly joined by Stewie), has Peter mistakenly believe that Frank Jr.'s mother is Creator/MiaFarrow, even becoming a BrickJoke at the end of the episode when Farrow spanks Frank Jr. in front of an audience. In 2013, Mia Farrow raised speculation that Music/FrankSinatra could have been the biological father of Ronan Farrow, her son with Creator/WoodyAllen.
** The episode "Patriot Games" had Peter join the New England Patriots and get fired after only one game. More than one person compared this to what happened to Antonio Brown in the real 2019 football season.
** In "Meet the Quagmires," in a parody of Film/BackToTheFuture1, [[Brian gives a performance of [[Music/RickAstley "Never Gonna Give You Up"]] in place of the original film's [[Music/ChuckBerry "Johnny D. Goode"]]. The original JustForFun/{{Rickroll}} had already been circulating 4chan for at least a couple of months by the episode's release, but it still wasn't a well known phenomenon, and the episode had been in production for much longer. The Family Guy writers were merely making fun of the song for being a mediocre 80s chart-topper, yet they happened to do so just before an internet meme would cement the song in popular culture.
** One of the alternate realities seen in "[[Recap/FamilyGuyS8E1RoadToTheMultiverse Road to the Multiverse]]" is a pastiche of Disney's [[UsefulNotes/TheRenaissanceAgeOfAnimation Renaissance Age]], which delights Stewie to the point he wishes to be a part of that world. With Disney's acquisition of Fox in 2019, his wish has come true.
** The episode where Creator/KevinMichaelRichardson voiced a talking zit is more amusing when you realized he voices another talking zit in ''WesternAnimation/Animaniacs2020'' 15 years later.

'''Stewie:''' Hey, I got a lot on my plate, man. I'm learning to use the toilet, I'm learning what shapes are. I spent half an hour laughing at my own feet yesterday.

** Mr. Washee Washee literally has no character outside of being an Asian stereotype who owns a dry cleaners, speaks in an overdone Asian accent, has a very short temper, watches Star Trek (or as he calls it, "The Sulu Show", because Sulu is his favorite character), and he beats up Peter by way of ''VideoGame/StreetFighterII''.

** Meg Griffin: Is the family's mistreatment of her actually resentment that's been building over the years from back when she was whiny, mean and selfish in earlier seasons, or is that Meg merely lashing out of frustration for being in a family of {{Jerkass}}ses? Is she staying with her family out of concern for their well being or is she suffering from StockholmSyndrome?

*** In general, anytime [[AlphaBitch Connie Di'Amico]] recieves her comeuppance is met with cheers from the audience, who know full well [[AssholeVictim she deserves it.]]

*** Pretty much anytime he gets his ass handed to him in any episode where he acts as a major douche, such as the episode "Brian the Closer" where Quagmire knocks all his teeth out after smacking him in the face with a lamp, and "Peternormal Activity" where he gets smacked in the face by Stewie with a baseball bat, thus causing the broken glass in his glasses to cut his eyes.

** Lois in "Seahorse Seashell Party" where she breaks into tears when Meg calls her out for being a horrible mother. Peter even more so moments later when she calls him out for being a waste of a man.

** "What Really Grinds My Gears" from ''Recap/StewieGriffinTheUntoldStory'' is very similar to ''WebVideo/YouKnowWhatsBullShit''. Peter even kind of looks like a fatter Creator/JamesRolfe.

* TrueArtIsIncomprehensible:
** Diane Simmons' short movie ''Lint'' invokes this.
** Stewie's music video he made for Susie.
---> '''Brian''': I'm not following the storyline here.
---> '''Stewie''': Shut up!

* [[BrokenBase/FamilyGuy Broken Base]]

* BaseBreakingCharacter:
** Stewie, post-Villain Decay. One side hates him for being a pathetic shadow of his former self, while the other loves him for being the most likable member of the modern Griffin family and for providing a good chunk of the series' humor.
** Brian. People either like him for being the OnlySaneMan and his friendship with Stewie, or hate him for being a self-absorbed AuthorAvatar.
** Peter is either loved because his random and stupid antics keep the show entertaining or hated for being a PsychopathicManchild and abusing his daughter for his own amusement.
** Fans seem divisive as to whether turning Quagmire into a SelfDeprecation avatar counts as an AuthorsSavingThrow or the complete destruction of his character.
** Consuela: Half of the fandom thinks she's an utterly ''hysterical'' EnsembleDarkhorse and a FountainOfMemes ("No... no..."), while the other half looks at her as being the EthnicScrappy who's only there to be obnoxious and troll the Griffins.
** Principal Shepherd. While some fans like the addition of another authority figure that isn't a ''complete'' idiot, others feel his increased appearances are unnecessary and that he's a poor man's substitute of Mayor West, even to the point of unfavorably comparing him to [[WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons Gil Gunderson]] (who is also looked at as a ReplacementScrappy for a beloved retired character whose voice actor died in real life). Not helping matters is the fact that compared to other "school principal" characters on FOX animated shows, he seems somewhat boring and by-the-numbers- recall that [[WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons Principal Skinner]] and [[WesternAnimation/AmericanDad Principal Lewis]] are [[EnsembleDarkhorse Ensemble Dark Horses]] in their respective shows.
** Brian's cousin Jasper, is seen as either a rude conglomeration of nearly every offensive gay stereotype or a NiceGuy goofball who’s really not that offensive.

