History TakeThat / FamilyGuy

''WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy'' has made more than a few shots in return for all the abuse that it has taken. It's also open for debate whether its frequent skewering of popular culture and society constitutes various forms of Take That, AffectionateParody, ''Non''-Affectionate reference or some combination thereof.

* In "[[Recap/FamilyGuyS9E11GermanGuy German Guy]]" Chris has two puppets reenact ''Literature/{{Twilight}}''.

* In "[[Recap/FamilyGuyS4E14PTV PTV]]", Peter, Brian, and Stewie have an entire song dedicated to how they feel about the FCC (or rather, he, since [[TalkingToHimself Seth MacFarlane voices all three]]). When the FCC reviewed the episode, they actually found it quite hilarious, showing even they can laugh at themselves.

* In "Blue Harvest," in the scene where Luke (Chris) finds Aunt Beru and Uncle Owen killed by the Empire, and Music/JohnWilliams and the London Symphony Orchestra burned as well, he also complains that they'll have to listen to Creator/DannyElfman music for the remainder of the movie. Cue Danny Elfman conducting his orchestra through the ''Series/DesperateHousewives'' theme - or that of ''The Simpsons'', depending on what version you see - only for Chris to proceed to decapitate him mid-song. ([[CriticalResearchFailure By the way, Elfman doesn't conduct.]])

* In a similar vein to ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'' Halloween episode "The Ned Zone," in "[[Recap/FamilyGuyS5E18MeetTheQuagmires Meet the Quagmires]]" regarding an alternate universe where Quagmire married Lois instead of Peter, Lois mentioned that Osama bin Laden was captured and that he was hiding out among the cast of ''Series/{{MADtv}}'', to which Quagmire remarks that ''Series/{{MADtv}}''[='=]s the "only place that no one would think to look." Doubles as both a HilariousInHindsight and a FunnyAneurysmMoment for the former obviously because of Bin Ladin's (later) death in 2011, and the latter because of ''Series/{{MADtv}}'''s being cancelled in 2009 without even a finale.

** This may have also been a friendly dig at one of ''Family Guy'''s frequent guest voice actors, Creator/NicoleSullivan, who has voiced nearly three dozen episodes as of January 2022.

* The opening scroll of ''Film/TheEmpireStrikesBack'' parody "[[WesternAnimation/FamilyGuyLaughItUpFuzzball Something, Something, Something Dark Side]]" contained multiple Take Thats to Fox, with the scroll rambling about how stupid the executives were because, collectively, they had so little faith in both ''Franchise/StarWars'' and ''WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy'' being successful that they gave Creator/GeorgeLucas international merchandising rights for the former, cancelled the latter twice, and didn't pay attention to the fact that the episode spent a ridiculous amount of money to animate a random elephant for no reason other than because they could. On the DVD commentary, they do give credit to the top execs at Fox for allowing the scroll, especially since it mentioned the stockholders.

* An earlier jab at ''The Cleveland Show'' comes at the end of "It's a Trap!", doubling as one to the ''Franchise/StarWars'' prequel trilogy: When Meg asks about parodying those movies, Peter says that ''The Cleveland Show'' will cover them, suggesting that not even ''Family Guy'' wants to tackle them and would rather relegate them to the spin-off. Of course, Peter's comment was most likely sarcastic as the prequels were never parodied by either show.

* In "[[FamilyGuyS3E21FamilyGuyViewerMailOne Family Guy Viewer Mail #1]], Stewie shows a machine that plays canned laughter. Brian asks where he got it.

* In "[[Recap/FamilyGuyS16E5ThreeDirectors Three Directors]]", the [[Franchise/{{Transformers}} Decepticons]] in the Creator/MichaelBay parody segment [[YouDontLookLikeYou look nothing like what they're supposed to]]. This was almost certainly done intentionally as a jab at the ''Film/TransformersFilmSeries'' handling of redesigning the canon characters, as ''Family Guy'' has had accurate depictions of ''Transformers'' characters before.