* BrokenBase:
** Being a LongRunner, it is hotly debated among fans when (or if) the show went through SeasonalRot, and whether or not it is still worth watching if it did.
** [[ArchEnemy Brian and Quagmire]] fans are quite divided over their recurring rivalry. While some have come to like it since [[ThenLetMeBeEvil Brian has started hating Quagmire back]] and evolved it into a SitcomArchNemesis dynamic, several still dislike the feud (and the increased spotlight it gets) as it revolves around the two characters' {{Flanderization}} of their most unlikeable qualities (namely being vindictive HolierThanThou {{Straw Hypocrite}}s).
** Season 9. Is it an improvement over seasons 7-8 or just as bad (if not worse)?
** Which Stewie is better: The evil DiabolicalMastermind Stewie of the earlier seasons or the nicer CampGay Stewie of the later seasons?
** Brian's death is either the best thing to ever happen to the show (for those that hate him for being said self-absorbed AuthorAvatar), or the absolute worst thing to happen to the show (for his own fans).
** The storyline of Brian being kicked out of the Griffin household that lasted for three episodes ("The D in Apartment 23", "Petey IV" and "Crimes and Meg's Demeanor") Was it a great way of showing that the show continues to be GrowingTheBeard after several lackluster seasons earlier, or was it pointless to drag out an idea that's clearly better off only being a single episode?
** Compared to the previous entries in the "Road to..." miniseries, "Road to India" (the final one) got a much more mixed reception among fans. Some people were happy to have another "Road to..." episode, while other people didn't think it felt like a "Road to..." episode, especially since it lacked a musical number and the B-plot with Peter revolved around him developing an obsession with bingo, [[RecycledScript something the show had done several times before]].

* ArchivePanic: It hit this by about 2011, at which point it had reached its 150th episode. Despite a comment that year from [=MacFarlane=] about ending the series, it's still in production, already reaching 400 episodes in January 2023. Doesn't help the fact that several episodes are hour-long.

* ArchivePanic: It hit this by about 2011, at which point it had reached its 150th episode. Despite a comment that year from [=MacFarlane=] about ending the series, it's still in production, already reaching 300 episodes as of January 2018. Doesn't help the fact that several episodes are hour-long.

** Conway - [[OverlyLongGag You Can Take A Bathroom Break Now]] Twitty. The fact that he hasn't appeared since the episode which he had a nearly three-minute long scene (in a 23 minute long ep no less) and it was rated the worst episode in the series probably states that the writers got the hint. This was eventually acknowledged in "3 Acts of God" when God tells Peter, "Oh, by the way, Conway Twitty says, 'Cut it out! Just write a joke!'".

* AmericansHateTingle: The show is unpopular in France with some people blaming the poor European French dub where it was given. Despite this, Family Guy is still shown on MCM in France, and their dub is still going.

** One cutaway gag had ComicBook/{{Iceman}}'s wife catching him going to a gay bar. Nine years later, Iceman canonically came out as gay.

** Mickey Mcfinnegan, Peter's biological father. He never shows up after his introduction episode or meets Peter's family or anything.
** Fans felt that the Esperanza, the Target cashier from one of the Cutaways in the episode ''[[Recap/FamilyGuyS20E16PrescriptionHeroine Prescription Heroine]]'', could have had potential as a love interest for Lois if she hadn't been killed off and disreguarded.

** Peter gets fired from the news in "Stewie B. Goode" because his infant son got drunk and crashed a car into the Drunken Clam, even though it was Brian who was looking after Stewie and got him drunk in the first place.

** "Meet the Quagmires" featured Brian's out-of-nowhere performance of "[[Music/RickAstley Never Gonna Give You Up]]", which predates the JustForFun/{{Rickroll}} by only a few months!

Aw, jeez, this is getting worse than [[CutawayGag that time I visited that place where]] nerds go to disagree on things!