* "[[Recap/FamilyGuyS19E13PeTerminator]] has two:
** The first one is directed to ''WesternAnimation/BigMouth''. When the Terminator Peter arrives in the present, naked, his penis is censored.
-->'''Terminator Peter''': This isn't ''Big Mouth''. You're not gonna see it.
** The second one is directed to ''WesternAnimation/RickAndMorty''.
-->''[Stewie pulls out Rick's portal gun from ''Rick and Morty''.]''
-->'''Brian''': That's not your normal time pad. Where'd you get that?
-->'''Stewie''': I borrowed it from ''Rick and Morty''. They've borrowed plenty from us.
-->''[With the device, Stewie spawns a green portal akin to the one from ''Rick and Morty'', which he and Brian immediately go through.]''

That's not your normal time pad.
-->''[Stewie pulls out a teleporter device from ''Rick and Morty''.]''
-->'''Brian''': Where'd you get that?

* A cut scene from "[[Recap/FamilyGuyS6E2MovinOutBriansSong Movin' Out (Brian's Song)]]" had Quagmire abducting and seducing Marge Simpson, before being discovered by Homer and being forced to kill the entire Simpson family with a shotgun. Creator/MattGroening was pissed off about that episode, to the point where he actually stopped speaking to Seth [=MacFarlane=] for a while. Seth later realized that he had probably gone too far and ultimately had to apologize. It didn't help that when Fox refused to air the sequence, Seth responded with a long rant on the DVD commentary for the episode where he said ''The Simpsons'' was awful and Fox was showing unfair favoritism toward it, but Fox actually refused to air the bit because it features Quagmire ''murdering kids.''

-->'''Peter''': ''Beat that, Jared!''
* Note that the rivalry between ''WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy'' and ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'' is a friendly one, and Matt Groening has even told Seth [=MacFarlane=] that he likes the show.

* The opening scroll of ''Film/TheEmpireStrikesBack'' parody "Something, Something, Something Dark Side" contained multiple Take Thats to Fox, with the scroll rambling about how stupid the executives were because, collectively, they had so little faith in both ''Franchise/StarWars'' and ''WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy'' being successful that they gave Creator/GeorgeLucas international merchandising rights for the former, cancelled the latter twice, and didn't pay attention to the fact that the episode spent a ridiculous amount of money to animate a random elephant for no reason other than because they could. On the DVD commentary, they do give credit to the top execs at Fox for allowing the scroll, especially since it mentioned the stockholders.

* "420" takes slams at ''Film/TheRocketeer'' (claiming that stupid people rent it when they need a thrill) and ''Series/DoctorWho'' (ratings for the show go up after marijuana is legalized).

* In one of the Fan Mail episodes Stewie shows a machine that plays canned laughter. Brian asks where he got it.

* The ending of "Stewie Kills Lois" concludes with a dig at the infamous way ''Series/TheSopranos'' ended. After it's revealed that it and the previous episode were AllJustADream (technically, a simulation), Brian [[LeaningOnTheFourthWall comments that a copout like that would really tick people off]], to which Stewie retorts how it's still better than the way ''The Sopranos'' ended, cutting to black midsentence ([[HypocriticalHumor cue Stewie being cut off midsentence as things cut to black]]). To top it all off, this had just aired a few months after the 2007 Emmy Awards, which featured [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oJ3dH-eXsxg an animated musical number]] performed by Brian and Stewie to the tune of the show's FCC song and had a similar knock. Creator/SethMacFarlane must have really hated the series finale.

* The ColdOpen of "He's Bla-ack!" is one for sister series ''WesternAnimation/TheClevelandShow'', with the guys roasting Cleveland about everything that was wrong with his show, from Joe saying that the show's logo looks like a penis to Quagmire saying that Tim (Cleveland's talking bear friend) was so bad that Seth [=MacFarlane=] [[TheOtherDarrin stopped voicing him midway through the latter series's run.]]

* It's easier to list what the episode "Trump Guy" ''didn't'' take any jabs at.
* In "Regarding Carter", after having several lab monkeys watch the film ''Vikings'' for 66 hours, Carter wants them to watch the show ''Series/{{Divorce}}''. When a scientist objects, Carter says that he needs the monkeys to watch ''Divorce'' [[EvenEvilHasStandards because having humans watch it would be inhumane]].
* For some reason, ''Family Guy'' has it out for Matthew [=McConaughey=], as evidenced in "You May Now Kiss the...Uh..Guy Who Receives"[[note]]Stewie, posing as an air traffic controller, has [=McConaughey's=] airplane rerouted into the ocean. [=McConaughey=] survives the incident, but upon arriving at the Griffins' house looking for Stewie, Stewie shoots him with a crossbow, killing him.[[/note]], "The Former Life of Brian"[[note]]In a cutaway, Stewie tells [=McConaughey=] how awful he is, and [=McConaughey=] agrees with him.[[/note]], and "Back to the Pilot."[[note]] A CGI version of Peter sets up a cutaway of him simply saying, "Matthew [=McConaughey=] is terrible."[[/note]]
* In "Three Directors", the [[Franchise/{{Transformers}} Decepticons]] in the Creator/MichaelBay parody segment [[YouDontLookLikeYou look nothing like what they're supposed to]]. This was almost certainly done intentionally as a jab at the Film/TransformersFilmSeries' handling of redesigning the canon characters, as ''Family Guy'' has had accurate depictions of ''Transformers'' characters before.
* In "Adam West High", Peter, Quagmire, Cleveland and Joe give a ''brutal'' roast to Sean Hannity. Highlights include "The richest man in Rite-Aid", "A fish that inflates to scare off predators", "Fred and Barney's son" and "The inside trader who kills himself the day his prison sentence is to start".
* In "The New Adventures of Old Tom", after Chris swallows the engagement ring that Brian bought, Stewie and Brian take him to a fast-food roast beef restaurant that will give him diarrhea so he'll pass it. There are two lines; one for people who need to poop, and one for people who need to throw up. While no names are said and Stewie [[NoFourthWall says to the viewers that they know which restaurant they're talking about]], the restaurant is clearly an Arby's.

* In "Three Directors", the [[Franchise/{{Transformers}} Decepticons]] in the Creator/MichaelBay parody segment [[YouDontLookLikeYou look nothing like what they're supposed to]]. This was almost certainly done intentionally as a jab at the Film/TransformersFilmSeries' handling of redesigning the canon characters, as ''Family Guy'' has had accurate depictions of ''Transformers''' characters before.

* In "Three Directors", the [[Franchise/{{Transformers}} Decepticons]] in the Creator/MichaelBay parody segment [[YouDontLookLikeYou look nothing like what they're supposed to]]. This was almost certainly done intentionally as a jab at the Film/TransformersFilmSeries' handling of redesigning the canon characters, as ''Family Guy'' has had accurate depictions of Transformers characters before.

* In "Three Directors", the [[Franchise/{{Transformers}} Decepticons]] in the Creator/MichaelBay parody segment [[YouDontLookLikeYou look nothing like what they're supposed to]], which is most likely a jab at the Film/TransformersFilmSeries' handling of redesigning the canon characters.

* In "The New Adventures of Old Tom", after Chris swallows the engagement ring that Brian bought, Stewie and Brian take him to a restaurant that will give him diarrhea so he'll pass it. There are two lines; one for people who need to poop, and one for people who need to throw up. While no names are said and Stewie [[NoFourthWall says to the viewers that they know which restaurant they're talking about]], the restaurant is clearly an Arby's.

* An earlier jab at ''WesternAnimation/TheClevelandShow'' comes at the end of "It's a Trap!", doubling as one to the ''Franchise/StarWars'' prequel trilogy: When Meg asks about parodying those movies, Peter says that ''The Cleveland Show'' will cover them, suggesting that not even ''Family Guy'' wants to tackle them and would rather relegate them to the spin-off. Of course, Peter's comment was most likely sarcastic as the prequels were never parodied by either show.

* In "Regarding Carter", after having several lab monkeys watch the film ''Vikings'' for 66 hours, Carter wants them to watch ''Series/{{Divorce}}''. When a scientist objects, Carter says that he needs the monkeys to watch ''Divorce'' [[EvenEvilHasStandards because having humans watch it would be inhumane]].