** For people who hate Brian, a lot will be surprised to learn that a lot of his worst character traits were fully on display in the early seasons and were the reason the character was generally liked. However, they were either far more restrained, or the show acknowledged that they made him a bit of an asshole. For example, he still acted as a [[AuthorAvatar mouthpiece for the writers]], but this was normally limited to quips, and other characters commented about how it could get annoying. In later seasons these short quips turned into full-blown {{character filibuster}}s, and anyone not holding the StrawmanBall either agreed with Brain or got out of his way.

* FirstInstallmentWins: Fans generally consider the first three seasons to be the best.

* Fans are a little divided on the {{CutawayGag}}s. Some people think that they're funny and tell good jokes overall while others seeing as unnessicary, claiming that they serve little-to-no purpose other than to pad out the episode's running time. This only got worse after the show was un-cancelled to the point where some fans have decided to call ''Family Guy'' "CutawayGag: The Series''.

* CriticalBacklash: The later seasons (particularly Season 7 onward) catch a lot of heat from fans and critics, but there is a surprising number of people willing to defend them, stating that even the later episodes have more than their share of SugarWiki/FunnyMoments. Notably, comments on [=YouTube=] regarding SeasonalRot are often met with disdain. There is also a [[TakeAThirdOption third party]] that will at least deem these seasons as [[SoOkayItsAverage okay/decent but forgettable overall]].

** Although largely one-sided, a lot of ''WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy'' fans also tend to hate ''WesternAnimation/{{Brickleberry}}'' and (to a lesser extent) ''WesternAnimation/BeCoolScoobyDoo'' due both shows [[TheyCopiedItNowItSucks being very similar in terms of animation and and humor]].

* FriendlyFandoms:
** With ''WesternAnimation/CowAndChicken'' due to Creator/SethMacFarlanes work on that show. Helps that both shows came out in the 90's and have similar senses of humor and characters.
** With ''WesternAnimation/TheFairlyOddParents'' due to both the show's creators being good friends with each other.
** A lot of ''Family Guy'' fans also tend to be fans of ''Series/MalcolmInTheMiddle'' due to both shows being about {{Dysfunctional Fami|ly}}lies and the main characters being {{Unsympathetic Comedy Protagonist}}s. The fact that both shows have a character named Lois also helps.

* MisaimedFandom:
** The line "We have a saying in radio: if you play that on the radio, people will listen to it!" from "Mother Tucker," was used as a soundbite on a handful of the kind of soundbite-heavy radio shows that episode is mocking.
** It's not uncommon for detractors of the series to accuse the show's endless jokes about ''WesternAnimation/BobsBurgers'' of the writers being petty jealous over how well ''Bob's Burgers'' has done compared to ''Family Guy'', with many even accusing the writers of hating ''Bob's Burgers'' in general. That's not the case though. Rich Appel and Alec Sulkin told Entertainment Weekly that the jokes were made out of love and were all in good fun. Although the jealous part is partially true, it's not being petty and instead out of love. Yet despite this, ''Family Guy'' gets all the hate while ''Bob's Burgers'' avoids criticism.

* ReviewsAreTheGospel: When the later seasons first came out, they were deemed as SoOkayItsAverage at best and mediocre at worst. And then ''WebVideo/TheMysteriousMrEnter'' and ''WebVideo/PhantomStrider'' gave some of the episodes from the later seasons negative reviews. Now, the seasons are widely hated by the fandom.
* SalvagedStory: The post-cancellation seasons were criticized for having the entire cast abuse [[ButtMonkey Meg]] [[ForTheEvulz for no reason at all]]. Every season after Season 15-16 (with the only exception being Season 18) fix this as while the cast does still abuse her every now and then, she's given more [[ThrowTheDogABone bones thrown to her than in the previous seasons]].

* SelfFanservice:
** Lois gets hit with this a lot. Fanart depicting Lois often gives her HartmanHips and a [[BuxomBeautyStandard massive bust]] even though she isn't very curvy in the actual show.
** Meg receives this from time-to-time. She's treated as hideously ugly InUniverse but a lot of fanartists often give her the BespectacledCute treatment (with some even going as far as to depict her as looking like her "Road to the Multiverse" AlternateSelf).
** In aged-up fanart, Stewie is often drawn as a handsome brunette with a PrettyBoy-esque hair-style.
** For a rare non-sexual example, Peter is often drawn a less fat in fanart and is instead portrayed as chubby instead. Chris also receives the same treatment too.

* ShipsThatPassInTheNight: Although they don't interact too much a lot of fans like to ship Meg with Kevin.

* [[BaseBreakingCharacter/FamilyGuy Base Breaking Characters]]

** Principal Shepherd. While some fans like the addition of another authority figure that isn't a ''complete'' idiot, others feel his increased appearances are unnecessary and that he's a poor man's substitute of Mayor West, even to the point of unfavorably comparing him to [[WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons Gil Gunderson]] (who is also looked at as a ReplacementScrappy for a beloved retired character whose voice actor died in real life).