* In "Regarding Carter", after having several lab monkeys watch the film ''Vikings'' for 66 hours, Carter wants them to watch ''Divorce''. When a scientist objects, Carter says that he needs the monkeys to watch ''Divorce'' because having humans watch it would be inhumane.

* In "Adam West High", Peter, Quagmire, Cleveland and Joe give a ''brutal'' roast to Sean Hannity. Highlights include "The richest man in Rite-Aid", "A fish that inflates to scare off predators", "Fred and Barney's son" and "The inside trader who kills himself the day his prison sentence is to start".

* In "Three Directors", the [[Franchise/{{Transformers}} Decepticons]] in the Creator/MichaelBay parody segment [[YouDontLookLikeYou look nothing like what they're supposed to]], which is most likely a jab at the Film/TransformersFilmSeries' handling of redesigning the canon characters.

* In "[[Recap/FamilyGuyS5E2MotherTrucker Mother Tucker]]", Brian accuses Stewie of selling out. Cut to Stewie holding a Butterfinger bar and saying, "Nobody better lay a finger on my Butterfinger... D'oh!" [[HilariousInHindsight Ironically]], Peter would go on to do advertisements for Subway, and a Stewie parade balloon would appear on a Coke commercial during the 2008 UsefulNotes/SuperBowl.

* For some reason, ''Family Guy'' has it out for Matthew [=McConaughey=], as evidenced in "You May Now Kiss the...Uh..Guy Who Receives"[[note]]Stewie, posing as an air traffic controller, has [=McConaughey's=] airplane rerouted into the ocean. [=McConaughey=] survives the incident, but upon arriving at the Griffins' house looking for Stewie, Stewie shoots him with a crossbow, killing him.[[/note]], "The Former Life of Brian"[[note]]In a cutaway, Stewie tells [=McConaughey=] how awful he is, and [=McConaughey=] agrees with him.[[/note]], and "Back to the Pilot."[[note]] A CGI version of Peter sets up a cutaway of him simply saying, "Matthew [=McConaughey=] is terrible."[[/note]]

-->'''Peter:''' "That happened, and we all let it happen".//

* "[[Recap/FamilyGuy4E7BrianTheBachelor Brian The Bachelor]]" was supposed to be a huge one towards {{Creator/ABC}} and parent {{Creator/Disney}} after their disastrous 2003-2004 television season, where Bachelor \ Bachelorette and football were the only things from ABC in Nielsen Top 30. There was going to be a big Peter's TheReasonYouSuckSpeech in the end, bashing Michael Eisner for his betrayal of Disney shareholders. While the episode was in production, ABC made a huge comeback with ''{{Series/Lost}}'', ''Series/DesperateHousewives'' and ''Series/GreysAnatomy'', landing on second place overall behind Fox. So most of the episode ended up on chopping block save for original setup (Brian participating in Series/TheBachelorette) and some general gags.

* The ColdOpen of "He's Bla-ack!" is one for sister series ''WesternAnimation/TheClevelandShow'', with the guys telling Cleveland about what was wrong with his show, from Joe saying that the show's logo looks like a penis to Quagmire saying that Tim (Cleveland's talking bear friend) was so bad that Seth [=MacFarlane=] [[TheOtherDarrin stopped voicing him midway through the latter series's run.]]

* For some reason, ''Family Guy'' has it out for Matthew [=McConaughey=], as evidenced in "You May Now Kiss the...Uh..Guy Who Receives"[[note]]Stewie, posing as an air traffic controller, has [=McConaughey's=] airplane rerouted into the ocean. [=McConaughey=] survives the incident, but upon arriving at the Griffins' house looking for Stewie, Stewie shoots him with a crossbow, killing him.[[/note]], "The Former Life of Brian"[[note]]In a cutaway, Stewie tells [=McConaughey=] how awful he is, and [=McConaughey=] agrees with him.[[/note]], and "Back to the Pilot"[[note]] A CGI version of Peter sets up a cutaway of him simply saying, "Matthew [=McConaughey=] is terrible."[[/note]]